THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Set to ensure continuity in economic expertise even with a change in political leadership, the UDF government is all set to accommodate three economists with experience in public finance, development economics and taxation on the State Planning Board.
Noted economist D Narayana, former director of the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation (GIFT), Centre for Development Studies professor M Parameswaran and GIFT assistant professor Kiran Kumar are being considered as economic advisers to the Planning Board, which is set to be reconstituted under former cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar.
Among them, the choice of Narayana is likely to attract the most political attention. The proposed appointment of Narayana has triggered discussions within the Congress over the extent to which the UDF government should retain elements from the LDF administration’s economic policy framework.
According to Congress sources, Chandrasekhar was keen on including Narayana as a member in the planning board. However the proposal faced opposition from some sections as he was closely associated with the Pinarayi government.
Narayana had headed GIFT during the first Pinarayi government and subsequently had his term extended. Narayana shared a close association with former finance minister T M Thomas Isaac. He was later appointed head of the finance expenditure review committee during the second Pinarayi administration. The committee advised the government on public expenditure, debt, and revenue receipts.
That association, however, is only one part of Narayana’s relevance to the new government. He was also a member of the committee headed by Chandrasekhar that prepared the UDF government’s white paper on the state’s financial position, which was critical of the previous government. His proposed return to a formal advisory role therefore places him at the intersection of the economic thinking of the two administrations.
“The broader political question is therefore not simply why the UDF chose an economist associated with the previous LDF administration, but whether the new government believes that Kerala’s present fiscal and developmental challenges require a fundamentally different economic approach or a recalibration of an existing one,” a senior Congress leader said.
The composition of the advisory team also suggests that the government is looking beyond political affiliation in choosing expertise. Parameswaran specialises in macroeconomics, economic development, and industrial development, while Kiran Kumar’s research focuses on taxation and public finance, particularly the GST and the revenue performance of the Union and state governments. The move assume significance at a time when the government is confronted with difficult questions over public expenditure, debt management, and revenue mobilisation.