The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala is planning to replace the contributory pension scheme for government employees with an “assured pension scheme”, Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal has said.
He was addressing online a seminar titled ‘Centre’s dismantling of the federalist structure and Kerala’s resistance’ organised on the second day of the State conference of the Kerala NGO Union at the Calicut Trade Centre here on (June 23) Sunday.
Mr. Balagopal said that the contributory pension scheme was launched in the State by the erstwhile United Democratic Front government. However, some sections had been trying to unleash a propaganda against it to defame the LDF government. The Minister said that in the current circumstances, the government was trying to implement an “assured pension” scheme to replace the scheme.
Mr. Balagopal pointed out that the allocation of financial resources by the Centre was not a charity, but a right of State governments. Kerala had been trying to raise its own revenue to counter the strangling of the State’s economy by the Union government, he added. This was followed by another seminar on the reforms in the civil service sector.
Earlier, opening the delegate session of the conference in the morning, Prabir Purkayastha, Editor-in-Chief, NewsClick website, said that the Modi regime had been trying to divide people in different ways to stop them from raising their voices against the government.
“Because divide and rule is the rule of the elite. This is what the British also did. The divisions among the people would allow a small section of the elite, of the rich, to continue their exploitation. The old forms of exploitation based on land have weakened. New forms of exploitation have come about,” he said.
He said that the government had been employing the NITI Ayog to deny studies on India’s health indicators such as infant mortality by international agencies. “... Instead of fighting the real enemies such as big capital and foreign capital, people are asked to fight against each other. Hindus against Muslims and Christians against both of these,” Mr. Purkayastha said.
Instruments of State were being used to attack organisations and the people who raise their voices against injustice. He claimed that the gap between the rich and the poor had seen the sharpest rise during the recent period and economists such as Thomas Picketty had written about it. The conference will conclude on Monday.
Published - June 24, 2024 12:10 am IST
