Comply with TNM’s channel for information updates and story hyperlinks.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has accused the central authorities of intentionally limiting the state’s monetary autonomy and undermining its improvement initiatives.
Vijayan was chatting with reporters right here on Wednesday. He identified that Kerala’s efforts for capital expenditure have confronted sustained obstruction over the previous 5 years, with essentially the most important measure being the retrospective discount of the state’s borrowing restrict from 2021-22 onwards by treating KIIFB (Kerala Infrastructure Funding Fund Board) loans as a part of the state’s debt.
The CM mentioned that whereas the Reserve Financial institution of India had distinguished between ensures and loans way back to 1999, the Centre’s strategy to Kerala’s borrowing restrict was opposite to this precept. “Counting KIIFB ensures as state debt is a flawed strategy and a continuation of the coverage that now ends in a big lower to our borrowing capability,” he mentioned.
Vijayan famous that regardless of repeated representations, together with an in depth memorandum submitted to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on October 9, lots of the state’s reliable requests stay pending. “The Centre talks about improvement on one hand, however makes an attempt are made to financially weaken states like Kerala on the opposite,” he mentioned.
Highlighting Kerala’s fiscal achievements underneath the LDF authorities, the CM mentioned internet tax income had elevated from Rs 47,000 crore in March 2021 to almost Rs 80,000 crore at the moment, reflecting disciplined monetary administration. But, he argued, the Centre’s actions — together with lowered borrowing limits, delayed approvals, and cuts to IGST settlements — have undermined the state’s progress.
Vijayan additionally pointed to the affect of worldwide commerce restrictions, significantly U.S. import controls, which have affected seafood, spices, cashew, and textiles, inflicting annual losses of round Rs 2,500 crore. “Regardless of these challenges, the Centre has arbitrarily lower allocations, together with Rs 14,358 crore from our borrowing restrict for 2025-26 alone, weakening Kerala’s fiscal capability,” he mentioned.
The CM criticised the union authorities for misusing Article 293(3) of the Structure and for treating funds raised by KIIFB and the Social Safety Pension Restricted as a part of the state’s debt. He mentioned this was politically motivated and undermined Kerala’s improvement mannequin. Vijayan warned that the state would proceed to pursue its improvement agenda regardless of these obstacles.
“Kerala has achieved exceptional progress in income and useful resource mobilisation, and we won’t permit arbitrary central interventions to derail our progress,” he mentioned.
Leave a Reply