THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After a historic mandate that rewrote the pattern followed by Kerala voters in alternating rival political fronts in government every five years, the Pinarayi 2.0 government did not get a break to celebrate the triumph.
The pomp and splendour is missing even when the LDF government completes 100 days in office. Instead, there is an air of anxiety triggered by the rising Covid numbers and increasing deaths.
For the second consecutive day, the state reported 30,000-plus cases. The total Covid deaths crossed 20,000-mark on Friday as 162 more patients lost their lives.
For the past several weeks, Kerala has been contributing more than half of the daily Covid cases in the country, prompting the Union government to depute delegations of experts to the state. Opposition UDF, which observed a studied silence in the initial days, has stepped up the attack against the Left government’s Covid management strategy as there is no reprieve from the situation.
“The government is trying to vaccinate maximum number of people and protect the lives and livelihood of all. We need to stand united for this cause,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday.
On non-Covid issues too, the government faltered on several occasions. During the honeymoon period, the Opposition had called for the resignation of two ministers — A K Saseendran (Forest) over an alleged telephone call to settle a case regarding outraging the modesty of a woman and V Sivankutty (General Education) who was ordered to face trial by the Supreme Court for destroying public property in the assembly ruckus case.
The ministers could save their skin as protests organised by the Opposition seeking their resignation lost steam in between. Also haunting the second Pinarayi regime is the ghost of Muttil tree felling case happened during last term.
Pinarayi 2.0: Governance yet to gain momentum
New details in the case that came out this week have complicated the issue and even point fingers at the chief minister’s office. The Opposition has already demanded answers from the CM about the ‘Dharmadom Connection’.
The governance is yet to be in order in majority of the departments as the new ministers are still picking up the alphabets of administration.
The appointment of personal staff members is still continuing as the CPM wants to have a strong say in all of them.
Many of the new faces are yet to make their mark in administration and this has become a glaring issue as they are compared with their predecessors who had discharged their duties effectively.
“For directions, all ministers are looking towards the CM. It is causing delays in taking decisions. The risk appetite is totally missing from the cabinet,” said a senior official.
“The expectations about the new government were very high as getting re-elected is a rare phenomenon in Kerala. When we compare the performance with the expectations, the result is a huge disappointment. The government urgently needs to revise its Covid strategy and initiate steps to regain the confidence of the people. I suggest CM Pinarayi to resume his daily press briefings. Let him patiently explain the situation and challenges,” said political scientist and Central University of Kerala former vicechancellor G Gopakumar.
Though the government reconstituted the Planning Board, appointments to several other boards and institutions are pending.
“There is no dearth of experts in the state. Still, we are placing low-profile academics in many institutions. To make the most of the bigger concepts like Knowledge Economy, the government needs to bring in real experts at the helm of crucial institutions,” said a Left ideologue, requesting anonymity.
‘Proper plan to execute projects needed’
Political scientist and former Kerala University pro-vicechancellor J Prabhash said the government’s priority now is to prepare a blueprint of projects to be implemented in the five years.
“The manifesto is a guiding document. A plan with proper deadlines needs to be put in place if LDF needs to win another term. The government has already announced progressive projects such as poverty eradication and easing domestic work burden of women. A proper plan for executing these projects in a time-bound manner is necessary,” said Prabhash.
84-day gap between vax doses for efficacy: Centre
The Centre has informed the Kerala High Court that the 84-day interval between two doses of Covishield vaccine was prescribed considering higher efficacy and not due to shortage.
‘Enemy within families’
A study by the health department showed that 35% of the new patients are being infected from their family members, Health Minister Veena George said in an advisory issued on Thursday.
Only .054%
Of the migrant workers in the state have received both doses of vaccine.
58% of country’s Covid cases in Kerala
NEW DELHI: While Covid positive cases in India crept up to 46,164 on Thursday, the highest since early July, 58% of them were from Kerala where the pandemic is showing no sign of abating.