No IIT or AIIMS, budget has dashed Kerala's hopes: Chandy

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Saturday said the union budget has dashed his state's hopes as they had already identified land for an IIT and AIIMS but when the time came it was left out.

"This has dashed our hopes. Even though there is mention that the present state government-run National Institute of Speech and Hearing has been upgraded to a University, assistance for Kochi Metro and also for startups, what we got is just a miniscule of what we really deserved," the chief minister said.

"There have been no sops to check the falling prices of rubber and spices. Besides the long standing demand of declaring Sabarimala as a national pilgrim centre has also not materialised," said Chandy.

Leader of opposition V.S.Achuthanandan said the budget pleases the corporates and has pushed the common man into deeper trouble.

"The common man has been taxed to please the corporates and this, in turn, will lead to price rise. The huge majority in Kerala has been struck a shocking blow in the budget.

"The rubber farmers appear to have been thrown from the frying pan into the fire, as there's nothing for them. Kerala has been taken for a ride by the centre," Achuthanandan said.

But Startup Village, the country's first PPP model technology business incubator, hailed the proposals in the budget to set aside Rs.1,000 crore for setting up a Self Employment and Talent Utilisation (SETU) programme, saying it would give a fillip to incubation of startups, especially in the technology sector.

Startup Village chairman Sanjay Vijayakumar said financial allocations for SETU and Rs.150 crore for the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) would increase budgetary flow to incubators and seed funds for startups.

Atal Innovation Mission aims to create world class innovation labs, thereby accelerating job creation in the software sector.

"These announcements are significant as availability of funds has been a major stumbling block for early stage startups. It will have a positive impact on fostering a culture of entrepreneurship," he said.