Published Aug 15, 2026 | 11:59 AM ⚊ Updated Aug 15, 2026 | 11:59 AM
Kerala CM VD Satheesan. Credit: facebook.com/VDSatheeshanParavur
One hundred-day plans are to governments what New Year resolutions are to the rest of us: announced with great enthusiasm, displayed prominently and occasionally forgotten once the excitement wears off.
The VD Satheesan government’s 100-Day Action Plan for a ‘New Kerala’ is now facing an awkward reality check.
The UDF government had announced 602 projects across 50 departments, to be taken up during the 100 days from 1 July to 9 October 2026.
A public dashboard was also put in place, presumably so that citizens could watch the government’s progress rather than take its word for it.
And the dashboard has begun telling its own story.
As of Friday, with 56 days remaining in the 100 days, only 13 projects had been marked as completed.
That is not quite the sort of scoreboard governments usually rush to publicise.
The plan had been unveiled with considerable urgency.
At a Cabinet meeting on 20 May, the government decided to implement its 100-day programme, focusing on initiatives that could be delivered without waiting for the full five-year term.
Chief Minister Satheesan had also directed departments to prepare project proposals and begin steps to implement the promises contained in the UDF election manifesto by 2031.
The resulting list was anything but modest.
A staggering 479 projects were placed under livelihood, employment and income-generation initiatives. Of these, just 13 have so far been shown as completed.
Then there is the category carrying perhaps the greatest weight in the title itself — infrastructure development and long-term infrastructure for Kerala’s future. It contains 123 projects. Completed so far: zero.
The dashboard, meanwhile, offers another interesting feature — the progress of individual departments.
And here the government’s report card gets even more colourful, though perhaps not in the way its planners intended.
Several departments currently show no progress.
They include Electricity, Coir, Environment, Science and Technology, Cultural Affairs, Housing Technical Cell, Minority Affairs, Scheduled Caste Development, Scheduled Tribe Development, Vigilance, Devaswom, Finance, Law, Parliamentary Affairs, Taxes, Registration and Local Self Government.
That is quite a collection.
A 100-day programme with 602 projects was meant to demonstrate that the new government could move quickly on its promises.
Instead, the dashboard appears to be demonstrating another familiar feature of government: the considerable distance between announcing a project and actually finishing it.
Of course, there are still 56 days to go.
Governments have surprised citizens before, and departments could yet produce a late burst of activity. The dashboard may eventually become a record of rapid execution rather than delayed promises.
But for now, the numbers offer a rather less flattering picture.
The UDF government has put 602 promises on the dashboard. The dashboard, in return, has put 13 ticks on the scoreboard.
The remaining 589 projects, one suspects, are still waiting for their turn in the spotlight.
There is, after all, plenty of time left — at least on paper.
