Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 5 (SocialNews.XYZ) Union Minister of State for MSME, Labour and Employment Shobha Karandlaje, who is also the BJP’s co-incharge for the Kerala Assembly elections, on Thursday alleged that the state government, while raising demands for an AIIMS, had failed to utilise three medical colleges already allotted to Kerala -- two in Wayanad and Kasaragod and an ESI medical college in Kollam.
As part of a nationwide outreach by Union Ministers to explain the Union Budget, Karandlaje accused the Kerala government of not cooperating with Central schemes.
She said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should focus on development instead of indulging in political posturing.
She alleged that both political fronts in Kerala were spreading misinformation about the Union Budget.
According to her, the specific allocation of schemes for States would become clear only in the coming months after discussions in the standing committees of Parliament comprising MPs from different parties in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.
A detailed picture of what Kerala receives and under which schemes would be available only when the final proposals are placed before Parliament by the end of March.
“No state has been mentioned by name in the Budget. Projects are sanctioned first to those states that provide land,” she said, adding that Kerala had received Rs 26,500 crore this year under various schemes.
She said the allocation for Kerala had risen from Rs 27,382 crore in the 2025–26 Budget to Rs 36,355 crore this year.
The Centre’s loan allocation to the State had also been increased to Rs 21,077 crore, a 23 per cent rise over the previous year.
Despite this, she said, Kerala continued to allege discrimination and neglect by the Centre.
Referring to agriculture, Karandlaje said Kerala has coconut cultivation spread over 7.76 lakh acres and that the Budget has announced major schemes and financial assistance for high-density, high-yield coconut farming.
The plan involves replacing low-yield coconut trees with more productive varieties.
She said 10,000 people in Kerala would be trained in the health sector as part of a nationwide programme to train one lakh people.
The Centre also plans to expand food processing infrastructure and has assured marketing support for farm produce.
The Budget, she said, focuses on Kerala’s strengths in agriculture, fisheries, dairy, tourism and healthcare, and called on the State government to cooperate.
She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government had ensured direct transfer of benefits without intermediaries, noting that Rs 48.67 lakh crore had been transferred directly to beneficiaries’ bank accounts over the past 10 years.
This, she said, marked a shift from earlier times when only a fraction of government assistance reached beneficiaries.
Karandlaje added that Kerala had also benefited significantly from tax devolution and urged comparisons between allocations a decade ago and now.
Under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Rs 13,356 crore has been disbursed to beneficiaries in Kerala’s micro and small industries sector, she said.
She also said that ongoing national highway, rail, port and airport development projects announced in earlier Budgets would continue until completion.
Source: IANS
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