FACTS againest MYTHS V0L-VII-6-2001
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- FACTS againest MYTHS V0L-VII-6-2001
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VIKAS ADHYAYAN KENDRA
Vol VII # 6/2001
INFORMATION BULLETIN
The Collapse of a Paradigm:
Myth of the Kerala Model of Development
COMMENT
erala in the recent years had been the focus of national and global institutions for successful
performance in key areas of human development, particularly, education, health, and social welfare
measures. Its experience had shown that condition of life of people could be improved even at a low
level of economic growth through different applications of public action and the appropriate redistribution
strategies. This development experience has come to be summed up in a commonly used phrase,
‘Kerala Model’. The Model challenged the traditional economic paradigm: first agriculture and industry
have to develop and then, in due course, improvement in the standard of living of the masses would
follow. It is this historical sequencing of economic growth and mass welfare sanctified by the experience
of developed North that sought to be questioned by this Model.
As one of the relatively economically backward States in the country with a per capita domestic
production consistently below national average Kerala was able to provide for the basic needs of
most of its citizens. A composite index of quality of life taking into account various factors placed
Kerala above the general trend prevailing in India. It also recorded success in bringing down the birth
rate in a non-coercive manner. In countries of comparable income, including other states of India, life
expectancy is 58 years, and only half the people can read and write; the birth rate hovers around 40
per thousand. Development experts use an index they call PQLI,1 for “physical quality of life index”,
a composite that runs on a scale from 0 to 100 and combines most of the basic indicators of a decent
human life. In 1981, Kerala’s score of 82 far exceeded all of Africa’s, and in Asia only the incomparably
richer South Korea (85), Taiwan (87), and Japan (98) ranked higher. By 1989, Kerala's score had
risen to 88, compared with a total of 60 for the rest of the country. It had achieved all this even though
it is among the most densely crowded places in the world —the population of California squeezed
into a state the size of Switzerland. It had developed a remarkable public distribution system, and
the average level of nutrition of its population (judging by anthropometric measurements) is better
than that of the country as a whole.
The ‘Kerala Model’ was clearly the direct opposite of the conventional view that perceived development
as a sequel to growth, which postulates, in other words, that economics should give the topmost
priority to growth of per capita output, and if growth occurs then human development will automatically
follow. In short, it challenged the thesis, “that high levels of social development cannot be achieved
in the absence of high rates of economic growth”. The ‘Model’ holds that the elimination, or at any
rate alleviation of the dismal conditions of life which the masses in the South face, does not have to
‘wait for the Revolution’ or await that distant dawn when growth has taken place to a sufficient extent
for it to ‘trickle down’ to make an impact upon the people. (See Box on next page)
(f FACTS against MYTHS
FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY
How Kerala Became a Model2
Kerala emerged at the end of the 8th century, when the local monarchy supplanted a looser, feudal structure.
The trade contacts of the ancient and early medieval periods gave way to a more modern, and more exploitative
colonial domination. By 1792, the British controlled what is now Kerala, dividing it into three districts. The first
hints of singularity came in the colonial period. In the southern two-thirds of the State, the British left the local
princes in power. Hoping for an agricultural surplus large enough to satisfy both themselves and the British,
these Rajahs offered tax breaks for the reclamation of swamps and marshes, and gave tenant farmers more
control over the land. In 1956 Kerala became a State following the reorganisation of States on the basis of
language. The two princely states of Travancore and Cochin, and the Malabar district of the Madras Presidency
of British India were combined to form Kerala.
Some of the essential elements in the Kerala model have a history that predates the creation of the State of
Kerala. Travancore was considered a model native state as early as 1867, when a British secretary of State
for India proclaimed it as such in Britain’s House of Commons. Cochin followed close behind. The Rajahs
of Travancore had established a British-style administration and had even encouraged the activities of European
missionaries attracted to the region because of the presence there of a sizeable and wealthy community of
ancient Christians. Above all, these rulers (and also the Cochin rulers) launched economic enterprises (e.g.
plantation agriculture and agri-based industries), encouraged, and even subsidised other commercial and
capitalist development. They also pioneered progressive social policies, especially in education and public
health. In particular, the state developed a successful educational system that integrated the traditional and
the modem: Malayalam and English, government schools and (government-aided) private schools, initiated
by various religious minorities, especially the progressive elements among these communities. For instance,
the religious teaching of Vakkom A.K. Moulavi an associate of Ramakrishna Pillai, the crusading editor
against the Travancore Monarchy. Vakkom Moulavi had that the laws of Islam concerning temporal matters
were not cummutable and hence, depending on the conditions of time and place, they are subject to change.
