Impregnable and imponderable Malayalee mindset

Kerala is nature’s paradise with greenery, enchanting flowery plants with coloured flowers, mystic , cosmopolitan, with age old traditions, culture, and with temples, churches, mosques, synagogues, built during pre-dated historical times. It is god’s Own Country. From time in memorial, travllers and merchants came to this tiny land with their wares and took back spices, ivory, herbs. Christianity was established here even before Europe was aware of it; the most mosques were built here, way back in the 7th century. Vasco-da-Gama, landed on her shores, which led way to other European settlements. Today, Kerala can boast of human indices which have no par with amongst other states of India. It has 100% literacy, and the highest newspaper readership, women overtaking men in Census, expatriates around 1 million who remit money back to their homes which accounts for around 8% of the Foreign Exchange Reserves which is equivalent to 80% of the foreign institutional investment in India. The private sector which provides higher educational courses provides a strong climate for bringing out high professionals in medicine and engineering. Kerala has the highest suicide rate in India. The Banks do not recycle money to productive activities so that production units can manufacture goods getting income to distinct people at different stages making money circulate. Instead of putting money into commodities, the Banks do not circulate the money in Kerala which would have caused manufacturing expansion, capital money circulating brings about employment, realize itself in an expanded value. Money does not circulate in the state but is siphoned off to nearby states for disbursal as credit and creation of capital there. Capital and Labour are mobile. That is what is happening in Kerala. Those sectors which have production facilities like Coir, banks heavily on raw materials from Tamilnadu- coconut fibre has to be transported from Tamilnadu while manufacturing units are in Kerala. Kerala produces 93% of natural rubber, to feed manufacturing units mostly concentrated in North India. Absence of industrial landscape makes Kerala, a consumer state. Its production base being zero, whether in vegetables, or others, it banks on import from other states. Kerala has plenty of abundant water with 41 rivers flowing west and three flowing east, crisscrossing the state. Yet, in terms of per capita consumption, the state is next to Rajasthan, in the 20th place amongst the States. Kerala’s economy is imponderable. It has sky rappers like any metropolitan city. The fleet of cars imported with flashy bodies, colours, engines, worth Crores is seen on the roads. Even National Highways and Street Highways which may look like Village Roads do not have the capacity to hold the traffic. Investment in concrete jungles, highest pollution, has made people here susceptible to diseases. In this State Build, Operate and Transfer won’t work. First, people may not surrender their land. Secondly, they won’t pay any toll. Another reason why there is no economic activity is on account of heavy spending of household on Gold. India’s 10% of gold sold is in Kerala with an annual growth of 20%. Liquor is another industry that thrives. Tourism brings in foreign exchange but the visitor is the medium end traveler whose spending capacity is narrow. One of Kerala’s best natural Ports, Kochi, seem to await cargo. It deals more with import cargo, rather than export cargo. It lags behind the latest Ports like Tuticorin and Vishakapatanam. It can at best be a transshipment port. Export cargo should come from different places. There is a need to amend the Cabbotage Law. Kerala's industrial policy seems to be devoted to service sector only. It does not imbibe the export policy nor does it care for high end manufacturing sector. Secondly, export sector consist of commercial crops, while value addition is very little or meagre- spices, cashew, coir, coconut, fisheries, rubber, etc. Kerala has many political leaders, who had held very important portfolios at Delhi. Unlike other state ministers, they seldom use their position to bring giant projects to India. Textiles units and telecommunications, Software units are all over the state of Tamilnadu. Railway connectivity is 100%. Kerala is no where in the picture. Kerala’s bureaucracy is apolitical with a few with definite leanings, but none of them are development oriented. Kerala’s communism has made the state liberal in outlook. That was why Kerala executed the Mullaperiyar agreement in 1970 revising the original agreement signed on 29 Oct 1886. If Tamilnadu was in Kerala’s shoes, would they have signed this agreement? It was during Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s time, Kerala came into being in 1956. It was PM Shri Nehru, who dismissed the first Communist Government which was elected to power in Kerala in 1960. Pt Nehru seemed to find in Kerala’s intellectual traditions exactly what he needed in order to understand the troubled mind of India. He attributed Adi Sankara’s intellect to be the reason for his Advita thoughts (Glimpses of World History). However, in his Discovery of India, while praising Sankara’s striving to synthesize the diverse currents that were troubling the mind of India of that day, Pdt Nehru had mistakenly stated that Adi Sankara was born in Malabar, while he was actually born in Kaladi, the present day Angamali. Distorted history and impregnable virtues of a Malayli makes Kerala look for greener pastures. Kerala gets handful, but it deserves more than it gets. But it does not yearn!