The Hindu Business Line : One hundred tepid days

The LDF Govt's first hundred days in government reveals that being swept into power is one thing, solving Kerala's industrial and developmental problems, quite another.

Last weekend, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan had reason for celebration. Not only had he completed one hundred days in the post of Chief Minister, as also the leader of a multiparty Left Democratic Front (LDF), he had managed to steer a coalition-ridden State off the path of major turbulence.

However, that is as much credit as any honest, fair-minded observer can give this still-fresh government. To praise the government more would be rather duplicitous, for its economic and developmental performance so far has been like a tepid screenplay.

Such a review might be in stark contrast to the assessment released by the Chief Minister in Thiruvananthapuram last Saturday in connection with his government completing 100 days in office. The review claimed that the LDF government was doing things "faster" than the previous United Democratic Front (UDF) Government.

However, as someone once pointed out sagaciously, in matters of governance, what is needed is not "speed", but "velocity". The latter, as any student of basic physics will tell you, is speed with direction.

That, the acute sense of direction, a general conscious awareness of where the State sought to be led - is conspicuous by its absence in the actions of the LDF Government. Especially in matters relating to business and industry, such a sense of direction is yet to appear in its pronouncements and proclamations.

True, it appears to be moving ahead with efforts to resuscitate the Smart City information technology project in Kochi, but even they, unfortunately, do not exude the confidence of an original idea; rather, the LDF Government appears to be bending over backwards to somehow see the project to fruition - although the Smart City project by itself cannot be called the be-all and end-all of industrial development in Kerala.

FISCAL DEFICIT

There are other problems to be solved, to be sure. Listen to Kerala's Finance Minister Thomas Isaac. He told media persons, around the same time that the Chief Minister was extolling the "fast" manner of his government's functioning, that a shortfall of Rs 1,000 crore was expected in revenue receipts this financial year against receipts estimated in the Revised Budget for the year. The expenditure was going up, while the revenues were not increasing as expected, he said.

The Union Government had agreed to restore the borrowing limit of the State, the Finance Minister added. However, it had specified that debt waivers and interest concessions totalling Rs 220 crore would not be provided as the State had failed to keep the fiscal deficit under check.

Therein lies the rub, as far as the State's fiscal management is concerned. The fiscal deficit of the State was 6.4 per cent against 4 per cent specified in the Fiscal Responsibility Act. The Centre had also communicated to the Chief Minister that the State's share of small savings would be less by Rs 1,250 crore this year. The Finance Minister also pointed out that Rs 1,300 crore was due to the State's contractors, of which at least Rs 300 crore had to be cleared during the imminent Onam festive season. The other arrears the government has to contend with relates to welfare pensions, which amount o Rs 750 crore.

True, many of these are inherited problems for the LDF. However, the nature of the malady does not absolve a government swept into power with a massive and politically rejuvenating majority, from the task of creative problem solving. From this point of view, the LDF Government cannot be said to have worked wonders for the State's industrial and socio-economic development - nor for their prospects.

The only courteous reaction to this government's first hundred days in power is: Perhaps it's still early days yet.

The writer can be contacted at kgkumar@gmail.com

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