He emphasised the principle of ‘ijtihad ital’ (independent judgement) against the Islamic fundamentalists.
The missionaries, who operated on different sociological and theological premises than the indigenous
Christians, had initiated the progressive Christian theological trends in the State. Unlike the “inward looking
‘samudayam’ consciousness of the largely upper caste Syrian Christian community”, the missionaries
focussed on the lower castes and contributed significantly to their social awakening. At the same time
missionary activities were intertwined with colonial intervention and therefore later developed a conservative
edge that stunted their emancipatory potential. (The new educational system was open to large sections of
the population including many previously disadvantaged groups).
'
j
One response to these changes was the emergence of a tradition of social and political mobilisation. While
increases in education and social consciousness among the previously disadvantaged challenged the old
order, the new resources that were made available by the growing commercial-capitalist economy and
expanding educational opportunities opened up new possibilities for social mobility outside the framework of
the caste-based ascribed status system.
The first such movements were the social reform and protest movements organised by castes and
communities who had suffered deprivation under the old system. Ironically, it was the upper-caste Nairs who
set the ball rolling in 1891 with the “Malayali Memorial” statement, submitted to the Dewan protesting against
the dominance of Tamil Brahmins in government service in Kerala. This was followed by one of the most
significant social protest and reform movements in Kerala, led by Sri Narayana Guru of the Ezhavas, the
largest caste overall and the most important of the lower castes. Originally intended as a non-sectarian
movement open to all, the Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDPY) eventually became an influential
caste association. There followed a series of similar movements and caste organisations among the
Scheduled Caste community, Pulayas, the Syrian Christians, and among the Nairs. In the 1930s, the issue
that dominated Kerala was the demand of the Ezhavas and other lower castes to enter the Hindu temples and
the temple premises. This demand led to the famous temple entry proclamation of 1936. From 1888 on,
Travancore began to experiment with popular assemblies, which became more and more democratic by the
1920s and the 1930s. Intense mobilisation and agitation by communal and caste organisations led to an
arrangement of proportional representation or quotas for them in the assembly.
In the 1930s, Malayalis began organise new kinds of social movements - nationalist movements, which
spread rapidly. On the eve of Second World War the newly formed Communist Party in Travancore began
organising the working class, including landless agricultural labourers, into the trade unions against
landlordism. When elections were held in Kerala in 1957, the newly established state democratically elected
the Communist Party to power It was this government that launched some of Kerala’s most important and
comprehensive reforms and social welfare measures, including the much discussed land reforms.
Q FACTS against MYTHS
M)
■
The Kerela Model had emerged in the background of
the failure of the State to address the development
concerns of post-independent India. This failure led
partly to the growth of a number of peoples’ movements
initiating reforms in various social fields alongside
movements of workers, peasants, and also political
movements. All these together congealed in arousing
peoples’ consciousness, demanding rights to education
and health-care. By the 1980s Kerala became the
most touted development “model" attracting attention
from the academia and policy makers nationally and
internationally. However, cracks had began to emerge
in the' model’ by the 70s itself and some of the indices
were suspected. Since then a number of studies for
and against the model have been published based on
the background of the general socio-economic situation
in the State also dubbed as “God’s Own Country” by
the State Tourism Department. One such study
indicated that communities like Dalits, Adivasis and
fisher folk were not even considered part of the Model.
Little wonder, then, in the new Millennium when the
euphoria over the 'Model’ has collapsed awkward
Questions have been raised leading to the conclusion
that the “Kerala Model” is no model at all. To get a
deeper understanding of this fact it is essential to
address the serious socio-economic issues facing
present-day Kerela that threaten the life-support
systems of especially the marginalised sections in the
State. The first step in this direction is to dismantle
the various myths that the Model had generated.
