By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : On her maiden visit to Kerala as president, Pratibha Patil Thursday asked the state government to seek the help of its large diaspora in expanding the services sector.
“Kerala should aim at developing, producing and marketing knowledge products and becoming a ‘knowledge hub’ of the region. In this venture, the large non-resident Indian community from Kerala could be useful partners and investments from them can be attracted through innovative schemes,” Patil said at a public reception in her honour.
There are currently about 1.6 million people from the state settled overseas, mostly in the Gulf countries. Every year close to Rs.35 billion arrives in Kerala by way of remittances from these expatriates.
While complimenting the state on its impressive achievements since its formation this day in 1956, Patil expressed concern over the outbreak of communicable diseases in the state.
“The outbreak of diseases negatively impacts on the health of people and the economy of the state. An effective way to combat such diseases is to have proper systems of waste management. The Clean Kerala Mission is timely and should go a long way in maintaining health and further improve the quality of life of the people of Kerala. An action plan, with targets to be achieved in a specified time frame, is required to achieve the objectives of the mission,” said Patil.
The Clean Kerala Mission was launched Thursday — the state’s 51st birthday.
The government also launched the State Total Physical Fitness Programme and Health Related Physical Fitness Testing Programme for school children, which also came in for praise from Patil.
She pointed out that the demographic challenge for Kerala is its increasing elderly population.
“Focussed attention needs to be given to meet the needs of the elderly. On-site health care delivery can be provided to them through measures such as provision of mobile medical units, organising home visits to bed-ridden elderly and training caregivers. The needs of the elderly should form a part of the Healthy Kerala Mission,” she said.
Patil’s visit came amid a shutdown called by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday to protest the alleged callous attitude of the central government towards railway development in Kerala.
The president will spend a few hours at the famed Kovalam beach near here. She leaves for Chennai Friday.