The Hindu Business Line : New rule, fresh agenda

The new government of Kerala should cash in on its current popularity and goodwill to quickly and decisively lay the foundations of industrial growth and socio-economic development.

Now that a new government of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) is set to take over the reins of power in Kerala, the State's citizens must be eagerly awaiting its pronouncements and policy formulations to see which direction their land is headed.

To be sure, they have every right to be fairly demanding in their aspirations. After all, they did vote in the LDF with a clear and unequivocal majority and mandate, giving them an unfettered hand to run the affairs of the state.

A new development agenda is what the Government must now address and comprehensively formulate to the satisfaction of the people of the State. In this respect, the LDF does not set out with any marked advantage or head start.

On the contrary, it is saddled with an anti-business, anti-industry image, fostered in part by the election campaign that sought to project Mr V.S Achuthanandan, arguably the principal architect of the LDF's uncompromisingly convincing victory in the Assembly elections, as an archaic, dyed-in-the-wool Communist who blindly opposes any development move.

Thus, the new Government has its work cut out for it. It has to first convince Kerala's citizens that the all-round development of the State is top on its list of priorities along with a promise of good governance. The new Government needs to come up with a clear-cut and imaginative formulation of how Kerala can advance on the critical fronts of industry, agriculture and labour. Specifically, apart from announcing official policy papers on these subjects, it needs to address sectors like information technology and clear the clouds of confusion hanging over proposals like the Smart City project proposed for Kochi.

Perhaps one of the most reassuring moves the LDF Government can make now is to organise a meeting with captains of Kerala's industry, where the new Chief Minister can spell out his Government's broad industrial and developmental priorities and seek the co-operation of industry and businessmen to take Kerala forward. Such a gesture, will at one stroke put paid to the anti-development charge, that plagues the LDF. It will also lay the ground for future positive collaborations with industry on the other, equally important, social agenda of human development. Additionally, the new government also needs to win over the State's bureaucracy, specifically the officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). Traditionally, the LDF has been perceived as anti-IAS and, in the past, there have been occasions of public protestations by the State's IAS officers of alleged high-handedness by the ruling Government.

Kerala's voters have repeatedly demonstrated that initial honeymoon period when the Government can do no wrong is unlikely to last forever. The new LDF Government should cash in on its current popularity and goodwill to quickly and decisively lay the foundations of industrial growth and socio-economic development. And put the State on a firm industrial and economic footing, from where there need be no looking back.

The writer can be contacted at kgkumar@gmail.com

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