MYTH: The excellent public health services and
the social welfare measures pursued by the State
are an illustration of what the Kerala Model of
Development has achieved for Kerela.
FACT: However, with the collapse of ‘Model’ it is being
realised that the physical quality of life had been hastily
compared to that existing in the West, which had a
history of over 300 years of capitalist industrialisation
made possible through colonial pillage and plunder.
„Kerela had drifted towards a US model as a result of
fthe state’s failure to manage and fund adequately the
state’s own hospital. The number of beds in the state
sector increased from 36,000 to 38,000 between 1986
and 1996, but the aggregate bed strength in the private
hospitals jumped from 49,000 to 67,500. Besides, the
private sector had outpaced the State sector in
acquisition of medical technologies. The result is overmedicalisation, cost escalation, and the
marginalisation of the poor. Simultaneously,
uncomfortable facts like a high suicide rate (family
suicides); alcoholism, widespread prevalence of mental
illnesses; a division of labour, whereby the State
furnishes cheap labour and primary products and
imported consumer goods were conveniently swept
under the carpet as meaningless.
Till 1997 very few studies had been undertaken on the
structural and functional aspects of the health service
system of the State. No comprehensive report is
( FACTS against MYTHS
~ZZ
available on the subject. On many occasions, the
interaction of number of factors has been causatively
linked with, in these studies, on the Kerela health
status. One study however on the health service
system in Thrissoor district was taken up for the study
in 1996. Some of the highlights include
*the functioning of the inpatient services in the periphery
was found to be very poor except in two PHCs. In 4
PHCs, the inpatient section had not started and in three
others, it was almost non functionional;
*The five Community Health Centres of the district
function mostly like bloc PHCs. For all practical
purposes, the taluk headquarters hospitals function
as the first referral centres. The general conditions in
these hospitals were very unsatisfactory. X-ray
systems were working in three out of five centres. Blood
bank and ECG facilities were not available in any of
them. Gross imbalance and very poor quality of
speciality services were very conspicuous in all these
five places.
In Kerela, the staff strength of medical officers in
hospitals was sanctioned long ago and not on the basis
of speciality requirements. This factor, combined with
the private practice of government doctors and the
rampant political corruption in the transfer of doctors,
had made the situation highly vulnerable. Doctors with
financial and political clout exploited the situation.
Further,
On the current issue of AIDS no data were
available on the of the district. However, data
gathered during interview with field staff
revealed that there were at least 46 unreported
full-blown or sero-positive cases. The type of
social stigma, humiliation and isolation an
AIDS patient and relatives in Vellangalloor PHO
area suffered, was most unexpected from such
a highly educated State! It raised some doubts
about the effectiveness of the health education
and IEC activities of both the health
department, in general, and the National AIDS
Control Programme, in particular;
the outbreak of Japanese Encephalitis in early
1996, and the cholera outbreak as the end of
the year, with more than 70 deaths in two
districts also reflect some unresolved
problems in the field of public health in the
State. Half the deaths took place in the Adivasi
belt of Palakkad and the other half in
Alappuzha district
The achievements of Kerala in the health status are
well known but this revealing study does not support
the projection of the PHS of the State as the most
important cause of such a Kerela phenomenon! There
were many other equally relevant factors in force, the
cumulative effect and the interplay of which had brought
3^)
FACT: The root of this myth is again based on another
Missionaries, Colonialism
& Education
Kerela today enjoys widespread and a high
standard of education. This achievement is at
times attributed to Christian missionaries and
to the British. This is undoubtedly true.
However, this was true mainly in the early days
of Development when missionaries had
launched the process of mass education. In
later years, however, their activities were
intertwined with colonial intervention.
