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Kerala State Minority Development Finance Corporation SOCIAL SERVICE

4.270 The State Government constituted the State Minority Development Finance Corporation to
provide financial assistance to income generating projects, housing finance, educational loans,
vocational training etc to minority community. An amount of `1500 lakh has been provided as share
capital contribution to Corporation during 2014-15. The Financial and Physical achievement of the
corporation is given in Appendix 4.126

Outlook for Social Service Sector

4.271 While evaluating the education system in the state as a whole, it is seen that the deterioration
in the quality of education being imparted at various levels in the state has been a major concern.
Urgent and focussed efforts have to be taken to get rid of this dismal situation. Again the Vocational
Higher Secondary Education introduced in the state for imparting education with stress on labour
skills at plus two for achieving self/direct employment as well as vertical mobility has not been able
to deliver its objective. The curriculum has not succeeded in equipping the students either with their
traditional skills or modern skills. The ‘de-skilling by education’, together with the disdain for manual
labour inculcated at the schools and colleges has resulted in the ‘paradox of scarcity of labour’ in a
state where the unemployment rate is very high. This has to be rectified by re-visiting the curriculum
of the Vocational Higher Secondary Education in the State. Another major issue confronting the
educational system of Kerala is the mismatch between the courses available and the courses
required. This mismatch between demand and supply is more pronounced in the area of Higher and
Technical education. There exists a lack of interaction between educational institutions and industry.
Collaboration of our leading technical institutions with leading industrial groups may help in making
education more relevant to industry and knowledge based service sector.

4.272 The hall mark of Kerala model of health is its low cost of health care, universal accessibility and
availability even to the poor sections of the society. Democratic decentralization in Kerala improved
infrastructure facilities and equipment in primary and secondary healthcare institutions and widened
healthcare delivery. However, the issues to be addressed are nutritional imbalance of tribal areas,
second generation issues like old age care, lifestyle diseases viz. heart diseases, diabetes, high
blood pressure, and obesity, the changing morbidity pattern in the state viz. bird flu, cancer, trauma
care etc. and re-emergence of communicable diseases- which will be addressed seriously in the
coming plan periods.

4.273 The Department of Social Justice should review and strengthen the overall functioning of the
existing welfare institutions to provide better facilities to the inmates as per the norms and standards
prescribed in the legislations. There is a need to discard those homes which have lost utility and
introduce new ones in accordance with the evolving demands of the vulnerable groups. Synergy
between Government and civil society and the obligations of Corporate Social Responsibility can be
harnessed for the development of these institutions.

4.274 With a view to integrate the Persons with Disabilities into mainstream society, the State should
formulate a disability policy. This has already been done by 7 states in India. The activities on early
detection and early intervention of disability recommended by the 12th plan Working Group should
be implemented in the remaining period of the 12th plan. Steps should also be taken to ensure 3
percent reservation for disabled people entitled in PWD, Act 1995, completing the ongoing disability
survey for enacting policies and new programmes and to address the problems of persons with
Autism, Cerebral Palsy and Mental Retardation.

Economic Review 2014