KERALA is considered a puzzle in international developmentdebates as it reportedly shows economic stagnation with highsocial development. Comparative longevity, declining fertility,better infant survival rate and increasing literacy are somedevelopment indicators usually projected. With the kind ofpublicity received within the country and abroad, there arefrequent calls for replicating the Kerala Model everywhere.
But curiously, inflation in Kerala has made consumeritems, including food, scarce for the poor; unemploymentrates are steadily climbing an all time high; alcoholism andsuicides are increasing alarmingly, and poverty and malnutrition figures glare one in the face.
Areas under paddy - the staple foodcrop - shrunk from875,000 ha in 1970-71 to 560,000 ha in 1990-91, and todayKerala produces 10-86 lakh tonnes of paddy annually, barely30 per cent of its requirement. Vegetables and cereals are allbeing imported despite the state having rich soil conditions,an annual rainfall rate of 3,000 to 4,000 mm and enoughhuman resource.
It was estimated that poverty was highest in Kerala as earlyas the '60s- rural poverty figure was 90.75per cent. With thedecline in foodcrop production and dearth of substantialincome in traditional industries like cashew, coir and tiles, thesituation has only worsened now.
Unemployment figures display disturbing dimensions,with more than 40 lakh registrations in the governmentemployment exchanges - almost three times the nationalaverage, with women constituting 52 per cent.
Women's condition in general is miserable. Althoughhighly literate, their share in leadership rules is negligible, andthe breakdown in women-centred traditional industries likecoir and cashew has adversely affected the already disadvantaged rural women.
Alcoholism and dependence on psychotropic drugs aresteadily on the rise in Kerala. Now Kerala leads India with aper capita alcohol consumption of 8.1 hire? This is only a whiffof the actual situation, as rampant illicit brewing and liquortrading in the state determines the exact magnitude of theproblem.
Kerala students fall way behind in national competitionsand while advanced research stagnates, the governmentmachinery works overtime to project a haloed state of affairsexisting in the state's education. The increasing apathytowards everything indigenous has seriously damaged nativevocations and art forms.
To look at purely economic developments, in 1993 alone,the external remittances to Kerala banks totalled Rs 4,499crore - mainly from migrants to the Middle East - whichthe government has failed to channelise effectively for anypublic utility. This led to the alienation of the land-dependantpoor on one hand) and absentee landlordism harming theagricultural sector on the other.
In fact, between 1970-71 to 1986-87, large land holdingsincreased from 7.2 per cent to 9.67 per cent. The share of agriculture in the state domestic product came down from 53.40per cent in 1960-61 to 33.92 per cent in 1991-92, according toone estimate. With the unprecedented rise in foreign exchangeremittances and their investment in land, the whole scenariohas indeed acquired very peculiar dimensions.
Tribals and the fisherfolk - the people dependant on thecommons of the state - present perhaps the most cruel faceof the Kerala Model. Ironically, the scheduled tribes, whichconstitute only 1.10 per cent of the population, have beendeclared totally 'literate' in July 1993. With depleting forests,organised land encroachments and severe cultural alienation,the Kerala tribals are at a loss. Of late, it is reported that efforts are on to legalise encroachments, while a recent survey saysthat already 9,646 tribal households from a total of 21,600families in Wynad district are landless.
The most serious and perhaps irreparable damage hasbeen inflicted on the environment. Massive deforestation,largescale conversions of paddy fields and wetlands, destruction of indigenous environmental safeguards like ponds andsacred groves, are a part of the same destructive continuum.The resultant effects, of course, are droughts, floods, landslides, drying rivers, drinking water shortages and erratic rainfall. No wonder that extensive laterisation of the soil, eutrophication of waterbodies and rising temperatures, according toscientists, are sure to herald in desertification.
The Kerala Model of development, therefore, cannot becomplete without addressing this grave threat to our life-supporting systems. Ideally, the model should call for questioningthe fundamental assumptions about the priorities, methodology and interpretation, and dissuading the project on of specific developments are alienated from historical and agro-climatic factors for short-term political gains.