Kerala should imbibe best ideas,practices from different parts of the world: CM

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 1 (PTI): Kerala should imbibe thebest ideas and practices from different parts of India and theworld, which will help transform it into a progressive andmodern economy that serves the interests of every citizen,Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here on Monday.

Inaugurating the three-day glonal ''Kerala Looks Ahead''Conference and Consultation meet here, he said ''We need tothink collectively on ways to move forward.

We look forward to ideas that will help transform Keralainto a true knowledge economy founded on new technologies andinnovation.'' Underlining efforts to consolidate and deepen gains madein human development, he said Kerala is set for a 'greattransformation', building on its achievements in land reform,education,health, social justice and decentralised government.

''We can and must emerge successful in our attempt to findproductive employment for our educated and highly skilledcitizens.We will be successful in creating a progressive andmodern economy that serves every citizen,'' he said.

As the State prepares to draw up the 14th Five Year Plan(2022-27) when a new government will start its term, the timeis ripe for new initiatives and schemes, he said,adding thatinsights drawn from discussions at the meet would be valuablein formulating new projects and to revise existing schemes.

Vijayan said the conference would discuss ways to boostdevelopment and manage the States agricultural, animal andfishery resources.

As for industry, the meet will explore areas that meritspecial attention amid the constraints of land and population.

Other subjects of thrust will be upgradation of centresof higher education, quality services to citizens while makingthe government transparent, efficient and responsive andmaking Kerala the countrys hub for skilled labour.

Kerala State Planning Board Vice Chairperson Prof V KRamachandran said though the last four-and-a-half years hadbeen turbulent due to back-to-back natural disasters and thepandemic outbreak, these have also been years of achievements.

This period saw most sweeping changes in public schooling,greater access for people to quality health facilities,transformation in physical infrastructure, a new policy inindustry and IT, deepening participatory local government, arenewed thrust to livelihoods and job creation, enhancedsocial protection measures and gender empowerment.

In his virtual keynote address, Nobel laureate economistProf Joseph E Stiglitz said factors that contributed toKerala's success are ''competent government institutions,competent administration, participatory democracy anddecentralisation, a reliance on Science and the continuedimportance given to planning ''.

Kerala should reduce dependence on remittances from theGulf countries as the world was moving away from oil and hasstarted using renewable energy sources as part of the effortsto deal with global warming, he said.

The state should formulate its own economic strategy.

Two key principles for Kerala are ''diversification'' and''building on its current strengths'', he added.

Prof Stiglitz said Kerala needs to work ahead as by 2050the world would be largely dependent on renewable energy.

it was imperative for Kerala think ahead and create morejobs within the state and not depend on remittances, he said.

Lauding the Kerala government for its governance model ofgiving importance to health and education and five-yearplanning, he said it had also handled the pandemic situationefficiently.

Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist at the WorldHealth Organisation,noted that health outcomes in Kerala were''comparable to the highest in the world'' and ''recent data fromNFHS-5 showed progress in many indicators like IMR and MMR''.

Observing that the pandemic had taught the importance ofinvesting in public health, she charted out a three-prongedstrategy for the state to deal with its health issues.

''In Kerala, there are pockets of under development,pockets of poverty and pockets where there are highlyvulnerable people whose health outcomes are far worse than therest of the population. This has to be addressed.

The second is sustainability; anything we do would needto be sustainable.

And the third is resilience in the face of health shocksthat come from time to time.'' Kerala has had an experience with NIPAH which was handledexcellently and actually the outbreak was contained andcontrolled, with minimal impact and loss of lives, she said.

The COVID pandemic, however, has overtaken the capacityof the best health systems in the world.Therefore, this is agood time to identify where policies can be improved and alsothe gaps in human resources and institutional capacity.'' Observing that the pandemic has brought to the fore theaccelerated use of digital tools and technology, she made outa strong case for using tele-medicine on a wider scale.

''We have a shortage of specialists, and in order to reachmore people with specialist care, the use of tele-medicine isa very good option. PTI UD APRADMINISTRATOR APRADMINISTRATOR