Thank you dear subscribers, we are overwhelmed with your response.
Dear Chief Minister,
As you step into the 5th month in office, it would be appropriate to reflect on the decisive mandate received from the people of Keralam. The overwhelming mandate was a clear signal that people are with you. Such a mandate also brings with it high expectations and constant scrutiny.
This demands an approach to think beyond the next headline, the next controversy or the next political exchange and concentrate on things that will determine what Keralam looks like five and ten years from now.
The voracious reader that you are, I’m sure you would echo Peter Drucker’s thoughts that, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Keralam now has an opportunity to do precisely that.
First, put the state’s finances on a sustainable path.
Fiscal health may not make exciting headlines but it determines what a government can ultimately do. Keralam’s 2026-27 Budget estimates a fiscal deficit of 3.5% of GSDP and a revenue deficit of 2.2%. The state’s fiscal health assessments also point to high committed expenditure and limited room for productive capital investment.
The objective should not merely be to balance numbers on paper but to create fiscal space for the future. Every rupee saved from wasteful expenditure is a rupee that can eventually fund infrastructure, education, healthcare or productive investment. Every additional rupee of capital expenditure that creates economic activity is different from borrowing simply to meet recurring expenditure.
Second, make Keralam one of India’s easiest places to invest.
Capital is mobile, just like talent and businesses. Undoubtedly, Keralam possesses enormous advantages like human capital, global diaspora, geographic location, social infrastructure and a high quality of life. What investors need now is speed, predictability and confidence.
Land, power, permissions, logistics, taxation and regulatory processes must work together. The recent emphasis from the Centre on state capital expenditure and creating an environment conducive to private investment similarly highlights land, power, logistics and efficient clearances as critical ingredients. The goal should be simple: If a credible investor wants to build something in Keralam, government should help make it happen.
Third, make job creation the central measure of economic policy.
Keralam cannot afford an economy in which young people are educated here but build their careers elsewhere. Tourism, logistics, healthcare, knowledge industries, manufacturing, food processing, renewable energy, maritime services and digital businesses can all contribute, but only if Keralam creates an environment in which enterprises can grow.
Drawing inspiration from the famous book, Good to Great by Jim Collins, which you would have read many times, Keralam should ask itself: What would it take to move from being a good place to live to being an exceptional place to work, invest and build a business?
Fourth, focus relentlessly on quality of life.
Governance, no matter what your best intentions are, is experienced not in government policy or buildings but on the streets. A citizen should be able to expect reliable electricity, clean water, good roads, efficient public transport, functioning waste management, dependable healthcare and safe roads and public spaces, not occasionally but every day without fail.
Predictability is itself a form of development. A Keralam where people can travel safely at night, a business can depend on uninterrupted essential services and a visitor can move around the state without anxiety is a Keralam that will attract both people and capital.
Finally, choose your battles carefully.
There will always be controversies, provocation and another issue demanding a response. But not every issue deserves the Chief Minister’s attention. It is true that perception matters and equally true that every unnecessary confrontation consumes political capital that could otherwise be spent on things that genuinely change people’s lives.
There is little to be gained from combative press conferences or being drawn into arguments that disappear from public memory within days. The strongest governments are often those that allow their results to do the talking.
Another book that you are familiar with, Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, speaks of putting first things first. That may be the most useful principle for Keralam now.
Put fiscal discipline first. Put investment first. Put jobs first. Put infrastructure first. Put safety and quality of life first. Put institutional credibility first. Let the noise take care of itself.
Chief Minister, the mandate gives you an opportunity to govern boldly but wisdom lies in knowing where not to spend that political capital.
History will remember governments not for the controversies they won, but for the transformation they left behind. The people have given you the opportunity. Use it to make Keralam stronger, more prosperous, more predictable and more liveable.
The people gave you the mandate. Now give them a Keralam that makes them proud.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.