LDF takes potshots at PPP in Plan paper

But the opposition to public private participation is not merely about how private players would like to concentrate on the more lucrative sectors; or that the overhead sectors where they do come in would entail increases in user charges to the detriment of the poor. 8216;8216;A change from public sector to PPP affects the basic structure of the economy. It cannot occur without a national debate and the emergence of a national consensus,8217;8217; says the Kerala government8217;s planning board.

According to the Kerala Planning Board, an act of investment does not require a prior act of saving. It generates, leaving aside capital inflows, an amount of savings equal to itself. So, to argue for PPP on the grounds that the government does not have enough resources 8216;8216;makes no theoretical sense8217;8217;. The case for PPP may be argued on other grounds, like better management of private units or the supposedly greater efficiency of privately-run units. But these grounds have to be established which the Approach Paper does not do.

The Kerala Planning Board has now suggested that all international treaties, like the WTO agreement must be ratified both by Parliament and where they impinge heavily on state fortunes, by the National Development Council, appointments to constitutional bodies like the Finance Commission which have the task of adjudicating between the Centre and the states should be made by the President on the recommendations of the Inter-state Council, and not of the Central Government alone.

The Kerala Planning Board outlines how government policy has actually resulted in farmers8217; distress and suicides, saying India has a 8216;8216;phenomenon of undermining of petty production8217;8217; as an offshoot of the country8217;s liberalisation policy which have opened them up to competition from the world market, exposed them to price fluctuations of the world economy, entailed a drying up of institutional credit for them, and brought about a withdrawal of government support for them. In Kerala, this crisis of petty production had resulted in a large number of suicides in Wayanad.

Kerala may be competing with other states, including West Bengal, for investments but it feels the Approach Paper8217;s 8216;8216;obsession with growth rate lacks pertinence8217;8217; because, among other things, it advocates the opening up of the mineral sector to private capital, including MNCs. 8216;8216;We cannot accept the privatisation of the minerals sector. The induction of private capital especially MNCs not only jeopardises crucial national interests, but poses a serious threat to the lives and conditions of the workers employed in mines,8217;8217; says the LDF8217;s note in Kerala.