Kerala CM criticizes Centre's 'Swades' program

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday criticized the Centres Swades Skill Card program, launched to support expatriates returning to the country, and said it did not make any impact on the community even two years after its announcement. The Marxist veteran also accused the BJP-led union government of ignoring his government's demand of granting a package worth Rs 2,000 crore for the expatriates who had returned to the southern state after losing their job due to the COVID pandemic.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday criticized the Centre's 'Swades Skill Card' program, launched to support expatriates returning to the country, and said it did not make any impact on the community even two years after its announcement.

The Marxist veteran also accused the BJP-led union government of ignoring his government's demand of granting a package worth Rs 2,000 crore for the expatriates who had returned to the southern state after losing their job due to the COVID pandemic. The Centre was not even bothered to respond to the state's request, he said during his speech at the third edition of the Loka Kerala Sabha, a two-day conference inaugurated by Governor Arif Mohammed Khan here on Thursday.

As doctors advised him to rest due to ill health, Industries Minister P Rajeev read out Vijayan's speech during the function, which is being attended by guests. He said the SWADES (Skilled Workers Arrival Database for Employment Support) was the lone program announced by the Centre to support the returning expatriates. ''But it seems that the program has failed to make any serious impact even two years after its announcement,'' Vijayan said.

The Chief Minister, however, claimed that his government has always recognized the significance of the expatriate community and considered them an inevitable part of the state's social life.

A total of 351 delegates, including over 180 representatives from 65 foreign countries, are taking part in the third edition of the Loka Kerala Sabha, an ambitious initiative of the Vijayan government envisaged as a convention of non-resident Keralites.

The Congress-led UDF on Thursday boycotted the event held here citing the recent alleged police atrocities against its workers for protesting against Vijayan given the allegations made against him by Swapna Suresh, a key accused in the gold smuggling through diplomatic bags case.

Another reason cited by the UDF for avoiding the Loka Kerala Sabha was the lack of response from the government to the queries and suggestions of the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan regarding the benefits, if any, to expatriates from the last two meetings of the sabha held in 2018 and 2020.