THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The three-day second International Congress on Kerala Studies got under way here on Thursday with Bengal Chief Minister and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee calling for countrywide land reforms to make rural development programmes sustainable.

Inaugurating the conference, being organised by the AKG Centre for Research and Studies, here on Friday, Mr. Bhattacharjee said no rural development programme, including the much-touted food-for-work programme, would prove sustainable without land reforms. Land reforms, decentralisation of powers and gender empowerment must go hand in hand if the development process was to prove sustainable. The Bengal Government has been travelling through an alternative path and its success had much to do with land reforms and democratic decentralisation, the Chief Minister said.

Mr. Bhattacharjee said his Government was planning to allow foreign private investment in power generation. Some companies in South Africa had already evinced interest in the proposal, which was aimed at stepping up the State's power generation, both for domestic use and export to other parts of the country. Such investment would be allowed only in power generation. Transmission and distribution would continue to be in the Government sector, he said.

Health City

Mr. Bhattacharjee said his Government had also decided to set up a Health City with the objective of making high-end health care available to the needy from within and outside the country. The Left Front Government's sustained efforts over the last two-and-a-half decades had resulted in widespread land reforms, spurt in agricultural production and sharp reduction in poverty levels. But new problems were cropping up in the State, particularly in the area of land ownership.

Although land reforms had resulted in 54 lakh families becoming landowners, the fragmentation of families was resulting in the emergence of new class of landless. The Government is conducting a survey to identify the magnitude of the problem, he said.

Presiding over the function, Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member V. S. Achuthanandan said development should not be seen from the limited perspective of investment levels and growth percentages. Development could not be separated from politics. Given the financial crunch of the State Government, private investment would have to be encouraged. But this should not result in over-exploitation of natural resources profiteering.

The next Government would also have to address such serious issues as streamlining of the State's debt burden, reduction of Ministers and top bureaucrats and avoidance of corruption and wasteful expenditure, he added.

Offering felicitations, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat said any attempt to understand development must also address the question of the family, including the work participation of women and democracy within the family.

Citing the findings of a survey conducted by the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) in Kerala, she said dowry was a major problem in Kerala society and must be addressed quite seriously.

Felicitated

Twenty-seven eminent cultural persons from different walks of life, who had made significant contributions to the growth of the State's culture and society, were felicitated with citations at the inaugural ceremony of the conference, which is being attended by delegates from all over Kerala.

The deliberations at the conference would continue for the coming two days in 65 different sessions and would conclude with the valedictory function to be inaugurated by CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy would be the chief guest at the valedictory function.

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