After boycott while opposition, UDF govt now gives Loka Kerala Sabha go-ahead
The UDF government has approved funding for the Loka Kerala Sabha, allocating ₹2 crore for its activities, aiming to connect Malayalis globally without extravagant spending, despite previous opposition.
The UDF government has approved funding for the Loka Kerala Sabha, allocating ₹2 crore for its activities, aiming to connect Malayalis globally without extravagant spending, despite previous opposition.
The UDF government has approved funding for the Loka Kerala Sabha, allocating ₹2 crore for its activities, aiming to connect Malayalis globally without extravagant spending, despite previous opposition.
Thiruvananthapuram: After boycotting the Loka Kerala Sabha while in the Opposition, the UDF government has now decided to continue with the forum, giving the initiative a temporary go-ahead for the new financial year.
The government has now granted administrative sanction for the Loka Kerala Sabha’s activities in the new financial year, allowing up to ₹2 crore to be spent on implementing directions from the previous session and covering administrative expenses. It has also sanctioned ₹1 crore each for the Pravasi Mission, a key recommendation of the fourth Loka Kerala Sabha, and the Sherpa project, which aims to guide non-resident investors.
The UDF had earlier criticised the Loka Kerala Sabha for dividing expatriates into different categories and alleged that it involved extravagant spending. Citing these concerns, the coalition had boycotted the biennial forum. However, expatriate organisations affiliated with the Congress and Muslim League had maintained that their members should attend a platform that honours non-resident Keralites. While the organisations did not participate officially, individual members used to attend the sessions in their personal capacity.
At the first meeting convened by the new government on the Loka Kerala Sabha, Chief Minister V D Satheesan said the forum was a good initiative that connects Malayalis in more than 100 countries, but called for some structural changes. The latest decision indicates that the government does not intend to scrap the forum.
Regional conferences organised by the previous Pinarayi Vijayan government in Dubai, the UK and the US as part of the Loka Kerala Sabha too had drawn sharp criticism.
The UDF government now maintains that its objection was to extravagant spending, not to expatriates and that the forum should continue without imposing any additional financial burden. The Muslim League’s view that a platform supported by expatriates as a whole should not be abandoned also influenced the decision. The Loka Kerala Sabha incurs around ₹2 crore a year in operational expenses.