Consequently, their educational philosophy
developed a conservative outlook that blunted
their liberative impact. It was left to the caste
reform groups and the later, when the British
departed, the nascent Left who spearheaded
the spread of education in the State. The first
great boom of these later efforts was in the
1920s and 1930s, particularly in southern
Kerala, where the princes acceded to popular
demands for even more schools. Through their
efforts in the 60s educational programmes
spread into Malabar, the Northern State that had
been ruled directly by the British, and began
granting scholarships to the “Untouchables"
and the Adivasis. They set up reading and
writing circles in villages. Workers were
encouraged to write in union-sponsored
publications. The right to literacy became a
popular mass movement. The Left that ruled
for much of the late 1980s continued to press
the issue, aiming for total literacy, implementing
various literacy skills like alphabetisation and
numeracy. (See box on page 5)
the State to the unique position it had achieved.
Finally, other shortcomings of Kerela’s social
development have since come into open. Though
Kerela is known for its prolonged life expectancy, its
people are not very healthy as revealed by the high
morbidity rates.(Kannan et al,1991, Panikar,
P.G.K.,1992). Both the diseases of poverty and old
age as in affluent countries prevail in the State. As
Gita Sen (1982) points out “...A good health care
system can only prevent deaths from diseases upto a
point and in a situation of very low per capita income,
people may still be quite malnourished and disease
prone. This is despite the PDS. Besides, the social
security system is also under severe strain as the state
is not able to increase its coverage despite the
increasing number of the aged, a result of the State’s
demographic transition and increasing the volume of
service pensions to the government employees as also
social security pensions (George,1993).
MYTH: The effective literacy programmes, inspired
by the Kerala Model, were instrumental for the
success in controlling Kerela’s population growth.
FACTS against MYTHS
related misconception i.e the so-called ‘Kerala
Hypothesis’(5). The sharp decline in Kerala’s population
growth rate (PGR) had given rise to this hypothesis
following the excesses in the implementation of fertility
control measures during 1975-77 a period now
synonymous with the Emergency. Consequently,
primary health-care was also included in the model for
obvious reasons. Literacy, the antonym of illiteracy,
was construed to be the synonym of primary education.
This attitude, however, did incalculable harm to the very
foundation of education in India.
In the euphoria to “discover’’ this populist approach to
control the country’s population the need to validate
the 'Kerala Hypothesis’ with the demographic and
literacy data from the other States prior to extending it
as a national programme was overlooked. Above all,
the need to test the hypothesis even with Kerala’s own
pre-1971 data was also side-stepped.
Kerala’s PGR has been rising from 1941-51 to 196171 as also its total and female literacy. During this
period, the PGR rose from 2.08 to 2.22 percent a year^
while the total and female literacy rates declined from
65 to 30 percent and 75 to 35 per cent respt. This
data clearly contradicts this hypothesis.
Another important aspect is that the rate of increase
of Kerala’s PGR from 1941-51 to 1951-61 has been
identical with 1951 -61 to 1961 -71: both being equal to
0.65 per cent per year.
The impact of any genuinely effective population control
method must be reflected in the rate of change of PGR.
Had literacy been really effective in controlling
population growth, the significant decline in Kerala’s
literacy during 1951-71 ought to have a made some
changes in the State’s PGR during the same period.
But this did not happen. Further, it is important to
highlight again that the decline in Kerala’s illiteracy
rate did not show any sudden decline that might
account for the sharp decrease in the State’s PGR in^
1971-81.
'
The proponents of the Hypothesis again not only
overlooked the State’s own demographic and literacy
data from 1941-71, but also ignored the post-1971
census data from other states, which again indicate a
total lack of correlation between illiteracy and population
growth. A State-wise analysis of census data from
1971 -1991 shows the PGR went up hand in hand with
the literacy level in 7 States and remained unchanged
in two States.
Some of the romantic experts of the Model were so
carried away with Kerala that even when they noticed
that while registering a sharp decline in PGR, Kerala
had also achieved a total literacy rate of around 80 per
cent, they asserted that unless the literacy level was
at least 75 percent, family planning would not succeed.
It may be pointed out here that out of the 11 States
4
where PGR showed decline during 1971-81 to 198191, none except Kerala had recorded the magic level
of 75 per cent literacy. Thus, the “Kerala Hypothesis”
is invalid.
Furthermore, the decline in Kerala’s PGR from 197181 was due to other objective factors. Since the late
60s onwards, Keralites migrated to the Gulf States in
masses for employment (estimated to be around 1.4
m. in 1994 i.e. 5 percent of the State’s total population).
