God's own land? Don't think so.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Saturday morning as I sit on the chair with some breakfast in my hand, staring through my window at the tree that has just bloomed and the rain drop dripping from its baby pink flowers, I ponder; have I seen this before? Of course - everyone has. I've seen it too, and have pondered about it back then, in what they call the God's own land - Kerala. Tile houses are surrounded by flowering plants and trees that get a booster shot as if life has been pumped into them as soon as the first ray of sunlight falls on them. Everything you see and experience out there is divine and is irreplicable (if that's even a word).
Well, that's the land that they all portray on websites and on the top attractions list that India carries in her pouch. Getting deep into the nooks and crannies of the inland, one would start to get the notion that maybe not. It may all be a hype. It is a great tourism destination but a state as big as Kerala cannot survive merely on tourism. Isn't there anything else out there? One would ask. And from what I've seen, there is but its gonna die out sooner or later.
The state has a unique distinction, a magnetic power if you may call it, to repel anything that comes in its path, any new notion, an idea, an industry. Anything that starts to bloom in Kerala is met with an ill fate; some do not even bloom, the idea is opposed and killed before it can even take flight. This is quite evident from the fact that there are almost no industries in the state, most of the people have fled to other parts of the country, the Middle East, the Western hemisphere and Europe.
Hartals and Bandhs are the backbone and the main reason that industries have tried to run away from the state. The state carries unique distinctions - like the most number of bandhs in the country (~100 bandhs a year in the recent times) , the maximum success rate of a Bandh has also been registered in the state. It had become such a nuisance that there was a Court ban on Bandhs and that too more than a decade ago.
Visiting Kerala a few months back, I heard from people that the state cannot go on living like this for long. Nokia was in a negotiation trying to setup a factory in India to make use of the exploding market in the subcontinent and this state was in its radar. They backed away the last minute and opened up their factory in the adjoining state of Tamil Nadu (TN) because of a fear that the labour force would spend more time on the streets raising flags and protesting than in the factory itself [overheard]. We all know the Coca Cola war that was going on a few years back. There are may more examples, which I do not wish to list here, that describe the sad story.
Literacy rate is one of the highest in the country but isn't that big of an asset because the young task force is not able to work in the state after he/she graduates. 20% of the educated class is unemployed (three times the national average). Most of the anger can be diverted to the politics in the state and the involvement of politics in colleges and unions at workplaces. Politics itself is a fire , forget mixing it with education and work .
And when young people try to bring a wave of change, they are opposed throughout their stint in the state and they don't have any other option but to resign to the fact that here I am trying to get some common sense but its all in vain. IPL - the big thing in India these days. A few months of sport and an income that would be enough to sustain one for years. This year, though, it has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The first half was taken over by the staggering $$ amounts that the team owners have spent and the news that there would be two new teams starting next season - Pune and Kochi.
Kochi - the port city in Kerala and the most happening place in the state. Young crowd that grasps anything that comes in its way, reflects it back to the audience watching and gives a "foreign" look to the city. The new announcement was grabbed with both the hands by the people and the dignitaries of the state. But when it seemed like everything was going smooth, the so called chair of the IPL started throwing dirt indicating that a minister of the cabinet (M Of State for external affair) Dr. Shashi Tharoor (who is an MP from Thiruvananthapuram) was involved in wrongdoings and was involved in obtaining the bid for the winners (Rendezvous).
If there's anything we can learn from the state's history it is the fact that we shouldn't be surprised. As I mentioned before, anything and everything that has attached itself to the state has encountered a road block and the matter has always gotten worse thereafter. Here's a guy who has left a United Nations job to come and serve for his country and finds himself amidst a storm initially and now a hurricane. Should he be targeted for his novice? It looks like he underestimated the state of Kerala and what it is capable of. The name in itself is enough to malign a good deed - he should have known that.
About a month back the state government sent out a letter to the Big B of Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan, indicating that they would like him to be the state's brand ambassador to promote tourism. BigB agreed only to be rejected a couple of weeks later. The government says it was yet to make up its mind on the matter. The fact was the BigB was promoting the same for the state of Gujarat, India, and they were questioning the fact that he's supporting the state were riots took place a few years back. I mean, come on - grow up. If you need time to think over then just say so before jumping the gun and sending out the letter and being made fun of in the public.
So, at the end of the day, even though many of its (Kerala's) social indicators are on par with the developed world and it has the highest human development index in India, it finds itself in a huge conundrum ... how to save itself. Low infant mortality, high literacy rate, highest life expectancy in the country, lowest school dropout, high gender ratio (women outnumber men), low population growth, lowest rural poverty in the country - are all statistics that look great on paper [stats courtesy BBC]. Even after achieving these positives, the state has one of the highest suicide rates, highest unemployment of the educated class, lacks industries that can make the state sustain itself and politics/unions that threat to shake the pillars and topple the building with a bandh/strike few often. Anything that touches the state or its affairs - turns into coal.
It looks to me that we are observing two extremes here. One extreme will eventually be successful. Which one? We need to wait and watch.
