Kerala - Proving that its STILL God's own country

Kerala has been awarded number one state based on the ranking in
various socio economic factors. As usual the anti kerala/mallu elements ridiculed the report. The crusaders who blogged their way to fame by abusing kerala and mallus couldn’t digest the Stats given in the survey which is done by Price Water Coopers. There is no doubt that Kerala is lagging behind other states in attracting investment and has a lot of scope for improvement. However, in spite of limited funds available to the government of kerala, they managed to achieve a better rating compared to the other states which has got huge foreign Investments.

Take the example of Infrastructure. People must be wondering how Kerala
got a better rating compared to Karnataka and Tamilnadu which boasts
of Express highways, Flyovers and huge buildings. People who criticize
this survey should understand the variables which are used for ranking. Its not the number of flyovers, but its the connectivity of roads to villages, number of beds/ 1000, schools, telephone density etc which were taken in to consideration. Infrastructure development should not confine only to cities, the benefit should reach to common people through out the state.

It is evident that the money flowing in to the big states are not passed on to the lower sections. Rich will become richer and poor will remain poor and will be deprived of basic amenities. Kerala is criticized for spending money equally in cities, towns and villages when others invested heavily on the cities forgetting masses in small towns and villages. Socialism may be a unrealistic dream for many here, however kerala at least tried to become a socialist state by not forgetting the lower sections and people who live in far off towns and villages. People who are blinded by the wide roads and flyovers in the major cities need to take some time off to visit places outside the city. Karnataka is not just Bangalore and TamilNadu is not just chennai. There are human beings living in other parts as well and they do have the right to have proper roads, schools, hospitals and other basic amenities.

To set up industries in kerala is not easy compared to other big states. It is not because mallus are rude. It is because of various other reasons. Industries, especially manufacturing units will find it hard to find space to set up big factories as kerala is heavily populated. Moreover industries will be forced to follow stringent measures to control pollusion and emission. They are well aware that people and environmentalists react to anything which disturbs the living condition as this will affect the tourism industry of the state badly. Is it wrong to keep our house clean?. The industries will prefer other states to kerala because they get cheap labour (from the so called 'developed states'!!), and this kind of interventions seldom arise. They don’t have to confront people as they seldom has the courage to raise their voices(thanks to poverty and illiteracy). Even if something comes up the companies use their money and muscle power to suppress it. They can easily bypass emission norms in other states (thanks to the corrupt officials).

Typical example is coca cola factory issue. People revolted because the company contaminated the drinking water of an entire panchayath. Can anyone who has at least bit of humanity left in their heart can say they did something wrong. People who sit inside air conditioned offices and blog against the decision taken by the government will never realize the harsh reality. Common man’s drinking water has more importance in kerala than an MNC.

I am not trying to glorify Kerala here; we have a lot of things to improve. Unemployment is the biggest worry. We need to look at the Service Sector as it will not have the bad effects which the manufacturing sector has. I could sense positive signals from the state. Technopark and Vizhinjam project are examples of it. Crusaders hardly comment on it, as their eyes are closed firmly. I have no idea what kind of satisfaction these people get by saying, ‘mallus are hypcrites’, ‘dogs own country’,‘inflated mallu ego’, ‘are mallus generally rude’ (The funniest by far - A Non resident Mallu who visited kerala and thought mallus inside kerala are rude just coz none of the taxi drivers or waiters called him ‘Sir’!!!). The kind of image mallus generate in such blogs will definitely affect the overall image of the state. I am sure even after the implementation of the projects in pipeline, the 'reformers' will not stop as mallu bashing is fashion now.

Inspired by Ajay.

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Dedicated to all those who hate mallus. Special thanks to Laiju