Union government’s attitude affected our finances: Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], February 6 (ANI): A day after presenting the state budget, Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal said that the budget was passed amid a poor financial situation owing to the Union Government's attitude which affected the state's finances.
"We presented this Budget in a situation when the Union government's attitude affected our finances. There is also a trend of nation-wide slowdowns for many reasons. In such a situation, we had to improve our economic activity," Balagopal said speaking to ANI on Tuesday.
The Finance Minister said that the state focussed on new employment generation, new developmental activities, and more facilities for education to attract talent within the state.
"New generation employment and new developmental activities should be there. Our focus was on more employment, more economic activity and more facilities for education for the younger generation because many are migrating for education. We have to get them back there," Balagopal said.
Speaking about talent going out of Kerala due to lack of educational and employment facilities in the state, the Finance Minister said that the state should be made into an education hub.
"We have to make Kerala an education hub. Many teachers are going from Kerala to other states, especially in English-medium schools...Many of our students are going abroad for education and employment. If good education facilities are here, we can attract more students in Kerala," Balagopal said.
"Employment generation is also necessary for bringing people from other parts of the country over here," he added.
The Finance Minister said that a lot of developmental activities can be planned around Vizhinjam, where one of the biggest ports in the region will come up.
"Vizhinjam will be one of the biggest ports in the belt. We can have a lot of developmental activities around the port. New industries, logistics, food processing units, residential complexes can come. There are a lot of opportunities," Balagopal said.
Advocating the idea of creating special economic zones in Kerala, the Finance Minister said, "We can have special areas of development under the Indian system where we can invite people like NRIs and foreign companies to invest. The ease of business facilities needs to be protected."
Balagopal said that the state government highlighted the difficulties faced by the state since allocations for the Union government were not coming in properly.
"In the Nava Kerala Sadas program, we spoke on what developmental projects we are planning on and the difficulties we are facing regarding union and state relations, how the allocation for states is not coming in properly and what are the areas of curtailment of revenue allocation. So we decided to go to Delhi to raise the issue of central-state relationship," he said.
The Finance Minister said that the Union government needs to have a "positive attitude" as fiscal federalism is important for cooperative federalism.
"This is an area where a lot of discussion needs to be done and a positive attitude should be taken by the Union government. Fiscal federalism is important for a country that is always advocating for cooperative federalism," Balagopal said.
Comparing the allocations received by Kerala earlier to what the state is receiving currently, the Finance Minister said, "We were getting 3.8 per cent of the divisible pool at the time of 10th Finance Commission. Now we are getting only 1.9 per cent. We were getting some revenue deficit grants, but from next year on, we are not getting them. After the introduction of GST, the real income of the states are affected."
Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal presented the Kerala Budget 2024-25 on Monday, outlining a vision for a "New Kerala" while criticizing the central government's "hostile approach" that he claims has pushed the state towards financial crisis.
Balagopal launched a scathing attack on the central government, accusing it of causing financial hardship for Kerala. He asserted that the state wouldn't remain silent and urged unity to build a "Navakeralam." (ANI)