PS - Just my thoughts. Am sure all may not agree.
Well, that's the land that they all portray on websites and on the top attractions list that India carries in her pouch. Getting deep into the nooks and crannies of the inland, one would start to get the notion that maybe not. It may all be a hype. It is a great tourism destination but a state as big as Kerala cannot survive merely on tourism. Isn't there anything else out there? One would ask. And from what I've seen, there is but its gonna die out sooner or later.
The state has a unique distinction, a magnetic power if you may call it, to repel anything that comes in its path, any new notion, an idea, an industry. Anything that starts to bloom in Kerala is met with an ill fate; some do not even bloom, the idea is opposed and killed before it can even take flight. This is quite evident from the fact that there are almost no industries in the state, most of the people have fled to other parts of the country, the Middle East, the Western hemisphere and Europe.
Hartals and Bandhs are the backbone and the main reason that industries have tried to run away from the state. The state carries unique distinctions - like the most number of bandhs in the country (~100 bandhs a year in the recent times) , the maximum success rate of a Bandh has also been registered in the state. It had become such a nuisance that there was a Court ban on Bandhs and that too more than a decade ago.
Visiting Kerala a few months back, I heard from people that the state cannot go on living like this for long. Nokia was in a negotiation trying to setup a factory in India to make use of the exploding market in the subcontinent and this state was in its radar. They backed away the last minute and opened up their factory in the adjoining state of Tamil Nadu (TN) because of a fear that the labour force would spend more time on the streets raising flags and protesting than in the factory itself [overheard]. We all know the Coca Cola war that was going on a few years back. There are may more examples, which I do not wish to list here, that describe the sad story.
Literacy rate is one of the highest in the country but isn't that big of an asset because the young task force is not able to work in the state after he/she graduates. 20% of the educated class is unemployed (three times the national average). Most of the anger can be diverted to the politics in the state and the involvement of politics in colleges and unions at workplaces. Politics itself is a fire , forget mixing it with education and work .
And when young people try to bring a wave of change, they are opposed throughout their stint in the state and they don't have any other option but to resign to the fact that here I am trying to get some common sense but its all in vain. IPL - the big thing in India these days. A few months of sport and an income that would be enough to sustain one for years. This year, though, it has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The first half was taken over by the staggering $$ amounts that the team owners have spent and the news that there would be two new teams starting next season - Pune and Kochi.
Kochi - the port city in Kerala and the most happening place in the state. Young crowd that grasps anything that comes in its way, reflects it back to the audience watching and gives a "foreign" look to the city. The new announcement was grabbed with both the hands by the people and the dignitaries of the state. But when it seemed like everything was going smooth, the so called chair of the IPL started throwing dirt indicating that a minister of the cabinet (M Of State for external affair) Dr. Shashi Tharoor (who is an MP from Thiruvananthapuram) was involved in wrongdoings and was involved in obtaining the bid for the winners (Rendezvous).
If there's anything we can learn from the state's history it is the fact that we shouldn't be surprised. As I mentioned before, anything and everything that has attached itself to the state has encountered a road block and the matter has always gotten worse thereafter. Here's a guy who has left a United Nations job to come and serve for his country and finds himself amidst a storm initially and now a hurricane. Should he be targeted for his novice? It looks like he underestimated the state of Kerala and what it is capable of. The name in itself is enough to malign a good deed - he should have known that.
About a month back the state government sent out a letter to the Big B of Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan, indicating that they would like him to be the state's brand ambassador to promote tourism. BigB agreed only to be rejected a couple of weeks later. The government says it was yet to make up its mind on the matter. The fact was the BigB was promoting the same for the state of Gujarat, India, and they were questioning the fact that he's supporting the state were riots took place a few years back. I mean, come on - grow up. If you need time to think over then just say so before jumping the gun and sending out the letter and being made fun of in the public.
So, at the end of the day, even though many of its (Kerala's) social indicators are on par with the developed world and it has the highest human development index in India, it finds itself in a huge conundrum ... how to save itself. Low infant mortality, high literacy rate, highest life expectancy in the country, lowest school dropout, high gender ratio (women outnumber men), low population growth, lowest rural poverty in the country - are all statistics that look great on paper [stats courtesy BBC]. Even after achieving these positives, the state has one of the highest suicide rates, highest unemployment of the educated class, lacks industries that can make the state sustain itself and politics/unions that threat to shake the pillars and topple the building with a bandh/strike few often. Anything that touches the state or its affairs - turns into coal.
It looks to me that we are observing two extremes here. One extreme will eventually be successful. Which one? We need to wait and watch.
PS - Just my thoughts. Am sure all may not agree.
Labels: 2010, Amitabh, Bachchan, BigB, Bollywood, Cricket, Europe, Government, India, IPL, Kerala, Literacy, Nokia, Poverty, Shashi Tharoor, Tamil Nadu, Tharoor, Tourism, US
Posted by Rajesh @ 9:25 AM; PERMALINK,
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