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Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate on Monday ‘Kerala Looks Ahead,’ a three-day virtual global conclave that seeks to lay down the roadmap for Kerala’s long-term development by factoring in perspectives from top economists, industry leaders, administrators and planners.

Among speakers at various sessions are industry stalwarts Ratan Tata, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Azim Premji and Anand Mahindra and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. Fellow Nobel winner and economist Joseph Stiglitz and Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist with World Health Organisation, will address the inaugural session.

Suggestions, best practices

Hosted by the Kerala State Planning Board, the conference and consultative sessions will seek to collate suggestions and best practices for achieving a paradigm shift in development by building on historic achievements in welfare and invigorating growth through a long-term economic vision and by infusing technology into key sectors.

VK Ramachandran, Vice-Chairperson, Planning Board, said that the State is poised for a major transformation. “As decided by the Chief Minister, we are looking at specific areas where technology and science can play a pivotal part. The conference will help us learn from the best practices from the national and international levels,” he said.

Varied themes for discussions

V Venu, Member-Secretary, Planning Board, hoped that that the conference will help key sectors with deeper insights to fast-track transformation of the State into a knowledge economy. Four months of effort has gone into planning the meet and reaching out to the participants, he added.

The nine themes of deliberations being covered under different sessions include the primary sector (agriculture, fisheries and animal resources development); modern industrial possibilities; higher education (including international academic collaboration); skill development; tourism; information technology; e-governance; local governments; and federalism and development financing.