Kerala Land of Contradictions

KERALA – The Land of Contradictions
By E.M. Adithyan

Kerala – the God’s own land, this is what Tour Operators, Travel Agents and Tourism Development Corporation propagates about Kerala. There is absolutely no exaggeration in this as the land is blessed with the beauty of nature. It’s long and beautiful beaches, back waters, lakes, rivers, tea gardens, rubber estates, waterfalls, wild-life sanctuaries, temples of architectural marvel, churches etc, are treat to watch for the tourists. They way many other places in the country are designated as picnic spots, every nook and corner of Kerala is a picnic spot. Kerala is a cynosure to eyes during festive and spring season and even in summer, it is not dry and drab.

However, there is another side of the picture too. Kerala is a land of contradictions. The State, which is having the highest literacy rate in the country, higher education is at a premium. There is only a very few professional education institution and students from the State have to migrate to some other places for higher studies. While students from north India come all the way down to south like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, students from Kerala also start their journey to various destinations. No wonder very few candidates from Kerala clear the All-India Level examinations.

Kerala is a highly politically conscious and volatile State. While in many other States “Gram Pradhan” or “Village Panchayat” mould the entire masses of a village, in Kerala even the head of the family cannot dictate terms to the family members as to whom they have to vote to. Inspite of such political awareness, political instability is the bane of Kerala. Coalition Government has become a tradition in Kerala from the very inception of the State. This political instability coupled with militant trade unionism were primarily responsible for the agricultural and Industrial backwardness of the state. The political parties in power are too much pre-occupied with settling their internal squabbles and keeping their position intact. Thus, they have little time to keeping their position intact. Thus, they have little time to think about the long term development of the State.

With the high density of population and literacy rate, getting a job in Kerala is a “Herculean Task”. Unemployment among educated youths in Kerala is the highest in the country. Still, strikes and lockouts are a common phenomenon in Kerala. While lack of investment by the Central Government can be attributed to the step-motherly attitude towards the State, private industrialists are averse to invest in the State, mainly due to labor problem. I am not advocating that the employees should not fight for their legitimate rights, but one should not forget the cardinal principle that anybody investing in industrial enterprises are doing so for getting some returns, just like people who do fasting and prayers do it for their own well being and not for the sake of heaven.

On one side, there is marathon run for the white-collar jobs, whereas on the other hand there is a big scarcity of labor for manual jobs, semi-skilled jobs and traditional jobs. Cultivation, especially paddy and other cereals has become a losing proposition due to non-availability of labor and high cost of inputs. The State of rice eaters is not even producing twenty per cent of its rice requirement. Kerala vegetables are very popular and many of the vegetables produced in Kerala’s soil are much tastier than the imported ones. However, they are not available for sale even in the remotest parts of the State as the very few who cultivate them are doing so for their own consumption. Kerala heavily depend on the neighboring states for all the requirement of vegetables, cereals, pulses etc. and according to a conservative estimate Rs. 1200 crores worth of vegetables are dumped into the State yearly.

The infrastructural facilities available in Kerala can be compared with any other metro cities minus its drawbacks like pollution, over crowding etc. All the facilities that are akin to a welfar4e state like education facilities, public transport, communication, hospitals, reading rooms, libraries, sports grounds, art clubs and sports clubs etc are seen even in the villages of the State. Public Transport System in Kerala is better than what is available in most of the advanced countries like America or Australia. Even though, the Gulf-boom has brought its side effects like alcoholism, drug addiction, increase in crime rate etc. Kerala is still a better place to live in as compared to many other parts of the country. Most of the Malayalees working in various parts of the globe prefer to return to their remote villages after retirement. Kerala has the potential to match or even surpass many developed nations. If the people and political parties in Kerala put their head and heart in the development of the State forgetting their petty, political or partisan considerations, Kerala will find q unique place in the world map, in the not too distant future. Otherwise Kerala will remain a permanent state for erecting petty political dramas.