The earning of one person in these countries is enough
to raise substantially the living standard of at least 15
persons in Kerala. Such earnings from the Gulf
countries did not only provide direct financial
assistance to the workers’ kith and kin back home but
indirectly the remittances also helped in promoting
overall growth in Kerala’s economy. This point is
supported by the fact that the percentage of people
below the poverty line in the State declined from 48.4
per cent in 1977-78 to 26.8 per cent in 1983-84, which
is the highest, decline in the country.
♦Finally, literacy is not a necessary condition nor is
literacy perse capable of curbing population growth.
At best, it provides a supportive role in promoting “family
planning”, amongst only those people who have attained
a certain standard of living that provides the basic
motivation to have a small family for overall prosperity.
Standard of living has to be raised to the level that
every additional child would mean a sharing of
resources. Only then will parents see more children
as an economic liability. Hence, successful literacy
programmes do not automatically translates into
successful family planning!
MYTH: Women in Kerala, unlike their sisters in other
parts of the country, enjoy a high degree respect
and dignity and are more empowered and liberated.
FACT: Indeed, for very good reasons, Kerala has
always been projected as a highly unique State with
the focus always on its demographic characteristics
jand achievements on the social front. For instance, it
'has a sex ratio, which is more advantageous to women.
Yet women in Kerala have failed to achieve social
progress commensurate with their high literacy rate.
Does this, however mean that Kerala women enjoy a
better position in the country today? For instance a
survey carried out by the daily, the Hindu.
*ln literacy and education achievements, Kerala women
do not lag behind their counterparts in others States.
Their literacy rate in 1991 was 75 per cent against 39
in the country. But this does not apply to literacy of
Dalit and Adivasis women whose literacy was 74.31
per cent in 1991 (79.66 per cent for SCs in general)
while it was 42 per cent (51.09 per cent for STs in
general) among the STs. In effective literacy, the State
average for women is 86.17 per cent (39.2 per cent for
India).
Q FACTS against MYTHS
Towards Total Literacy1
The pilot project on total literacy began in the
Ernakulam region that includes Cochin. It was
similar to the Cuban experiment of sending
fresh graduates and graduate students to the
countryside for a year to educate the rural
masses. In late 1988, 50,000 volunteers
fanned out around the district, tracking down
175,000 illiterates between the ages of 5 and
60, two-thirds of them women. The People’s
Science Movement recruited 20,000 volunteer
tutors and sent them out to teach. Within a
year, it was hoped, the illiterates would read
Malayalam at 30-word a minute, count and write
from 1 to 100, and add and subtract three-digit
numbers. The larger goal was to make people
feel empowered, feel involved. The early
lessons were organised around the renowned
Brazilian pedagogue Fr. Paolo Freir’s concept
of 'conscientisation' and that the concrete
problems of people’s lives provide the best
teaching material. People suffering from
Hansen’s disease (leprosy) were taught to hold
a pencil in stumps of hands with rubber bands.
Nobody was left out. For people with poor
eyesight, volunteers collected 50,000 pairs of
old eyeglasses and learned from doctors how
to match them with recipients. On February 4,
1990,13 months after the initial converts, the
then Prime Minister, V.P. Singh marked the start
of World Literacy Year, declared Ernakulam the
country’s first totally literate district. Of the
175,000 students, 135,000 scored 80 percent
or better, in the final test. The region's official
literacy rate thus went above 96 percent. Many
opted to continue in follow-up classes and
probably learned enough to read bus signs.
The total cost of the 150 hours of education
was about $26 per person. Organisers knew
the campaign was working when letters from
the newly literate began arriving in government
offices, demanding roads, and hospitals.
The above also does not apply to all the 14 districts of
the State. It was found that effective literacy of women
in Palakkad, Wyanad, Kasaragod, Malappuram and
Idukki was lower than the State average. In all these
northern districts, the literacy rate for men was
considerably higher than that of women. In Idukki, the
female literacy rate is 83 per cent while the
corresponding figure for men is 90.8 per cent. In
Wayanad, the difference is almost 10 per cent (77.7
per cent for women and 87.6 per cent for men). In
Kasargod, the gap is wider—76.3 per cent for women
and 89 per cent for men. However, despite the inequality
they experience female literacy in the State is no doubt
higher than those of her sisters in other parts of the
country. The backwardness of these districts does not
explain the gender gap that favours the enrolment of
boys as reported in areas like Palakkad, Idukki and
5
Thiruvananthapuram. The inequality continues despite
high literacy levels and the contradiction is primarily
due to prevailing patriarchal values.
