Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, on Sunday, August 7, asked the Union government to address the challenges of cooperative federalism. The Chief Minister was addressing the seventh Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog when he demanded that the legislation on subjects in the Concurrent List should be initiated only after adequate consultation with the states.
The Kerala CM also sought urgent initiations from the Union government to enhance necessary legal remedies in the wake of the recent Supreme Court judgment on Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZ). “It is necessary for alleviating the hardships of the marginalized sections that live in the affected areas,” he said. Pinarayi also drew the attention of the council to the pertaining issue of GST and demanded to review the imposition of GST on essential items and requested the Union government to continue the compensation to the States for another five years.
He also informed the council, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that Kerala is in the forefront in the decentralisation initiatives and requested that this important achievement need to be addressed while distributing the consolidated funds to states. He also pointed out that the central share of assistance under PMAY Urban and Rural needs to be revised considering the upward cost of construction materials.
“As part of modernising Kerala’s roads and transportation, a time bound completion of all projects including the National Highway developments need to be accelerated. In order to move towards a more eco-friendly transport system and to alleviate accidents, the state seeks support from the Union government for an early clearance of the state’s pending rail and air traffic proposals,” Pinarayi said.
Stating that being a 590-km coastal belt, Kerala was vulnerable to soil erosion, especially during extreme rain falls, he said that it requires technological and financial support. “The Union government reduced the quota of kerosene allotment for the state recently, which has affected the fisher folk badly,” he said and demanded to reinstate the allotment.
“The state has developed its perceptions on education based on democracy, constitutional values, secularism, and scientific temper. It aims at higher enrolment and higher quality in education. Universal education cannot be achieved by privatisation. Kerala’s K-FON project is to bridge the gap of digital divide in the education sector,” he further added, drawing attention to the achievements of the state in creating a comprehensive model in co-ordination of farming, animal husbandry and fisheries, which is an emulative model for other states.
This was the first council meeting of NITI Aayog after the new vice chairperson Suman Bery and CEO Parameswaran Ayyar assumed the office. Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharam, Minister for External Affairs S Jai Shankar, Minister for Food, Public Distribution Piyush Goyal and Minister for Road, Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari were also present during the Council meeting.