Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s recent meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had raised hopes of a breakthrough. But the hopes have been dashed to the ground.

The Chief Minister had taken up the issue of an AIIMS for the state – a long-pending demand from the days of the erstwhile UPA Government headed by Manmohan Singh Government. Indications were that the demand would be sympathetically considered. However, the state is disappointed with the Centre again refusing to concede it. The CM is on record that though the State had satisfied all the requirements for establishing an AIIMS, the State’s request has not been granted. What has made the rebuff more painful is the fact that BJP-ruled Gujarat and Jharkhand have been given an AIIMS each.

The Centre’s snub has reinforced the perception that the Modi Government has still not ‘forgiven’ Kerala for failing to give the BJP the electoral support it had expected both in the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly elections.

Similarly the Union Food Minister has rejected the state’s plea for an increase in the supply of rations. This has created serious problems for the state, which boasts of the best Public Distribution System in the country. The Centre’s move has drawn all-round flak with both the ruling LDF and the opposition UDF accusing it of trying to undermine the PDS system in the name of the Food Security Act.

Likewise, the State’s expectations on steps to ease the functional problems caused by the demonetization have not materialized either. It may be mentioned that Kerala is one of the states hit hardest by demonetization. The state’s cooperative sector, on which more than 70 per cent of the rural people depend has had to bear the brunt of demonetisation’s adverse impact. The Budget shows no steps whatsoever to bail out the cooperative sector.

Similarly pathetic has been the lot of rubber and spices, mainstay of Kerala’s economy. Budget contains nothing to alleviate the suffering of rubber growers and spices cultivators.

As for the hopes on Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme(MGNREGS), the less said the better. Expectations were that the allocation for MGNREGS would be raised substantially. But the actual allocation of Rs 48,000 crore has fallen far below the expectations of the state. Experts say the amount is too inadequate to boost the state’s rural economy, which is still reeling under the adverse effect of demonetisation.

The state’s cup of misery literally overflows with the steep cut in the allocation for Urban Renewable Mission. The cut will have a direct bearing on efforts to smarten up Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.

Last but not the least, the state is sorely disappointed as no major projects have been announced in the railway sector either.

The caustic comment made by former chief minister and CPI(M) patriarch V S Achuthanandan aptly sums up the State’s feeling of neglect. In his comment, VS has stated that looking at the budget proposals, one would think that the country’s map does not boast of a state called Kerala! (IPA Service)