THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Making a forceful attempt to showcase Kerala on a national platform, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has sought the intervention of the Union Government in various issues pertaining to Non-Resident Keralites abroad, especially in the Gulf region. Addressing the 10th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas at Jaipur on Monday, a copy of which was released here, Oommen Chandy said that issues of lack of security, reasonable living conditions and legal protection for the skilled and semi-skilled workers are a major area of concern which need to be addressed by the Union Government. He also called upon the Centre to initiate steps for augmenting the staff strengh of embassies in West Asian countries, along with institutionalising legal aid cell in embassies.Chandy said that India tops globally in terms of receiving remittances from abroad, pegged at $55 billion in 2010, which represents 4.2 percent of India’s GDP. The major proportion of the expatriate population from the country is from Kerala. The remittance by the NRI population in the state was `49,965 crore, which was 22 percent of the GDP of the state, proving that it is the backbone of the Kerala economy.As the majority of NRKs are in the unskilled and semiskilled workers category, the state government has initiated a slew of welfare measures like the Pravasi Kshema Nidhi and Pravasi pension and insurance coverage up to `2 lakh for a nominal contribution of `300. Schemes like Santhwana and Chairman’s Fund are also being implemented for the benefit of the poorer sections of NRKs, he said.Turning the occasion to extend an invitation for ‘Emerging Kerala-2012-the Global Investor Connect’ proposed to be held in Kochi this September, after the NRK meet held recently, he stressed that all efforts are being taken to position Kerala as an attractive investment destination in the country and convert the state from a wage-earning society to an entrepreneurial one. The sectors targeted for development in the state through nurturing of micro, small and medium enterprises are IT and IT- enabled services, tourism, healthcare, knowledge and education, trade and retailing,food and agro- processing, energy including green energy, biotechnology, nanotechnology, water and inland waterways, ports, ship building and related industries and infrastructure development, Chandy said. The “Emerging Kerala” meet will showcase them.Chandy said globalisation is an irreversible phenomenon, which has increased the mutual dependence of countries. While there is a greater sharing of economic growth, negative effects of decelerated growth is also shared. There is a double dip in the global economic growth and widespread crisis in economic confidence is also visible. NRIs have to face the brunt of any such global crisis, he pointed out.
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