Southern States - Kerala   

Antony Ministry weathers many a storm

By Roy Mathew

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM DEC. 30. If any single term could be used to describe the biggest achievement of the Antony Government in office during the past year, it is survival. The Chief Minister and his Ministry survived many a storm, not only in the political sphere but also in the administrative and other spheres.

The Antony Government did not fall despite the intense political storm generated by the senior Congress leader, K. Karunakaran. If Mr. Antony slipped in the Ernakulam byelection, he regained balance through the Thiruvalla byelection. It was a narrow escape, though.

The first months of the year had started with a renewed agitation by the tribals for land and jobs and `serious human rights violations' by the police while evicting them from the Muthanga forests. The year comes to a close with inquiries underway into the mass sterilisation of tribals in Wayanad. Mr. Antony could sail past the serious charges against his administration.

The New Year had started with much hype over the Global Investor Meet in Kochi. However, controversies after controversies erupted over several of the proposals placed at the Meet. The Government survived them as it did the controversies over the Asian Development Bank loan. However, much progress on both the investment front and reforms front is yet to be achieved. Mr. Antony's police policy had antagonised many a politician. However, he has virtually argued his stand out with the public, if not with the politicians. So, the police policy is now only a theme played behind the curtains. But the growing menace from the goondas remains a public concern and the Government is planning to introduce a Goonda Act.

More serious is that waves of corruption charges that are hitting the stonewall of the Government. There is virtually no department in the Government whose officials or the Minister himself is not facing corruption charges. There is an ongoing scandal in the Health Department over purchase of medicines and another in the Agriculture Department over leasing of land of the Plantation Corporation Kerala, and yet another in the Public Works Department over contracts for the World Bank aided transport project. In the Education Department, norms adopted for sanctioning of B. Ed. colleges looked so out of tune with State's interests that the Chief Minister has ordered a special scrutiny of the proposals.

Part of Mr. Antony's survival strategy was the withdrawal of vigilance cases against Ministers and even the Opposition leaders. Recommendations of the vigilance police for further investigations into corruption charges against officials are being held up. And the Government carried on unperturbed. The Government had been able to dodge tricky issues such as the alleged depletion of groundwater by Coca-cola at Plachimada and Opposition's notice for removal of the Speaker, Vakkom Purushothaman.

The Forest Department is in a mess with encroachments and felling of trees going on at several places with immunity. The Forest Minister, K. Sudhakaran, who is basking in the glow of his surviving the allegations made by the Leader of the Opposition against him, seems not to care. The former Secretary of his Department, who he wanted removed from the post, is now locked in a tussle with none other than the Additional Advocate General. The charge is that Government's pleaders were not pleading the Government's case in many forest cases.

The Government could not convene the Assembly in November because of the political crisis in the Congress. Reform legislations are waiting for the attention of the House even while some attracted controversies.

With all these troubles behind him, the Chief Minister has emerged with a feather in his cap— the settlement of the Marad issue. The economy is looking up though it is not all the result of the Government's efforts. The Government has not only survived its worst year, but there is also hope for the future.

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