White Paper exposes Kerala's weaknesses, not Balagopal's

Chief Minister V D Satheesan's 'white paper' on Kerala's Fiscal Health was clearly intended to puncture the LDF government's fiscal management claims. But the structural issues the 'white paper' lays bare -  committed expenditure, weak capital spending and inadequate revenues - are not the making of the previous government. These are structural issues, almost congenital. In fact, former finance minister K N Balagopal had done his bit to valiantly take on these troubles head-on. For instance, he was able to rein in the seemingly uncontrollable growth in debts. Occasionally, he had even brought down the committed expenditure.