Kerala CM criticises Centre's 'Swades Skill Card'
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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan criticised the Union government's 'Swades Skill Card' programme on Friday. The CM slammed SWADES (Skilled Workers Arrival Database for Employment Support), which was intended to support expatriates returning to the country, saying that it didn't create the intended impact on the targeted community even after two years of its announcement, PTI reported.
Because of ill health, Industries Minister P Rajeev read out Vijayan's speech at the function, which was inaugurated by Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Thursday.
Addressing the Loka Kerala Sabha, he alleged that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre is ignoring Kerala, not granting the state's demand for a package worth Rs 2,000 for the expatriates who returned due to the Covid-19 onslaught.
He said that the Centre did not even bother to respond to the Left government's request.-
Vijayan claimed that his government always recognised the expatriate community and saw them as an inevitable part of the state's social life.
The third edition of the Loka Kerala Sabha was attended by 351 delegates, which included 180 representatives from 65 foreign countries. It is an initiative of the Vijayan government, a convention of non-resident Keralites.
The Congress-led UDF had boycotted the event, citing police's atrocities on its activists as well as fresh allegations on Vijayan by gold-smuggling accused Swapna Suresh. They also posted that Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan's quieries regarding the benefits to expatriates from the last two meetings of the sabha held in 2018 and 2020 stay unanswered.