Kerala Model , Explained

 

In May 1957, Life Magazine wrote an article where it said "Kerala is the smallest and one of the poorest of the Indian states" The New York Times in 1964 spoke about Kerala's starvation. Indira Gandhi even said that she wouldn't eat rice until the rice demand is met in Kerala Now, take a look at this graph, which shows the ratio of per capita income in Kerala to the per capita average in India In the 1970s and 80s, Kerala's income was almost 20% lower than the Indian average. But after the 90s, this situation began to improve Based on the latest available data from 2012, Kerala's poverty rate is one of the lowest in the country So how did Kerala, a state whose first government came to power with a slogan, We are not going to do anything wonderful,managed to make such progress that it became one of the most developed states of India? We will get to know about that in this video "Passing through picturesque villages, busy boat jetties and vibrant life..." "Kerala unveils a harmony of art and nature..." "Keralam has been the cradle of invading forces from time immemorial..." "The economic conditions in Kerala is not very good..." Many of us would think that one reason that helped Kerala develop so much is the investments it made in health and education For example, from 1980s onwards, a higher share of Kerala's budget, compared to the Indian average, was invested in the health and education sector One of the main reasons for this was the Kerala Education Bill introduced by the Communist government in Kerala, when it came to power in 1957 In the late 1950s, most of the schools in Kerala were private and the teachers there received very low salaries. The 1957 bill changed this and the government started paying the salaries of private-run schools too and such schools came to be known as "aided schools" That is, schools that receive help from the government And hence, Kerala has been outpeforming the Indian average in many health and education indicators In fact, by 1999, the life expectancy in Kerala was higher than even South Korea and China But this progress didn't come only after independence. But princely states like Travancore and Cochin were outperforming the rest on India in these sectors "The cradle of invading forces..." The formation of Kerala took place in 1956 when the former princely states of Travancore and Cochin and the British-ruled Malabar district were made into a state because they shared a common language, Malayalam. Let's talk about Tranvancore, which was the most progressive all three regions The governance in Travancore was so strong that in 1867, the British secretary of state for India said that Travancore is a model native state  for its successful public administration Two factors that played a key role in improving the education of Travancore. First, was the proactive role played by the government For example, by 1904, the entire cost of primary education for lower caste residents was borne by the government of Travancore But some academics argue that often the role played by the government is exaggerated Some people believe that in the 19th century, the Travancore government didn't do much for the backward communities or women Instead, social movements and the Christian missionaries should be given credit for the same For example, reform movements like the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam helped provide education to lower caste communities Similarly, the missionaries helped build schools and colleges for the lower castes. For example, the London Missionary Society built schools for thousands of students But when the London Missionary Society schools started running into financial difficulties, the government stepped in. and they started providing financial support to them There were three reasons behind this- First- by providing them with financial support, the government had greater control over education in the state "Second, by supporting these schools, the government could ensure that the lower castes had their own schools and they would not use the schools run by the government for the upper-castes In fact, the upper castes in Travancore began to urge the government to open up schools for the lower castes to avoid mixing with them Third, the lower castes, many of whom had converted to Christianity, started demanding education too and so, to meet this demand for education, it was easier for the government to give support to existing Christian schools rather than building new schools Despite this, there caste discrimination was greatly prevalent in Kerala's education sector This is why Dr. Mitchell introduced the Education Code in Travancore to mitigate the caste discrimination For example, in 1891-92, lower castes Ezhavas (and I know I cannot produce Ezhavas correctly I cannot pronounce the Malayalam sound) In 1891-92, lower castes Ezhavas were only 2.1% of all pupils in government schools, while they constituted 16% of the population Which helped increase the literacy rate among the lower caste communities like the Ezhavas And helped Cochin and Travancore become among the most literate regions in India in 1931 And we need to realize that literacy has several advantages One of the key advantages is financial literacy Hence, it is not surprising that according to a research foundation, Kerala has one of the highest percentages of women who manage their own bank accounts And the ability to manage money is extremely important for everyone According to a survey, nearly 76% Indian adults do not adequately understand key financial concepts Another survey found that 72% Indians are unaware of how much to invest in order to achieve financial freedom In such a scenario, what can be especially useful is a centralized, automated system that can help you manage all the different sources of our financial investments - that is, all your assets and liabilities And one app that can help you do this is INDmoney, which is an all-in-one super app in many ways The key benefit of using INDmoney is that it auto-calculates how your investments are performing, which