Sunday, Jan 19, 2003
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By K. Venkiteswaran
The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, inaugurating the Global Investor Meet in Kochi on Saturday. The Vice-Chairman of the Planning Commission, K.C. Pant, the Kerala Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, the State's Industries Minister, P.K. Kunhalikutty, the Malaysian Minister for Works, S. Sami Vellu, and the Union Minister for Urban Development, O. Rajagopal, look on.
He was addressing an impressive gathering of prospective investors after formally inaugurating the two-day Global Investor Meet organised by the Kerala Government. The projects mentioned by Mr. Vajpayee included the capacity expansion of the NTPC's power station at Kayamkulam, upgrading the Bharat Petroleum Corporation's Kochi Refinery and mineral exploitation jointly by the National Mineral Development Corporation and the Indian Rare Earths Limited. The Prime Minister said the work on the Vallarpadam International Container Terminal, off the Kochi coast, would start within the next few months. In addition to these Central investments, Kerala had the potential to absorb huge private and foreign investments in sectors that had already been identified by the State Government. He concurred with the view earlier expressed by the Opposition leader in the State Assembly, V.S. Achuthanandan, that the "investments here should be genuine". Mr. Vajpayee hoped that the conference would provide the right platform for investors to take a close look at these opportunities and firm up their investment plans. The Prime Minister said that he had great faith in the resilience of Keralites. He was seeing a change in the mindset of the Malayalees and a new mental churning was taking place in Kerala. There was now a burning desire here to make up for the lost time. And that desire was gaining a critical mass. The GIM would be a precursor to many more positive changes to come and many more bold initiatives to be adopted. Kerala should look ahead, and not remain trapped in outdated dogmas and sterile ideological debates, Mr. Vajpayee said. He had a dig at the Left parties when he said that even the predecessor Government, whatever its views on matters godly, continued to project Kerala to the outside world as "God's own country". He wanted to know why Kerala, in spite of its exemplary record in social development, had lagged behind in economic development; in spite of possessing rich and abundant natural resources, why was the rate of unemployment almost three times higher than the national average; if the State's rate of economic growth remained low, how could it sustain its widely and rightly acclaimed "Kerala model" in health, education, women's empowerment and other social indicators? Will, and should, future generations be deprived of these benefits because of the present generation's resistance to change, he asked. The Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, presided.
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