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

The Other Side of Outsourcing

I watched this excellent feature regarding outsourcing in youtube - The Other Side of Outsourcing presented by Tom Friedman, an American author and columnist.

The story showed the booming IT/ITES sector in India, the westernised youth, RSS, NGOs and finally Slums. Tom has covered almost all the relevant aspects of globalisation in India and really showed the ground reality in India.

I have no doubt that the outsourcing is a boon to Indian economy and particularly for the ever growing youth population. It helped to solve the unemployment problem for the educated middle class to a great extend. Apart from direct employment, it has positive influence in the entire economy, as it provides indirect jobs such as cab drivers, support staff, canteen venders, construction workers etc. The government is also getting richer, thanks to the corporate and income taxes. The land value and the rents went up as a result and the standard of living changed for the better. I am also one of the beneficiaries of outsourcing as I have managed to steal a 'British Job'.

As the video suggests, the untapped talent of India is huge. Our education system is highly competitive and that to an extend developed a youth population who are focused on what they are doing. As the youth gets dispensable time and dispensable money, they tend to deviate from the family bonds, which is a little concern for me. The kind of turbulent personal relationships in western world should not repeat in India. A very valid point by Dr. Anathamurthy, regarding the family bonding in India. It takes care of social security in India. Unfortunately, we are inheriting the demerits of westernisation as well.

Tom decided to cover outsourcing after the outbreak of protests against it in western countries. We can make out that he had genuine concerns about the loss of American jobs. However, the answer was given by Azim Premji . he openly said that west can't have double standards as they enjoyed the benefits of globalisation and open market by selling their products here which has resulted in closure of many indigenous businesses and los of jobs. Now its our turn to benefit from it, and I am afraid Americans will have to be innovative to face competition.

RSS acts as the moral police which opposes any kind of westernisation to safe guard Indian culture. Their reaction against valentines day is absolute rubbish. I believe that its the people who should decide whether to celebrate it or not. Expression of love is nothing wrong as we should not forget that Kama Sutra originated here. You cannot impose culture to anyone. I don’t think our culture, which is thousands of year old, is fragile and needs upliftment. Ours is a secular state and no one has the right to question people's choices.

What we should not do in this bright rosy word of outsourcing is to forget the majority population who are still struggling. The people in slums who doesn't have basic education, shelter, food and sanitation is something which the society and government have to concentrate on. As Indians shows optimism of becoming super power we should not forget that major portion of our population are still in villages. The upliftment of socially backward people and brining them to the main stream is the most important task. I would like to salute the NRI who gave wings to the dreams of those poor students. We should not close our eyes on the fact the sections in the lower class need a dramatic upliftment if India has any chance of becoming a developed country, forget about "Super Power". Apart from flyovers and 6 line roads, there are lot of things which we need to focus on. Education is the most important aspect as we have huge talent which goes unnoticed due to lack of proper education.
Please have a look at teach India and participate. Lets also contribute to this society rather than sitting in our cozy bed room and blogging about it!

Gulf and Communism

The inspiration for this post is a movie named Arabikatha, another excellent movie from Sreeni. The film is about the struggles of a communist in Dubai. Sreeni just lives as 'Cuba Mukundan' in the movie.

Gulf and Communism - Two factors that has a significant influence in life of Keralites. Every malayalee is one way or the other impacted by these two at one point or the other. Communist leaders like AKG and EMS has played an important part in the party's efforts for the upliftment of the lower classes of the society. Lands were recovered from feudal land lords and distributed to poor. Significant efforts were made to improve education and basic health care. Its a crime to forget their contributions to the society, especially to the deprived class, who were treated as slaves at a time. The played a vital part in creating a 'Kerala Model' , which was studied with interest even by foreigners.

However, as we all know Kerala's economy is struggling due to lack of Industries in the state. The fingers will defenitely point towards the red flag. Their aggressive revolts against industries has not just stopped foreign investors, even keralites moved out of the state to start business.



This is where, we should understand the significance of Gulf in Kerala's economy. The money which is pouring from the desert to this small state, was the only single force which backed our economy. Countless malayalees are working in desert now, with their hearts filled with memories of their homeland (God's own country).Their hard work has ensured their families back home,a good life with all the basic facilities. Their interaction with near and dear ones are only through telephone, or during their visit once in two years or so.

The communists today can amass significant wealth (which is against their policies), can run companies (they are against capitalism!), can use laptops (they are the first ones to oppose computer!) also! So hopefully they will change their policy and welcome industries, and bring back those people who work far away from home. Lal Salam.