One is reminded of the age old saying, “Nero fiddled while Rome burned”, when we see the state of affairs in Kerala today. On the one hand the government is spending lavishly on wasteful festivities and on the other hand the Chief Secretary tells the High Court that the state is facing acute financial crisis. This makes us wonder if there is any body with a sane head in the government.
The other day, the suicide of a farmer in Kutanadu, shocked the people of the state. KG Prasad, who had given his produce to the government, was not able to avail loan from the bank because he had low CIBIL score. He had taken Paddy Receipt Sheet (PRS) loan, which the government must repay. Once the government did not repay the loan, the banks refused to give another loan to Prasad. This led him to take the extreme step.
The state of affairs is so acute that welfare pension payments are not paid for months. The KSRTC find it difficult to pay their employees. Many developmental activities are stalled. The afternoon meals for children in schools are paid by the teachers and the government has failed to repay the teachers.
The state is looking at a public debt of Rs.3.57 lakh crores. It must be noted that in 2000-2001 the debt stood at only Rs.25,721 crores. If the situation continues like this, sooner or later the government will not be able to pay salaries of the government employees and for other basic services. This would risk a complete standstill of the government throwing the state into utter chaos.
Even when the situation is very serious, the Chief Minister has no qualms in spending public money on wasteful endeavors that can do nothing to bring in much needed funds.
Added to this mess is the corruption, nepotism and mismanagement of the government and the CPI(M). The daily news stories of Cooperative Banks being looted by communist leaders and their cohorts only raises the pitiful plight of those common people who have invested their life savings in these cooperative banks. A run on the bank could wipe out their savings within a short time.
While the people are facing hardships and losing hope in the system, Minster of Higher Education and Social Justice, R Bindu, was accused of buying eyeglasses worth Rs.30,500 by using public money. On her defense, she said she bought the eyeglasses because she is a good reader and uses computers extensively.
The fact is that the ruling elite in Kerala are making fun of the common man and the people are not even realizing it. Whenever the media brings up the issue of financial crisis, the Chief Minister, Financial Minister and other ministers conveniently put the blame on the central government.
Shifting the blame shows the lack of good leadership. Instead of providing a bold leadership and vision to lead the state out this financial misery, the Chief Minister simply puts all the blame on the Modi government and goes off to attend a pro-Palestine rally.
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