KOCHI: Expectations are running high as the new government assumes office. Having voted decisively for a fresh beginning, people are looking for meaningful policy initiatives and administrative reforms that can deliver both immediate corrections and long-term improvements across key sectors.
For most citizens, governance is experienced most directly through policing and healthcare, two sectors where experts believe structural reforms can no longer be delayed.
Former DGP Jacob Punnoose told TNIE that key structural and administrative reforms are essential to make policing more efficient and accessible to the public.
“The most important and immediate change has to be in the supervisory structure of police stations. We need a second layer of scrutiny. Once the CI was made in charge of the station, the close and intensive supervision that had existed earlier was lost. A DySP has a much wider jurisdiction,” he said.
Punnoose also stressed the need to reduce wastage of police manpower in non-policing duties. “Today a significant portion of manpower is deployed for clerical and administrative work,” he said, adding that personnel should directly answer phone calls and remain connected to citizens.
Another major area requiring attention, he said, is digitisation. “There should be greater focus on digitising functional work. This can save both money and effort,” he said, adding that point-duty deployment of traffic police should be reduced as far as possible through technology.
Finally, he emphasised that policing should evolve into a citizen-centric service. “Police services must be delivered at doorstep, just like other public services. The need for people to visit police stations for routine services should be minimised,” he said.
Healthcare experts, meanwhile, argue that Kerala’s biggest challenge lies in reducing its growing disease burden through preventive healthcare.
Dr Althaf Ali, professor of community medicine at Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, said Kerala continues to depend largely on systems and policies established decades ago, without significant interventions suited to present realities.
“We have to control the environmental factors that lead to communicable diseases. As much as 85% of liquid waste in the state is untreated, while only 5% of drinking water is treated,” he said.
He also pointed to the alarming rise in lifestyle diseases. “We have one of the largest populations with lifestyle diseases — diabetes and hypertension. Most people take medicine, but lifestyle correction is missing. We need more playgrounds, active lifestyles and efforts to curb unhealthy eating,” he added. “What the state needs is a proper plan and focus. We need a health cadre that can effectively tackle these issues,” he said.
The transport sector remains a concern. Despite receiving over `13,000 crore in the last decade, KSRTC still lacks financial sustainability. Though it boosted revenue via new initiatives, critics say it has moved away from its core role of serving routes avoided by private operators. Kerala’s 1,600-km waterway network also remains underutilised.
On the economic front, Dr M P Jayesh of Christ University, Bengaluru, said Kerala’s fiscal situation reflects both the strengths and contradictions of the state’s development model.
“Kerala achieved high human development through sustained public investment in education, health, decentralisation and social welfare. However, this achievement has also created a high-commitment expenditure structure dominated by salaries, pensions, interest payments and subsidies, leaving limited fiscal space for productive capital investment,” he said.
Jayesh argued that the new government should immediately focus on fiscal prudence through administrative reforms, digital governance, better procurement systems and restructuring of loss-making public enterprises. “The state should prioritise capital expenditure that generates long-term economic returns rather than excessive revenue expenditure,” he said. “Local self-governments should get autonomy to issue municipal bonds for mobilisation of funds,” he added.
FICCI Kerala State Council chairman V P Nandakumar said reforms aimed at improving ease of doing business must continue to revitalise the industrial and commercial sectors.
He stressed the need for faster issuance of licences for new ventures, quicker reforms in land laws and plantation sector, and more business-friendly policies to accelerate the growth of SMEs and the state’s rapidly growing startup ecosystem. The industry body also proposed a review of policies concerning public sector enterprises, arguing that government investments should be limited to key sectors.987+
Roadmap for change
Sectors the govt should focus on
HOME
Reform supervisory structure of police stations
Reduce manpower wastage in non-policing duties
Improve accessibility, public responsiveness
Strengthen cyber policing, digital crime response
Promote tech-driven traffic management
HEALTH
Introduce measures to reduce out-of-pocket expense
Strengthen prevention of communicable diseases
Improve referrals to reduce pressure on tertiary care centres
Implement effective strategy for non-communicable diseases
Improve public, researcher access to health data
EDUCATION
Ensure smooth central fund flow
Improve noon meal scheme, ensure timely distribution of textbooks and uniforms
Assess learning outcomes at key stages of school edu
Introduce higher edu courses focused on enhancing skill
Expand collaborations with reputed foreign universities
TRANSPORT
Make KSRTC financially sustainable
Improve connectivity in routes avoided by private operators
Upgrade and modernise ageing bus fleet
Better utilise state’s 1,600-km navigable waterway network
Modernise water transport fleet
FINANCE
Identify, rationalise non-essential expenditureExpand & strengthen e-governance
Shift to PPP-based developmentRestructure loss-making PSUs, rationalise workforce deployment
Introduce municipal bonds
INDUSTRIES
Ensure continuity of ease-of-doing-biz reforms
Accelerate licensing procedures for new ventures
Fast-track land, plantation sector reforms
Strengthen policy support for MSMEs and startups
Limit government investments to key sectors
LSGD
Strengthen decentralised governance
Improve urban waste mgmt and scientific disposal systems
Enhance drinking water supply and sanitation coverage
Accelerate smart governance, digital delivery of civic services
Enhance disaster preparedness, climate-resilient local planning