ones are doing well and which ones need urgent attention, and it can also help you invest in zero commission mutual funds I have been using it for a while now to manage my savings, expenses, and investments It sends daily alerts on my portfolio and it guides me on how to improve the performance of my portfolio. Through this app, I can also set my personal financial goals It acts as an automated personal CFO of sorts So if you would like to improve how you are managing your wealth, do check out the app! Link is in the description Just like it's performance in education, Travancore also excelled in health "In recent years, something new has been happening in Kerala..." "A baby born here is 3 or 4 times more likely to survive than the average Indian child Here, people are gaining the confidence to take more control over their lives and the improvement they achieve, generate more confidence and more change..." In 1865, the Tavancore Maharaja said that providing medical service to all his subjects is his ambition The rulers of Travancore and Cochin made vaccination compulsory for public servants, prisoners and students The government also put experts in key positions. For example, it appointed Dr Mary Poonen Lukose as Travancore's first Surgeon-General Such efforts helped it decrease the number of deaths caused by various diseases Such health and education reforms seen in Travancore, also took place in Cochin albeit at a later stage Whereas prior to independence, the situations in Malabar were not similar to that in Travancore and Cochin The responsible factors were poor property relations, and political and economic conditions, and worse education policy during the British rule But Malabar managed to catch-up with other regions of Kerala post-independence And after independence, the state governments continued their good work. Significant credit also goes to the land reforms undertaken by the Communist governments, beginning from 1957 and in the late 60s, which helped decease the share of landless people in Kerala And this is why Kerala's model is so unique. Because Kerala became more healthy and education before it became rich Two academics even said that they believe Kerala has made a "morally superior choice  in prioritizing health and education over consumerism and private gain for entrepreneurs But the lack of economic growth in Kerala could also be attributed to several issues that Kerala faced. One of them was unemployment In 1987-88, Kerala's unemployment rate was nearly four times that of India's average The key reason behind this were Kerala's strict labor laws and regulations which accorded a lot of power of the unions there And this is not the sole example of the power of Kerala's unions For example, in Kerala for long time there has been a practice of "nokku kooli", where wages are demanded by union activists to allow for the unloading of industrial materials at sites that use either machinery or their own labour for unloading Apart from the power of the unions, the state control on the economy also meant that the state couldn't innovate due to which employment couldn't be generated The power of the state and unions also made doing business in the state difficult. According to a 2009 report by the World Bank, Kochi was the second toughest place to do business among 17 cities in India Getting building permit approvals there could take more than 210 days in the city as compared to merely 80 days in Hyderabad Hence, it should not be surprising that Kerala was also struggling to get foreign investments These issues explain why Kerala's state income was largely stagnant for a long time. But in the late 80s, something happened. What? When employment opportunities arose in the middle east after 1970s then Kerala took advantage of that And that's where Kerala's years of investments in health and education paid off as the Keralites started working as salesmen, drivers, cashiers, and in engineering jobs abroad In 2018, nearly 14% of its workforce was working in foreign countries And a research has found that the households that receive remittances from abroad are able to save more, buy assets, and to invest more in land, education, and health And now the remittance income has become an important source of the economic development of Kerala Apart from the remittance income, Kerala also benefited from high agricultural income as well According to data from the Government of India, the average daily wage rate for male labour is almost double that of India's average This is why agricultural workers from states like Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand are migrating to Kerala Why are the agricultural wages so high in Kerala? One reason being that there is labor shortage as many have migrated to the middle East And second reason is the significant farming of cash crops in Kerala In 2015-16, coconut and rubber accounted for more than 60% of the area under cultivation in Kerala Despite the significant progress, Kerala is currently facing several economic challenges Key one being high unemployment, especially among its youth. In 2018-19, youth unemployment in Kerala was one of the highest in the country This situation has been worsened with the reverse migration that Kerala is witnessing due to COVID Moreover, as we know that Kerala is also facing an ageing population. In 2015, the share of population that was above 60 years in Kerala was far higher than that of the all-India average An ageing population requires the government to give pensions and puts more pressure on their finances which can become difficult for the government as the state of Kerala is undergoing a financial crisis In such a situation, Kitex Garments, the second-largest manufacturer of kids garments in the world, deciding to take a huge project out of its home state Kerala is a huge blow to the state And so now, the Kerala Model is back in the spotlight The health and education parameters of the state are still great. But it remains to be seen whether or not this progress will be able to solve the economic challenges of Kerala .