In recent years, the rising educational aspirations and
levels among Malayali women is one of the important
factors that has come as a threat to male power and
ironically has led to a disturbing increase in atrocities
on women although other factors also influence this
development. Crime against them had increased 21/2
times in 1996 since 1991 although the crime is much
lower than rest of the country. Nevertheless, rape has
been the most frequently committed crime. Paedophilia
was not rare either. The age-wise distribution of rape
victims testifies to this. The number of victims below
the age of 10 years is disturbingly high.
MYTH: Dalits, Adivasis, fisher-folk and migrant
labour in Kerela have also been the other
beneficiaries of the Model enjoying a quality of life
better than those in the rest of the country.
FACT: The Model has overlooked these communities
so dependent on the commons of the state and not
merely in the whole development process albeit their
status is slightly better than those of their kind in the
rest of the country. None the less, disparities between
them and the rest of Kerela is considerable.
Fish and fisheries play an important role in the socio
cultural life in Kerala. Yet the fisher folk experience a
very poor quality of life. They live on the geographic
fringes of the land and depend exclusively on the sea
for their livelihood. Overcrowding is one of the causes
of the substandard condition of their marine habitation.
In a state where every household is entitled to a piece
of homestead plot (as per the Kerala State Homestead
Act) this community does not possess any homestead
plots. Those who own land below 5 cents account for
32 cent of the fishing households compared to 9 per
cent in the State as a whole. While 15 per cent of the
households own land between 1 and 5 acres in the
state as a whole, in marine fishing communities this
figure is a mere 1 per cent. Further, many like those in
the Beach Ward in Aalppuzha, live in perpetual fear of
being evicted any time. These families, uprooted from
their dwellings on the shore due to sea erosion, are
temporarily settled in the land acquired for the “National
High Way”. The state government fails to consider
their repeated appeals for their right to an alternate
housing site. In some areas like Poonthura, District of
Trivandrum, families of up to 8 members living in tiny
houses leave no space for privacy, or arrangement for
waste disposal, let alone playgrounds for children.
Besides, the women of Pulluvila lack adequate toilets.
Owners of coconut groves dump compost and water
waste for the coconut palms affecting the health of the
fisher folk. The result is the breeding of pathogens
and diseases vectors like mosquitoes. The dreaded
diseases filariasis, according to this study , has already
made inroads into these settlements.
FACTS against MYTHS
Kerala prides itself in the sharp decline in infant mortality
with the rate being 40 per 1000 births (1981) which
reduced further to 17 per 1000 live births in 1991 and
the population growth rate to 1.9 percent per annum.
The corresponding figures for the fishing communities
are 85 and 2.3 per cent.
Gender discrimination is also prevalent, in favour of
male children as evidenced in the sex ratio of 972
females to 1000 males. This gain is contrary to the
all-Kerala situation where females outnumber males
by 32 (1032:1000). This gender bias in favour of males
is all the more ominous in the context of studies of
fishing communities which reveal that the pattern of
sex differentials in infant mortality show the expected
higher incidence of male mortality over females in the
neonatal period. Consequently, it must be inferred that
the higher mortality of females is in later childhood.
Literacy and education are other hallmarks of the
State’s social advancement. Here too the fishing
community lags behind. Further, their literacy level
though they are much lower than that of Kerala as a^
whole, are higher than the literacy rate for the countrywP
and is therefore rightly considered an advance even if
partially. However, the adverse socio-economic
condition of marine fisherfolk are perpetuated more by
their poor and lower standards of educational
achievements when compared to the rest of the
population.
Further, the fisherfolk have also experienced the
destruction of the fish habitats by fishing trawlers with
fish resources getting depleted; some species have
already become extinct and several endangered.
