ALAPPUZHA: Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac has stated that the difference between performance of the Left Democratic Front's (LDF) first year in power and that of the United Democratic Front (UDF) will become evident from a comparison of the fiscal policies of both governments.

Inaugurating the `Jana Samaksham' programme in the district at Pathirapally near here on Thursday as part of the LDF Government's first anniversary celebrations, Mr. Isaac said the LDF view was that a solution to the fiscal crisis plaguing the State for several years had to be revenue-led and not based on deficit-targeting.

The UDF's emphasis was on reducing the deficit by cutting funds, salary and pension revisions, stopping ration subsidies, cutting expenses on medicine and so on, all of which hit the common man hard.

The LDF, meanwhile, was concentrating on increasing the revenue so as to cover the revenue deficit and a major move towards this was mobilisation of many taxes that were being ignored for years together. The Government had also taken measures to strengthen the agriculture sector and revive traditional industries.

Achievements

Another initiative was the State Farmers Debt Relief Commission that had already begun functioning while moves were on to waive loans of fishing sector employees through the country's first of its kind Fishermen Debt Relief law, the Minister said.

The strategy was yielding results, Mr. Isaac said, pointing out that the number of public sector units making operating profits, which were 12 when the LDF assumed power, had risen to 24 this year. "Our aim is to make all the PSUs in the State profit-making institutions by the end of this fiscal," he said.

While the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government and the Railways for the proposed coach manufacturing line at the Cherthala-based Autokast would be signed next month, Mr. Isaac said, the National Thermal Power Corporation would sign a MoU on June 23 with the Angamaly-based Transformers and Electricals Kerala (TELK) for a joint venture.

Several other PSUs including the Kerala State Drugs and Pharmaceuticals (KSDP), KELTRON and the Kerala Hitech Industries Limited (KELTEC) were all becoming profit-making ventures. This was a major achievement for the LDF since the UDF had tried to privatise these institutions terming them loss-making units, he added.

Decentralisation

The LDF was also reviving the democratic decentralisation programme to boost local self-governing bodies like panchayats and grama sabhas, many of which had stopped doing social audits and other necessary functions during the UDF regime, the Minister said.

Mavelikara MP C.S. Sujatha, Alappuzha MP K.S. Manoj, district panchayat president R. Nazar and Aroor MLA A.M. Arif were present.

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