PM to inaugurate Kerala Development Congress

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 8 (PTI) Prime Minister ManmohanSingh will inaugurate here on February 11 the KeralaDevelopment Congress, a three-day meet organised to discussvarious aspects of the state''s economic and socialdevelopment.

Union Ministers, experts from diverse fields, planners andscientists would address various sessions during the event tobe organised by the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of DevelopmentStudies under the KPCC.

This is the first such exercise being organised by theCongress in Kerala, KPCC President Ramesh Cehnnithala andinstitute Director Prof B Balachandran told reporters today.

The focus of the presentations and discussions would be the"developmental crisis" of Kerala and ways to put the stateback on the path of sustainable development and economicprogress.

The main topics to be covered by the meet would include"Indian Economy and Kerala", "Non-Resident Keralites andforeign capital investment"," Traditional and modernindustries", " Agriculture and allied sectors", "Environmentand Sustainable Development" "Decentralisation and localbodies" and "Women Empowerment.

Union Ministers P Chidambaram, Vayalar Ravi, C P Joshi,K V Thomas, Economic Adviser to the Prime Ministr CRangarajan, former heads of ISRO K Kasturirangan and GMadhavan Nair would address various sessions of the meet.

Two months ago, CPI-M''s AKG Research and Study Centrehad organised a Kerala Study Congress which looked into thestate''s developmental issues from the Leftist perspective.