Unlike his Tamil Nadu counterpart R N Ravi, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan stuck to the speech prepared by the state government in his policy address to the Legislative Assembly Monday. He criticised the Union government for its bid "to curtail the state’s borrowing limits, to encroach into the legislative domain of the states and to include off-budget loans within the ambit of the state’s overall borrowing limits’’. Khan also highlighted the state government's concern over press freedom saying that "some instances of curtailing the freedom of the press in different ways are coming up in some parts of the country’.’ The policy address, marking the commencement of the budget session, did not reflect the ongoing stand-off between the Raj Bhavan and the government, mainly on matters related to higher education and university administration. Even as a bill passed by the Assembly to remove the governor as the ex-officio chancellor of universities in Kerala is pending at the Raj Bhavan, the governor read out the government's concern. "The government is committed to the constitutional value that the intention of the legislature should take effect as law," he said. Khan, in his address, said, "A strong nation has to have a strong Centre, empowered states and actively functioning local governments. For the body politic of the nation to be strong, it needs strong limbs. States have heavy responsibilities in the social sectors and their fiscal position has to be strong. Recent measures to curtail the borrowing limits of the states constrain the scope of their interventions in the health, education and infrastructural sectors. While fiscal discipline has to be enforced in right earnest, there cannot be different yardsticks for state governments, which are not made applicable to the Union government,’’ he said. The governor said incursions into the legislative domain of the states do not augur well for a cooperative federal setup. "Checks and balances in the system have to be scrupulously observed for the healthy functioning of our democratic polity. The freedom of the press is a cardinal feature of every strong democratic society. Some instances of curtailing the freedom of the press in different ways are coming up in some parts of the country. Here it needs to be underscored that even remotely a perception that agencies empowered to investigate matters regarding compliance to laws are acting in a manner, which deviates from the professionalism expected from them,’’ he said. Criticising the Union finance ministry's decision to include loans availed by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) within the ambit of the state’s overall borrowing limits, Khan said, "this would reduce the fiscal space for the government for furthering its development priorities and would constrain the state’s resources. At this juncture, I hope that the question of fiscal federalism in the country is to be addressed in a very positive way by the Union government.’’ He said the state government was committed to providing social welfare and promoting fast economic growth and infrastructural development. "For this, we need a positive approach from the Union Government which will foster meaningful cooperative federalism,’’ he said. The policy address also indicated that the Kerala government had not abandoned the Silverline semi-high-speed rail project. The government was keen on materialising the "dream project", and submitted a detailed project report to the Union railways ministry for approval, the governor said. Facing stiff opposition from the public, the state government had suspended a survey for fixing the alignment of the project. Two weeks ago, the conflict between the Tamil Nadu government and Governor R N Ravi had reached a new low when Ravi made changes to the prepared speech he read out in the Assembly. As a result, Chief Minister M K Stalin stepped in and moved a resolution demanding only the original printed speech in Tamil be put in records. Governor Ravi reacted to this in an unprecedented manner by staging a walkout from the House in protest even before the national anthem was played.
