KOCHI: Kerala finance minister T M Thomas Isaac has started the last budget speech of the present LDF government. Issac started the budget speech at 9am by thanking the Covid-warriors in the state and highlighting the government’s welfare activities during the pandemic.
He quoted the lines written by Sneha, a Class VII student from Kuzhalmannam in Palakkad about how the people of Kerala have fought the pandemic together. Isaac quotes the writings of school students in his budget speech multiple times.
Isaac said that unemployment is the major challenge faced by the state the budget aims to resolve the issue. Eight lakh new jobs will be created this year including 4,000 jobs in health department. The main focus of the budget is to reduce the impact of the pandemic on the state’s economy and developmental activities.
He said the state government reported an average growth rate of 5.9%. Over Rs 32,000 crore were spent by the government for welfare pension schemes and Rs 10,697 crore for public distribution systems. The number of startups in Kerala has increased from 300 to 3,900 over the last five years.
Highlighting the increased popularity of government schools, Isaac said the number of students in the government schools increased by 6.7 lakh over the last five years compared to the 4.99 lakh decrease during the rule of UDF government 2011-2016.
Paddy cultivation increased from 1.7 lakh hectares to 2.3 lakh hectares. Covid has made work-from-home (WFH) fashionable. The number of people availing WFH is set to increase further. Those who lost their jobs, information will be available in the digital platform and available to companies. Work station facilities will be provided. Number of people who will work from home will increase manifold in the next 5 years. As many as 5 lakh women at home in Kerala who have taken a break from their careers.