Finally, some inland fisherfolk of Prakkulam in Kollam
district, living along the banks of the Ashtamudi Kayal,
have experienced the insensitivity of the State Tourism
Department which permits the use of motorised tourist
boats in the lake causing heavy pollution of the lake
water through oil slicks thus endangering fish wealth
in the lake The pollution has reached such proportions
that fish caught from the lake sometimes smell offlh
kerosene. Industrial pollution is also another problem
especially for communities on the ShakumukhomVettukad coastal belt in the district of Trivandrum. Here
the effluents of the Titanium Products, a public sector
industry, are let out into the sea untreated. Fisherfolk
who come into contact with the polluted water, develop
skin and other diseases due to the high concentration
of sulphuric acid and other toxic elements in the effluent
water. In such a polluted area, aquatic life has entirely
disappeared.
The other marginalised community, the Adivasis,
experience a similar situation. Ironically, however, the
Adivasis, which make up only 1.10 per cent of the
population, had been declared totally ‘literate’ in July
1993! With depleting forests, organised land
encroachments, and severe cultural alienation, the
Adivasis were totally at loss. In 1996, efforts had been
6
Atrocities on Women in Kerala
Women in Kerala also experience other forms of discrimination. “Female Equality” is restricted to merely of
getting a job and contributing to the household income. Questioning the status quo, like gender roles or the
nature of female-male relationship is not tolerated. Key feminist issues like sexuality and housework, domestic
violence, women’s bodies and the constructs of masculinity and femininity, are virtually considered taboo
except among a tiny minority.
On the participation of women in political life in Kerala there are any number of examples to show that
women’s entry into the public arena was not only difficult but was also actively discouraged. Consciously or
otherwise, they gave way for the men to fill up the public space. Occasional pronouncements against this
discrimination were ‘acknowledged* by male leaders but never a part of a societal debate. According to a
study in the Hindu men refused to accept women. Some women councillors disclose that they find it difficult
to work as the men are domineering. Proxy control by husbands and other male members in the family is
however, absent in the municipalities and corporations. To illustrate: In the Assembly, there are only six
women legislators out of the total number of 141. In 1957, their number was 7 in a House of 121. Among the
20 elected members from the State to the Lok Sabha, only two are women. In the 1997 14-member State
Ministry, for instance, there was only one woman. Again, despite the higher level of education and participation
in grassroots-level movements, women are conspicuously absent in the higher levels of decision-making.
Even the mass movements where membership is predominately of women, representation of women at the
leadership level is marginal.
The other related myth is that women in Kerela have late marriages and this fact, unlike their sisters elsewhere,
is a pointer to the high level of consciousness among them. However, the number of single women in Kerela
is comparatively much higher and their marriage age is relatively also higher mainly due to the acute problem
of dowry and the necessity of its accumulation which can take years for poor young women to earn and save
up. Further, dowry deaths are also on the rise. Again, unlike their sisters elsewhere the difference is that
these deaths are in the form of suicides. Young women are not allowed to select their future husbands on
their own free will. To do so results in social boycott or familial ostracism. In 1994 a film, ‘llayum Mullum’
(Leaves and Thoms), by an alternative film maker, K.P. Sasi, critically exposed the widely held myth under
question. The film was based on actual incidents that occurred in Kerala.
Thus, Malyali women, for all their educational and occupational achievements and involvement in public
affairs, have never able to break the patriarchal mould on leadership in politics; those who tried, such as
Akimbo Sheridan in the 1950s and K.R. Gouri in the 1980s, have been subjected to ‘innuendo, ridicule and
disappointment’. Moreover, in this State too the ‘value of children’ equates to the ‘value of sons’.
planned to legalise such encroachments, while a
survey at the time had indicated that already 9,646
Adivasi households from a total of 21,600 families in
Wyanad district were landless! The government and
various vested interests have been trying to portray
the migrant workers as the oppressors of Adivasis. It
is however the warped policies of the governments that
has led to the present conflict between these two
communities.
