Udayor Blog

After all the small irritants cleared, the new team under a people's chief minister, as Shri V S Achuthanandan has come to be known, is about to begin its work. Time those who love the state and its people stood by them. With all the potential that is available, also within the limitations of the electoral democracy in a post-colonial polity, a sense of hope is discernible. Appointment of a new chief in the state Planning Board, the apparatus announced to over see the working of the government are all pointers to a responsible government. Also a responsible Party, for the people have entrusted tremendous faith in the coalition lead by the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Perhaps the entire country is watching Kerala.

Now the main issues that the state is facing needs immediate and long term strategies, to correct the drift that has set in. The state for the last several decades has been held at ransom by vested interest groups. What in common parlance is called 'vote bank politics'. Each minister trying to bleed the state as much as possible to feed selfish interests and own community interests. What had come to its peak in the outgoing A K Antony and Oommen Chandy governments. This trend has to be stopped and the state has to look at common goals. Cancerous growth of vociferous community groups destroy the larger body is a common sense observation.

Kerala has unique problems and need unique sloutions. Thus a state economy caught up in the flood of international remittances is a unique problem of Kerala. Where there are no custom built solutions in the constitutional safe guards. Neither there are options within the federal statutes. These need daring solutions if the ailing state economy is to be saved. For as it is the international remittances to the state exceeds the central budgetary allocations. How the state plan process goes haywire. The social implications of this, like those with external sources getting fat at the other's cost, or the central sectors becoming capital starved, are to be tackled.

The core issues facing Kerala have been neglected, deliberately, by the various governments and shallow issues made central. This has to change. The wide spread poverty that exists in various sectors of the society when a very small group has come to monopolise resources has been reported by many studies. The latest being the KSSP study that gave shocking data about Kerala, the communist state. What it means is that the state has wider rich - poor divide than elsewhere. How to tackle this is a challenge, if this is not done the results shall be devastating to the state. This is a boiling vulcano. The disease has become chronic.

Perhaps there has to be daring initiatives like taxing the extra rich with international sources, to pool in resources to the deprived, asking the public sector banks to cough out money to the capital starved sectors, what they have refused to do earlier, among the many solutions possible. Obviously these shall be resisted and only a resolute determination shall work. Especially so since these groups have media muscle power. The unemployment scene in Kerala needs concrete steps to tackle and this has to be taken as a part of the devlopmental model. For this shall stand corrected if the capital starved sectors are given capital and skills. The ailing and idling public sector has to be resurrected if possible with private participation.

The state presents its biggest threat in the degradation of the natural resources, encroaching forests and legitimising that was a major objective of vote bank politics
so far and in this there was a continuity from British times. The governmnet has to take stern action in this sector and weed out the enemies of the state. For the water balance of the plains is dependent on the forests on the hills. Whoever destroys it are common enemies of the people. This is an area where the new Chief Minister has raised a lot of hope. What has to be proved in action. The mad rush to make palatial mansions as houses needs to be stopped, it has eaten up the river sands, rocks and wetlands. Perhaps taxing big houses is an option.

The near dead agricultuer sector needs fire fighting approaches and here again the state has taken the wrong road so far. The rubber crop, mostly under the Syrian Christian community, had been promoted with heavy subsidies and the paddy crop of the common people left to die. This has created an economic and environmental catastrophe as paddy cultivation is linked to the water balance of Kerala. Loss of paddy fields thus affect the wetlands and water availability in the state ecosystem. It also affects the food availability of the state. How Kerala has rampant malnutrition levels. But this did not merit any priority so far.

The frontier areas like IT sector, where Kerala has great advantages as a major global IT highway pass through this small state, needs professional approach. With some of the best IT professionals across the world belonging to Kerala their service can be made use of to tackle multiple needs of the state. What has to be taken care of in this is the chemistry of Kerala population, where the skilled are capital starved and this has to be addressed through tailor made solutions. Injecting a judicious mix of international capital in to these sectors. That a more equitable social order results in the future.

Education remained a monopoly of the Christian church in post-colonial Kerala, what has been terribly damaging to the state. For it is here that the young minds are molded. If Kerala lacks in self confidence and courage the most important reason is here. The urge to commercially exploit this sacred duty of bringing up our young ones needs to be corrected. The education department has to take cocrete measures to revamp the public sector institutes in education. Perhaps a series of institutions selected for value addition, like the old Model Schools, shall be advisable. The students have to be weaned away to healthy alternatives.

The delivery systems of government and the other institutions have been polluted over a period of time and these needs to be depolluted. These have become places to accomodate the near and dear of the powerful and the rich. The state goverment officers and staff in Kerala are among the most unproductive as a comparative picture shows and this is directly linked to the unionising trends. No answerability is there now and every wrong doer is shielded by the powerful unions. This is an area where the Party, more than the government, has to intervene from within.

Kerala facing some of the most menacing problems in India and sliding down the scale, as reports tell Kerala is worse of than all neighbouring states now, needs courageous and pro-active solutions and strong will to implement these. Hue and cry created by teh vociferous groups should be ignored and the people should see results in another three years, that is the gestation period for five year governments. And with the global processes of monopolisation eating in to every country Kerala can do some wonders in state planning. What the others can emulate. For the world is looking for solutions and the Communist parties in India have great advantages. India is indeed a big country, if the people stand together it shall be a great country.