The Hindu Business Line : Kalam presents 10-point agenda for Kerala

The President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, on his arrival at the Legislative Assembly hall, accompanied by the Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy; the Governor, Mr R. L. Bhatia; the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Mr Kodiyeri Balakrishnan; and the Speaker, Mr Therambil Ramakrishnan, on Thursday. - C. Ratheesh Kumar

Thiruvananthapuram , July 28

THE President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, has presented a 10-point agenda to make Kerala an economic powerhouse by 2015.

AdMressing members of the State Assembly on Thursday, the President urged the State to adopt 10 different missions, which included development of tourism, waterways and deep-sea fishing; creation of an army of nurses and paramedics to meet rising demand at national and global levels; setting up exclusive economic zones to attract NRI and other investments; and the use of space technology for industrial development.

The other areas in the President's list were development and marketing of knowledge products and pharmaceutical products and value addition to tea, coffee, spices, coconut and fruits.

Mr Kalam congratulated the people of Kerala for having taken the State to the top rung in the country in the National Human Development Index. "There cannot be any mission other than removing the poverty of the people and bringing prosperity to the State in a time-bound manner," he added.

The President expressed confidence that the State's per capita income could be increased from the present Rs 23,000 a year to Rs 50,000 in three years. The State could also create an investment-friendly climate, leading to the opening up of new employment avenues for its 3.7 million educated unemployed youth.

Mr Kalam said the quality of products, cost-effectiveness and timely supply were crucial if the State were to remain competitive in the emerging national and global markets.

He was certain that Kerala would be able to increase tourist arrivals from the present six million domestic tourists a year to 12 million and 3.5 lakh international tourists to one million.

Pointing out that Kerala's contribution to the country's export earnings of $18 billion from information and communication technology applications during 2004-05 was quite low, he urged the State to venture into knowledge products in addition to other IT-enabled services.

In fact, Kerala is endowed with the human resource required for IT tasks and the necessary infrastructure with excellent global connectivity.

He said Kerala should aim at developing, producing and marketing knowledge products in a big way through a consortium approach involving committed academic institutions, local IT industries and Government agencies.

He suggested the formation of a `task team' by the State Government with experts drawn from different IT areas for formulating and implementing a plan to develop, produce and market, nationally and globally, IT products and IT-enabled services worth at least $2 billion by 2008.

The President also urged the State to set up at least five exclusive economic zones with proactive labour policies and single-window clearance system and establish 200 PURA (Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) units along its 500-km coastal stretch so as to provide physical, electronic, knowledge and economic connectivity to people living in the coastal areas.

All missions should be linked to promotion of entrepreneurship in the State, the President said.

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