Kerala CPM’s governance roadmap: Private investment in education, health; mechanised labour

With the CPI(M) coming back to power in Kerala, the party is now looking beyond the current term that ends in May 2026. On the need for a governance roadmap, the document says, “The performance of the previous LDF government changed equations in the state’s politics. The present situation should be used for furthering the growth of the party. Such growth should be made possible through the link between the party and the government. It requires a clear perspective on development, which can take the state forward.’’

Call to embrace private investment, foreign capital

A major highlight of the new roadmap is the proposed resource mobilisation. CPI(M) says, “We should be able to depend on foreign loans which do not hurt our interests. People should be convinced about such a situation, which demands foreign aid.’’ During Congress regimes in the past, the CPI(M) had vehemently opposed aid from external funding agencies. In 2001, while the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) was in power, officials of the Asian Development Bank, who were involved in talks on funding to civic bodies, were attacked allegedly by CPM cadres.

Higher education and health

The CPI(M), which once opposed private investment in education, wants to open up the state’s higher education and health sectors to private capital. The document calls for new centres of excellence in the public and private sectors and also based on the public-private participation model. The party envisages educational centres which are on a par with top-notch institutes in the world. However, it has added a rider, saying these institutions must ensure social justice in admission and fee structure. The document also proposes MoUs with foreign universities for student-exchange programmes and high-end research.

In the health sector, too, the party calls for private investment to convert Kerala into a hub of medical treatment that can also attract foreign patients. It calls for strengthening research in collaboration with foreign institutions.

Industrialisation, new technology

While taking note of the challenges involved in strengthening traditional industries such as cashew and coir, which are shifting base to other states, the document calls for a change in the mindset of trade unions and says wage hikes should be sought only after taking into consideration the financial health of industrial units. It says private industrial parks should be promoted and unutilised land of public sector undertakings should be used for industrial parks.

The CPM, which was once opposed to mechanisation of labour, has now realised that production can be ramped up only with the adoption of new technology. It calls for “massive mechanisation” in agriculture and the adoption of “tailor-made technology” for the state’s development. Employees should be trained in new technology and those rendered jobless as a result of mechanisation should be rehabilitated, the document says. Foreign investment can be embraced for the growth in science and technology, it adds.

Second such vision document

This is the second time the Left is unveiling a roadmap for the development of the state. The state conference of the un-bifurcated Communist Party, held in 1956, a year before the formation of Kerala, had presented documents on building a new Kerala. The highlights of that vision document include the historical land reforms and focus on universal education and health.