Montek Singh is wrong

We appreciate the Government of Kerala’s effort in organizing Emerging Kerala Investor’s Meet. The Hon. Chief Minister and the Hon. Industries Minister have put in their effort and time to make this an important event in Kerala’s development initiatives. It was good to see nearly 3000 delegates from around the world assembling at Kochi, and engage in serious brain storming sessions about Kerala’s road ahead. Academicians, industry leaders, policy makers and investors have had detailed deliberations. It is an achievement that we could bring together individuals like Mr.Chris Gopalakrishnan, Mr. Adi Godrej, Mr. Som Mittal, Mr. Sam Pitroda, Mr. Tarun Das and Ms. Geetha Gopinath etc. We hope their thoughts and suggestions will be shared with the public.

We are happy that the Government considered certain points we raised in connection with Emerging Kerala. We requested the government to take special care about three things while looking at new development projects. They are:- 1.Protection of public land, 2.Environmental protection,3. Social Acceptability and sustainability. The Government has made it clear that not an inch of public land will be transferred to private investors and all lease conditions will be strict and will be in the best interest of the state. Environmental Impact Assessment has been made a prerequisite for all projects. Government must also ensure that the projects are acceptable to the local residents and the chosen place has the carrying capacity. Internationally accepted methods and norms should be used to measure the people's feed back about a said project. No project should be forced upon a local community. Project implementation should be with the consent and support of the local residents.

We thank the Chief Minister for asking the Chief Secretary to scrutinize all projects submitted by various government departments and Public sector institutions. But it is with concern that we watch certain projects rejected by the Chief Secretary reappearing in the Emerging Kerala website and put in front of investors. We suspect that it is the pressure of certain elements masquerading as agents of development that led to the reconsidering of these projects. Government must watch out with vigil and ensure that only sustainable, transparent and viable projects are given clearance. It is our prime duty to protect forest land and government land from the clutches of land grabbers and real-estate hawks.

It is with great concern that we listened to the statement of Mr. Montek Singh Aluvalia, the Deputy chairman of the Planning Commission. He said that Kerala should not strive to achieve food security and land should be seen as an investment opportunity. As land value is very high in Kerala, investment in proportion to the land value should come. We strongly disagree with Mr.Montek Singh Aluvalia's statement. His statement is against the declared policy of our state and it is also against the founding principles of our nation. Agriculture is the base of life and the fields and wetlands not only ensure food security it also ensures water security. One can not put a price to agriculture land and agriculture activity which is life sustaining and the base of all human development. It is the Government’s first and foremost duty to protect every inch of agricultural land. The desire of every farmer to carry out his/her work in their sovereign land should be protected and respected. A person occupying an important position of the Vice chairman of the Planning Commission should not have made such a irresponsible and superficial statement. While we look at new areas of development with hope and enthusiasm, we should not forget the primary sectors which provide livelihood to so many millions of people. The base of our economic well being is our agriculture. If we don’t achieve impressive growth rates in this sector, the other achievements will become unimportant and irrelevant. As the father of the Nation , Mahatma Gandhi and our first Prime Minister Panditji have time and again told us, India lives in her villages and unless and until we protect and nurture our farmers no real development can come to the country. Agriculture land should be protected and the extent of cultivable land should be increased. We must become fully self-reliant in food grains, vegetables and fruits, oil-seeds, spices etc. India should become a food surplus nation. Kerala’s aim should be to contribute substantially to this effort.

The newly formed Investment Clearance Board and the Emerging Kerala team must ensure that all laws, regulations and clearance formalities are followed in letter and spirit, so that the new investments are being done in the best interests of the state. One of the most important announcements that came out from Emerging Kerala is the Government’s decision to support start-ups from students and the young people of Kerala. This, we are sure, will lead to a blossoming of ideas and initiatives. Project proposals in sectors like IT, education, health etc have also created much enthusiasm and interest.

It is important that we fix our priorities in the right way and then try for the state’s development and growth. Food security and water security is the base for all development. It is equally crucial that bio-diversity conservation is also given due importance in state’s policy. We must not only protect our land, we must also nurture and cherish it as the most precious heritage we have. This the only way we can work towards the dream of the Founding fathers of our Nation.