AA Edit | New UDF Govt Is Off To A Good Start In Kerala

The 21-member United Democratic Front (UDF) team led by V.D. Satheesan has assumed office in Kerala, ending an unprecedented 10-year term of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and shouldering the burden of meeting the aspirations of its highly demanding people. Though it took 11 days for the Congress high command to pick him as the chief minister, Mr Satheesan wound up the discussions with the alliance partners on the formation of the team in two days. It is true he has conceded a lot of space, and ministerial berths, to the rivals within his party but in the process he ended the UDF practice where the team formation normally is a multi-phase weeks-long programme. It is to his credit that he was able to commence the work he has been entrusted within a reasonable time.

The UDF Cabinet, in its first meeting, has decided to implement two of the five guarantees it had made to the people before the election. The first is free travel for women in the state-owned public transport system and the second is to create a separate department for the care of the aged people. Both are the felt needs of the people. The new ministry has not gone into the financial implications of the decision to make travel free for women from June 15; the experience from the other states which offered the freebie, especially Karnataka, is not very encouraging. There are apprehensions about the impact the decision will have on the public transport system operated by the private sector, too. However, it will come as a big boon for a large section of the working class women.

The formation of the first elderly care department in the country has come in time as the state where roughly one in every five persons is above 60 years of age has the responsibility to ensure a dignified life for its senior citizens. The government should be able to pick the best elements from the models available from across the world and set an example for the rest of the country.

Three more guarantees, which could heavily burden the exchequer, are yet to be implemented. Most southern states that meet the lion’s share of their revenue expenditure are facing an uncertain future when it comes to balancing their account. A small relief for Kerala is the award of the 16th Finance Commission which raised Kerala’s share in the Union’s divisible tax pool from 1.925 per cent to 2.382 per cent for the 2026–31 period.

Mr Satheesan played a big role in the UDF snatching the political argument from the LDF and using it to return to power after 10 years. Now the challenge will be to beat the LDF’s record on governance, especially on the development and welfare fronts. Even his critics would agree that Pinarayi Vijayan, who led the LDF government during the two terms, has put the bar pretty high. Kerala leads other states in almost all human development indices of the NITI Aayog.

It is true of Kerala that it takes all the running to stay in the same place. Team Satheesan will have to work real hard if it were to overtake the current pace.