9th April 2017
The failed communist state of India – Kerala (by Adithyan C Pankaj)
BY ADITHYAN C PANKAJ – FROM A GROUP THAT I’M A MEMBER OF. UNEDITED.
In the context of kerala. People now know that Socialism don’t bring them any jobs but they are caught up in a lie that Kerala’s high HDI (highest in India) is down to socialism . Which can’t be further from truth, it was Christian missionaries and the disciplined back office nature of Madras state (of British India) that made the population literate which in turn reflect on HDI.
No entrepreneur with right mind will start business in Kerala. They are rightly scared of the union politics in the state and lazy trigger happy strike culture we have here. Just as I write Kerala now has Harthal in two Districts and one tomorrow in other district.
The percentage of FDI Kerala received as a share of total FDI India recieved is less than 0.3%.
Even the money from gulf goes to land and real estate instead of producing something of value which will bring opportunity for the population. Land prices are going up despite no real industrialization is happening.
Kerala government since it has no industries left to tax now depends on selling alcohol to make state fund . State selling alcohol to run state because it can’t generate meaningful businesses to tax. This is what gods own state has come to.
CPM marched against computer in 1980s which denied Kerala IT revolution and when all the neighboring states were trying to bring MNCs we were marching against them. If it wasn’t for that idiotic policy Kerala would have had a Banglore level city now with the human resource available. Instead now everyone goes to gulf, Chennai, Banglore,HYD.
Kerala really have no industries or jobs. Most of the state’s revenue comes from outside the state. Like Shashi tharoor said if something happens in the gulf Kerala will go morally and economically bankrupt. Kerala’s economy is almost entirely dependent on outside economy.
Current set up is pretty good for all parties involved so they don’t want any other party to come and ruin it for them. State owned businessesboards/societies, appoint party members and loved ones in high posts and do corruption. Give a share to IAS officers and Engineers and take rest ,split it to party fund and distribute rest among the ministers. This is what is going on atm.
Despite having 30+ public enterprises running on loss and on tax payers money they refuse to shut them down. New budget is talking about reviving some of the dead public sector companies.
Sir,
For the first time, I actually come across a Malayalee who actually thinks on capitalistic lines! But I gotta admit, this guy must be one in a million!
I hail from the neighboring Tamil Nadu which is also suffering due to decades of illiberal air, socialism, borderline communism, nepotism and the resulting corruption and broken public sector systems. TN was only marginally better in that they took in FDI more than other states at least till 2011, after which all foreign investments essentially left the state which is now totally broke with a total debt of INR 6 trillion (Govt debt of INR 3.16 trillion and public debt of INR 2.75 trillion along with a few more debts)!
Now back to Kerala.
What this person is saying is right. Kerala is a shit hole today (apologies, no decent way to put it) thanks to decades of rule by Congress and Communists who have led the state to doom. They’ve managed to establish a culture of unionism throughout Kerala at the expense of the state’s development. I see political and trade unions but no trade nor business at all, now forget about free trade.
Kerala has a bribe called “Noku Coolie” wherein trade union laborers demand extortion in the form of protection money. This is endemic to the state, and when added to the lazy trigger happy strike culture of the state, will naturally deter foreign investments. The CM of Kerala, in his budget earlier this year, has absolutely no idea of opening up any avenues for trade and business in his state. Instead, he proposes opening up more colleges and schools and also spending more on the welfare of Dalits (socialist, rather communist policy). I don’t understand how a state can be so dead set against development. Is it because they think they can leech off forever from other states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra, which in turn are also suffering due to lesser FDIs since 2014 (TN since 2011)?
If that’s the case, then I have bad news. There’s a spike in regionalism and sub nationalism in all the aforementioned states. As a Tamil, I must say, I’m shocked to see words which I never even heard of till a few years back that denigrate “outsiders”. This has been prevalent in Maharashtra for a few decades now, but it’s also newly rising in Karnataka. As for the Gulf, they’re already shutting their doors and sending back existing employed workers from India.
That 0.3% FDI might be due to NRI Malayalees working in the Gulf and also due to rich Islamic clerics from the Middle East promoting Salafism (a rabid sect of Islam with a purist view of religion) in the state.
And yes, everything there is exorbitant! I can’t spot even ONE special economic zone (SEZ) in the state nor ANY MAJOR industrial corridor, but there’s certainly no shortage of palatial buildings which again are priced unbelievably high.
Of course, it’s natural for Kerala to sell alcohol to keep its economy running. At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if they sold banned drugs in the near future for sustenance. One of the other prominent businesses in Kerala is selling Malabar cigarettes. Apart from that, it’s as empty as its government.
I did come across a few Malayalee Communists, who, by the way, are not even in India. They’re literally daydreaming! Here are a few extracts from them:
https://twitter.com/CarDroidusMax/status/818837899529650176
This thread: https://twitter.com/CarDroidusMax/status/777175217093443585
https://twitter.com/DasBolshevik/status/822346912502194176
https://twitter.com/DasBolshevik/status/818880895494987776
https://twitter.com/DasBolshevik/status/838290946739462145
https://twitter.com/DasBolshevik/status/836263647022211072
https://twitter.com/CarDroidusMax/status/824587532008509440
https://twitter.com/DasBolshevik/status/842038685134598144
In other words, they not only have no plans to develop Kerala, they want to drag everyone else down with them!
As for Salafism, post 2014, the culture of Hindutva has also made headway into Kerala. So you can imagine the rosy future for a state coupled with:
a. huge rates of unemployment and reliance on others.
b. underdevelopment.
c. religious fanaticism.
d. alcohol/cigarettes and maybe also drugs.
I rest my case.
Swarna Bharat Party is the only future for India as a whole today. India in my opinion is a combination of everything that’s wrong with a country. It takes the worst from all political schools of thought: far right racial/religious fanaticism, ultra leftism, even the libertarian school of thought. What’s missing is liberty. A country without any liberty (personally, politically and economically) is essentially a mishmash of everything wrong in the world. Hell on Earth.
But it will take at least a million years to convince Kerala out of its protective cocoon (which by the way has only destroyed it) of socialism and communism, if their current thinking is any indicator. If you feel exasperated at convincing Indians, Kerala will be even tougher.
But I am with you and your efforts all the way. Even though I’m no longer a student, I’ll think over it, and will generate ideas for a student union that promotes Swarna Bharat Party and classical liberalism in India.
Thanks.
Dear Sir, I have to disagree. Poverty index for me is the best measure to see the performance of the state.
I am the enemy of “poverty”
It has the less than 1% poverty rate.
I think the state policy is definitely bad and Anti-Business but it is the best managed state in the country.
There are two different things.
1. Best policy
2. Well managed despite the constraints of the system.
It is one of the best place to live in India. Especially rural area is well developed and beautiful.
Please do see the latest government report of poverty
(https://www.niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2021-11/National_MPI_India-11242021.pdf)