Kerala CM Urges NRIs to Contribute to State Development

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday urged the Non-Resident Indians in the United States to contribute more actively to the growth of various sectors in the state. Lauding the role the community has played so far in the development of Kerala, the CM said there were many things about Kerala that the expatriate Malayalis could be proud of.

Pinarayi was speaking at the inauguration of a convention of the Federation of Malayali Associations of Americas (FOMAA) at Thiruvananthapuram, the Hindu reported.

NRI contribution in state development

While the state chief minister pointed out that the NRI community had done a lot for Kerala, he also stressed that more needed to be done. He recalled that when the state was experiencing a major financial crisis, its revival was aided to a great extent by the remittances by the expatriate community. He sought their involvement especially in areas such as creation of jobs, medical facilities, and excellence in education. Waste management, river water management, and agriculture were the other areas in which their contribution is required, he added.

Pinarayi hailed the level of education, the standard of living, which was aided by the fair wages for work, and secularism in the state.

Federation of Malayali Associations of Americas

The association gave education assistance for 100 cancer survivors through the Regional Cancer Centre on the occasion. It has earlier taken up several medical and social projects in Kerala, including getting a Pediatric Care and Outpatient Ward built at Regional Cancer Center, Thiruvananthapuram, building houses for the poor, providing financial help for cancer patients, and initiating the Clean Kerala project.

FOMAA, founded in 2006, is a collaboration of 65 associations and  serves over 700,000 Keralites living in the US and Canada. The organisation holds social, cultural, charitable and educational activities involving Malayalees, educates the youth of Kerala origin about the richness of the state and Indian culture, and promotes Malayalam language in North America.