Business
Kerala should look beyond diaspora remittances: Minister
Thiruvananthapuram, April 30
The stage has
come for Kerala to look to look beyond the diaspora remittances that
have so far helped it go forward, a state minister said here on
Thursday.
State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said during a
media interaction on the future of the state - both in politics and in
development.
"It must be understood that in most of the Middle
East countries, local people are being employed increasingly. This will
seriously affect Indians in general and Keralite's in particular. It's
here that a political consensus should be developed in taking the
development needs of our state forward, because we will not be able to
depend on diaspora remittance for a long time," said Chennithala.
The
most recent study conducted by K.C. Zachariah and S. Irudayarajan of
the Centre for Development Studies reveals that the number of Kerala
emigrants as on 2014 was 23.63 lakh. Ninety percent of the Kerala
diaspora is in the various Middle-East countries.
During the
12-month period ending March 1, 2014 the total remittances to Kerala
stood at Rs.72,680 crore. He said the state government should come out
with schemes to invest these remittances.
"Agriculture and
industry will not take us forward; Kerala should concentrate on industry
and tourism and seek investments," said Chennithala. He also pointed
out that the once-famed Kerala model of development is slowly coming to a
standstill and that it should be reinvented, as times have changed.
"Today
every political leader in the state cutting across political parties
speaks of Kerala 'missing the bus' for development. Kerala will have to
take a new path for development and it would be best if the vehicle
chosen is the private-public partnership which the people (PPPP) also
have to join. Along with this there should be political consensus
coupled with political consistency," said Chennithala.
Speaking on politics he said at the moment there is no need for any thought of a leadership change in the government.
"There
have been issues with us and we are now on an introspection
course...The CPI-M due ti its failed dogmas has no future and is
currently groping in the dark and the recent change of leadership is
also not going to help them," added Chennithala.