ഭാരതം എന്ന് കേട്ടാല് അഭിമാന പൂരിതമാവണം അന്തരന്ഗം!!!!
കേരളം എന്ന് കേട്ടാലോ തിളക്കണം ചോര നമ്മുക്ക് ഞരമ്പുകളില്!!!!!
This post is due. Rather than writing about my nostalgias or weird fantasies, finally I am penning down something which I owe and quite a few others who make misinformed cynical comments deserve.
This is about that little state down south called Kerala which is often being talked about as a beautiful place sadly ruined by power of communism and a group of bad attitude people. Well, for a change, let me tell you something. Communism is not a bad word. It is a philosophy just like Capitalism or Libertarianism. Like all other philosophy, this too has its good and bad sides. Any philosophy at its extreme might prove detrimental to the freedom and welfare of the stakeholders. Just like extreme Capitalism will lead to higher disparity between the rich and the poor, extreme communism may lead to human right violations. But adopting such a great philosophy as a way of living by a large part of the community or having a political party following this philosophy run the government does not make Kerala a loser state!
Kerala is the first state in the world with a democratically elected Communist government. That happened in 1956 when the state in its present form was just born. Thereafter, this communist government has been voted in to power (and many times voted out too!!) by the people of the state, and not by military coupe or rebellion as you might fantasize. Rather than being an extreme institute of power and dictatorship, the Communist government has been focusing on rightful distribution of living conditions! I am not giving the credit only to the communist government. I am sure that each government that ruled the state has had its role to play in bringing Kerala to be the state with highest Standard of living index score. We have one of the highest literacy rates, lower infant mortality rate and low growth rates. And we have a higher woman to man ratio which is in par with the most developed countries in the world. True that we don’t have the kind of yearly GDP on par with other states. But at the same time, we also don’t have large number of beggars peeping into the car window at every signal like what happens in the big metropolitan cities. In spite of low domestic product and under developed Industrial sector, we don’t have a large BPL population. Recently I came across something called a Physical Quality of Life Index where our little state of Kerala stands only next to Japan even in the late 80’s in the whole of Asia.
We have learned in our basic economic classes:
Economic development = Economic Growth+ Social Welfare
Those states with the huge metros of the country (I live in one of them) might have a drastically higher growth in GDP, Consumption and Infrastructure. They could brag of the achievements they have made in IT, Industry, Agriculture- of their contribution to the national wealth. While not intending to suggest any of them are small achievements, I still wonder if any of them can demand their place at the top in case of social welfare. Yesterday, a misinformed friend of mine was suggesting that this achievement in terms of welfare of masses was achieved because of the low population. I have news for you my dear friend; we are talking about a state with a population density of 800 plus per square km, which stands 3rd in the most densely populated states in the country.
We might not have great industrial production to boast about; we do not have sufficient land and the unskilled laborers for these industries will have to come from the neighboring states (we have a population of highly educate people who would simply be over qualified for those work). But at the same time, we are already a dream destination for tourists. We are also slowly placing our foot in the IT and ITES sector with scores of technology parks coming up and investor friendly policies of the government (u heard it right!! The Investor friendly attitude of the left government!!!)
And what is so wrong with the people and their attitude? There are quite a lot of people who mock the large population of expatriates of the state. When opportunities were less in the country we had a large chunk of qualified people who exploited such opportunities available elsewhere. They are responsible for the steady flow of foreign income to the country. They form a major part of the NRI community which have played a major role in creating and building the economy. Moreover, they were the first brand ambassadors for the nation who propagated indirectly to the outside world that here is a country with a huge population of quality and skill whom you could rely on. And this belief is the basis of all outsourcing that has come to the country so far.
Those who criticize the strikes and demonstrations in Kerala against the government and authorities also should realize that this is part of a culture that has formed from questioning the unjust. We are a group of people who will raise our voices against injustice. Like many others in the other part of the country, we do not consider justice, welfare and social development as a gift; we believe that it is our right. Unlike the money making machineries that walk the earth in other parts of the country, we are aware of and concerned about the happenings around us, it is our nature to form opinion, respond and protest when things go wrong. Still, as per the latest India today survey, we stand first in maintain law and order in the country. This is achieved in a diverse population where one half is Hindu; Christian and Muslim a quarter each; which is a recipe for chronic communal warfare in the rest of India.
It is true that malayalies have a sense of humor that is self deprecating. We make criticizing yet funny jokes on ourselves. And their criticizing culture makes them discuss loudly about what we have not achieved rather than what we have. But that in no way should give others misinformed ideas that we are losers!!!!
