Renowned economist and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz has advised Kerala to reduce its dependence on remittances from non-residents in West Asia since the world at large was moving away from oil and turning to renewable energy sources as part of efforts to deal with global warming.

“Kerala needs to work ahead as by 2050 the world will be largely dependent on renewable energy. So, it should think ahead and create more jobs within the state. It should strengthen its own productive capacity and generate employment in diverse areas within the state,” he added.

It is important for the state therefore, to formulate its own economic strategy, Stiglitz said while delivering the keynote address on the first day of the three-day ‘Kerala Looks Ahead’ global virtual conference organised by the Kerala State Planning Board here on Monday.

Also read: Chief Minister to open ‘Kerala Looks Ahead’ global conclave

Stick to pillars, play to strengths

The state should stick to the principles of ‘diversification’ and ‘building on its current strengths.’ Factors that have held it together are competent government institutions and administration, a participatory democracy and process of decentralisation, reliance on science and continued focus on planning.

Stiglitz emphasised the importance of planning in development by arguing that markets are ‘short-sighted’, and ‘that's why there is a need that the government leadership should be working with the private sector and civil society’ to address future challenges.

Need for inculcating self-reliance

According to Stiglitz, the Covid-19 pandemic would change the global economy, necessitating drastic changes in international trade, governance and local administration. It had brought to the fore the importance of international cooperation for dealing with such situations and highlighted the need for being self-reliant. Lauding the Kerala government for its governance model of giving importance to health and education and five-year planning, he said the state had also handled the pandemic situation efficiently.

Also read: Tax on rich can stimulate economy: Stiglitz

Health initiatives earn WHO pat

Meanwhile, in her address, Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist at the World Health Organisation, noted that health outcomes in Kerala were ‘comparable to the best in the world’, and that recent data from NFHS-5 showed progress in many indicators such as infant mortality rate (IMR) and maternal mortality rate (MMR).

Swaminathan charted out a three-pronged strategy for the state to deal with its health issues. “In Kerala, there are pockets of under-development, poverty, and where those of highly vulnerable people whose health outcomes are worse than the rest of the population. This has to be addressed. The second is sustainability; anything we do would need to be sustainable. And the third is resilience in the face of health shocks that come from time to time.”

Tackling Nipah fever, Covid-19

Kerala

has had a stint with Nipah fever, which was handled excellently, and the outbreak was contained and controlled with minimal impact and loss of lives. “The Covid-19 pandemic has overtaken the capacity of the best health systems in the world. Therefore, this is a good time to identify where policies could be improved and also the gaps in human resources and institutional capacity addressed.” She made a strong case for employing telemedicine on a wider scale. “We have a shortage of specialists, and in order to reach more people with specialist care, the use of telemedicine is a very good option.”

Earlier, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the conference in which ministers E Chandrasekharan, Ramachandran Kadannappally, AK Saseendran, K Krishnankutty, and VK Ramachandran, Vice-Chairman, V Venu, Member-Secretary, State Planning Board; and Vishwas Mehta, Chief Secretary, also spoke.

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