In an exclusive interview to The News Minute, CPI(M) politburo member and potential LDF chief ministerial candidate Pinarayi Vijayan speaks in detail regarding the LDF’s game-plan to generate job opportunities in the state.
Pinarayi asserts that the LDF -if voted to power- will create 25 lakh new jobs in the state. Maximum focus -he says- will be on areas such as agriculture, electronics, IT and tourism.
Pinarayi reiterates that the youth are deeply disappointed by the present state of affairs in Kerala, where lack of job opportunities is a sore reality and is one of the main problems faced by Kerala society.
Beginning with agriculture, he says that Kerala’s development will be complete only if the agriculture sector is developed effectively. The LDF aims to create more than 10,000 new jobs in this sector alone.
He then goes on to talk about the electronics sector and said that the LDF would create Kerala’s own Silicon Valley in the state, thereby catering for another 10,000 jobs.
Citing the Smart City Project, Vijayan came down heavily on the Oommen Chandy government. Vijayan believes that the IT sector in Kerala has the maximum growth potential and that the UDF government did not focus on this niche sector to ensure the progress it deserves.
Even though the first stage of the Smart City project was supposed to be completed in 18 months, it took almost two years for the ruling front to finally inaugurate the project and that too with just one building which -he alleges- comprised just 7.5 percent of what ought to have been completed.
Watch the interview here :
He also claims that the project which was supposed to generate 5000 jobs on completion of the first stage has not been able to create even 500 jobs.
“Forget IT heavyweights from abroad, they have not been able to attract a single major player from within India itself. Only a few companies from the medical and catering sector seem to have set up shop there till date,” he sounds grim.
Next on Pinarayi’s list figures the tourism sector. He rues that Kerala is gradually losing its title of being ‘God’s own country’ as most of its lakes, rivers and other natural resources are polluted beyond measure.
Pointing fingers at the UDF misrule, Vijayan holds it the responsibility of the state government to adopt a proactive stance in ensuring the purification of these water bodies on a war-footing, so that the state retains its lush environs, something that it is famous for in the rest of India.
He goes on to talk about the LDF plan to initiate a new culture among the masses that strives to make Kerala a clean and waste-free state. By doing so -he feels- the tourism sector will witness a significant jump which in turn will further help in job creation.
According to Pinarayi, setting up of skill development centres is another priority for the Left front. He is sure that this will go a long way in making people employable and industry-ready; this way more than 10,000 people could acquire whole new sets of skills that would enable them to get jobs both within the state and abroad.