By P. Sreekumaran
THIRUVANTHAPURAM: The congenital critics of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) have ended up, yet again, with egg on their faces, having dismally failed in their attempts to create a serious rift between the principal partners of the Front, the CPI(M) and the CPI on the PM SHRI issue.
The detractors, salivating in anticipation of an imminent collapse of the understanding between the CPI and the CPI(M), do not know how to hide their chagrin over the failure of their evil mission. A similar fate visited the perennially anti-Left media which had a royal gush of left-hostile sentiment.
The reason for their disappointment is the matured manner in which the CPI(M) and the CPI have amicably arrived at an understanding to resolve the perceptional differences over the PM SHRI issue. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has constituted a seven-member Cabinet sub-committee to address the CPI’s concerns over the signing of the scheme. The Union Government had made release of statutory federal grants amounting to Rs 1446 crore conditional on signing of the PM SHRI scheme.
Moreover, the Government has stopped all further procedures concerning the scheme until the sub-committee submitted its report to the State Government. The Government will inform the central government of its decision too. The committee would be headed by Education Minister V. Sivankutty. It will also include ministers from different parties. They are: Revenue Minister K. Rajan, Agriculture Minister P. Prasad (CPI), Law Minister P. Rajeeve (CPI(M), Electricity Minister K. Krishnankutty (Janata Dal-Secular), Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine (Kerala Congress(M) and Forest Minister A. K. Saseendran (Nationalist Congress Party).
The Chief Minister who announced this decision told presspersons that the Government would defer any call on PM SHRI till after the local bodies election. He also frustrated presspersons persistent attempts to ask further questions in the issue. “The matter has ended. It has been debated threadbare in the public domain. Now, there is no rationale in pursuing the matter further,” he opined. CM Vijayan also said that the people are aware of the Government’s credibility and that no amount of tarnishing would take the sheen of the ruling front and his government’s achievements.
In a matured reaction, the soft-spoken CPI state secretary Binoy Viswom refused to describe the Cabinet decision as a victory for the party. “The CPI does not view the situation through the prism, of victory or non-victory. The CPI and the CPI(M) played a historic role in yet again authoring the victory of Left politics and ideology,” he added. The CPI Ministers also attended a Cabinet meeting ending speculation that they would stay away from it. This was another rebuff to the detractors of the LDF Government, who pulled out all steps to spoil the bonhomie that animates the LDF.
The Chief Minister also announced a slew of welfare measures for the working-class voters among other sections. The Government will incur an additional Rs 10,000 crore expenditure on account of these welcome steps.
The steps included a Rs 400 rise in social security/welfare fund board pensions to Rs 2,000 from Rs 1,600 and a new monthly “Stree suraksha” pension of Rs 1,000. The payments would benefit 62 lakh persons, including the elderly widows, differently abled persons, unmarried women over 50 and agricultural labourers.
Among the other welfare steps are Rs 5.5 crore with respect to the hike in the monthly honorarium of literary preraks by Rs 1,000 and Rs 5.72 crore on the hike of the monthly pay of pre-primary teachers and ayahs by Rs 1,000.
The pending third and fourth instalments of the 11th Pay Revision Commission due to government employees will be merged with Provident Fund after April 1, 2026. Those who have no PF will be given the sum in cash after this date.
The Government also raised guest lecturers’ monthly wages by Rs 2,000. Another highlight is a monthly stipend of Rs 1,000 for job aspirants hailing from families with less than Rs one lakh income. It is expected to benefit an estimated five lakh economically weak youth.
The Government also increased the minimum support price for rubber from Rs 180 per kg to Rs 200. This step will address, to a great extent, the concerns voiced by the Church-backed settler farmers in the hill districts of central and south Kerala.
Among the other people-friendly measures are rise in allocation for coastal housing projects which will benefit fisherfolk communities, a welfare package for khadi workers, including weavers, and an increased honoraroium of Rs 1,000 for ASHA workers. Last but not the least is a scheme for providing Rs 1,000 a month as operational grant for the 19, 470 area development societies of the Kudumbashree.
The positive message emanating from these developments is that the LDF Government would go ahead, full speed, by implementing its people-friendly agenda, despite the financial squeeze applied by the Union Government. (IPA Service)
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