Kerala - Kottayam   

Parishad cautions against ADB loan

Staff Reporter

Wants Government to ensure removal of anti-people strings

KOTTAYAM: The 44th annual conference of the Kerala Sastra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP) has cautioned the Government against going in for loans from international financial agencies, including funding from the Asian Development Bank for the Sustainable Urban Development Programme.

The conference, however, has admitted that the situation has reached such a pass that it is impossible for the State and local self-governments to move ahead without funding from international financial institutions. However, the Government should ensure that anti-people conditionalities were removed and the entire process was conducted in a transparent manner, taking the people into confidence.

Talking to mediapersons after the conclusion of the conference on Sunday, the newly elected president T.P. Kunhikannan pointed out that the issue of loans for taking up development works should be reviewed. Neo-liberal policies are being enforced by the Union Government itself and the conditionalities imposed for making use of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) were more stringent than the funding extended by international financial agencies, he said.

"The Government should drop any move to go in for aid which has anti-people conditionalities," he said and added that the areas of concern in the proposed ADB loan centred around the clauses referring to foreign consultancies, those restricting the rights of the local self-governments and user fee for public services.

The conference called for active Government intervention in the area of public instruction and stressed the need to revamp the school education system up to Plus Two level.

The conference called for integration of School, Higher Secondary, Technical Higher Secondary and Vocational Higher Secondary streams. A system for choosing optional subjects at the secondary level should be introduced.

Mr. Kunhikannan said the KSSP would take up about 150 grassroots-level specific studies during the next three months.

Based on these, it will launch a campaign aimed at giving a new development perspective for the State.

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