Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has invited Indians working and living abroad to partner with the Kerala government in the socio-economic transformation of the State.
He made this call at a function organised by the Union Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs in connection with the Pravasi Bharathiya Divas (Expatriate Indians’ Day) in New Delhi on Thursday.
In his address, a copy of which was released to the media here, Mr. Chandy said the State was deeply indebted to non-resident Keralites for their big contributions to its prosperity. Annual foreign remittance from them had exceeded Rs.75,000 crore, according to the latest data, he said.
He said health and education were the State’s traditional strengths and indicated these sectors as ideal for them to invest in.
“We need to provide quality higher education and world class healthcare to everyone. This goal is to be achieved with public private partnership and we are willing to adopt policy that helps investment in these sectors,” he said.
Since the goal was also to make healthcare and education affordable to the poor, the government would open more hospitals, medical colleges and institutions for higher education in the public sector too, he said.
Mr. Chandy said the need of the hour was a massive “public-private campaign” to develop the State’s power sector and transportation sector. “We are building railways, improving highways and introducing waterways, coastal shipping, harbours and seaplanes and also building airports,” he told the non-resident Indians, requesting them to invest in such initiatives the government would launch in partnership with the private sector.
“Kerala is one of the fastest growing IT destinations in India. We are promoting youth entrepreneurs by earmarking one per cent of our budget for them. The dream of turning Kerala’s youth from job seekers to job givers is one of the most cherished goals of the State government,” he said.