Despite the amendment to the Kerala Scheduled Tribes
(restriction on transfer of lands and restoration of
alienated lands) Act, 1975, incorporated in Schedule
9 of the Constitution providing for the restoration of all
land alienated since 1960, all successive state
governments have failed to implement these rights of
the Adivasis. The Act was included in the Ninth
Schedule to ensure that it was protected from challenge
in any court under Art.31-B. Despite the Act being
enacted way back in 1975, it did not come into
operation till January 24,1986 conferring retrospective
effect from January 1,1982. Moreover, nearly 70 percent
of the land acquired from ‘jennies’ during the Agrarian
Q FACTS against MYTHS
Reforms Act, 1970 is still held by the Kerala
Government. The biggest landowner after the
Government are the TATAS owning over 50,000 acres.
Similar state of affairs is that of the Dalits. Their status
too has also remained unchanged and upper caste
dominance has not been fundamentally changed by
Kerala’s history of social reform and communist rule.
Dalits are mostly limited to the agricultural sector and
are more landless than elsewhere in the country.
Whereas 56 percent of the non-Dalit workforce in the
State is in the secondary and tertiary sectors, only 40
percent of Dalits are; and 77 percent of Dalits in
agriculture were land-less, compared to 63 per cent at
an all-lndia level. According to a report in the Indian
Express (August 17, 1999) the share of Dalit
landholding in the State was only 2.94 per cent; their
average land holding only 0.07 per cent which was
significantly worse than the national average. Dalits in
Punjab being in share of land-holding, high national
average of 0.49 acres for Dalits, was significantly lower
than the non-Dalit population, it was still enough to
provide them a small footing as cultivators.
Report confirms the above reality regarding their income
levels as well, citing a 1994 survey by the National
Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER),
which notes that wage labourers in rural Kerala were
better off than in most parts of the country. However,
this has not led to any significant improvement in-the
status of Dalits in Kerala. Overall, monthly expenditure
of Dalits in the State was about three-fourth of non
Dalit population and this had fallen to 68.2 per cent for
urban Dalits in 1987-88. Figures on employment and
unemployment showed that Dalits continue to suffer
disproportionately. The overall statistics on poverty
showed similar pattern. Dalits were about 1.5 times
more likely to be in poverty according to the headcount
ratio compared to all groups. The much-touted land
reforms led to giving land to tenants and not to landless
farm labour, according to the above Report. Thus, the
land reforms were partial, confined to land to the tiller
tenant/ sharecropper and did not extend to providing
land to the needy and landless. This, however, does
not detract from what was achieved.
5.
Sahay, K.B. Exploding the Kerala Myth, Indian
Express, Mumbai, March 6,1994
6.
Sooryamurthy.R. Kerela Women Suppressed by
Gender Bias, The Hindu, August 19,1997
7.
Voluntary Action, Sahayi, #3, Thiruvanathapuram,
1999.
Stein, D. People Who Count, Earthscan, London,
1995
Omvedt.G. The Kerela Model of Development
(Part I), Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars,
#3,1998
8.
9.
10.
Kurien, C.T. Kerala’s Development Experience,
Social Scientist, #1-3, New Delhi, 1995.
11. Mukund, K. Women’s Property Rights in South
India, EPW, #22, and 1999.
12. Oommen, MA Rethinking Development: Kerala’s
Development Experience, Vols.1 & 2, Concept
Publishing House, New Delhi, 1999
13. Jacob, T.G. The Kerala Model, Frontier, # 36,
Calcutta, 1999
14. Thampi, M. Kerala At Crossroads, The Review of
Contemporary News and Views, May, New Delhi,.
1996
15. Kalland, A., Persoon,G.(ed) Environmental
Movements in Asia,Curzon Press, Surrey,1998
References:
Paradox in Paradise: Kerala, The New
Internationalist, #241, London, 1993
17. Ashokvardhan, C. Land Reforms in Kerala: The
Myth & the Reality, National Institute of Rural
Development, Hyderabad, 1992
18. Kannur Adivasi Land Struggle:Towards a New
Approach on Kerala, People’s March, September,
New Delhi,2000
19. Jacob, T.G. Reflections on the Caste Question,
NESA, Bangalore,2000
20. Jeffrey, R. Politics, Women and Well-being, The
Macmillan Press, London, 1992.
16.
1.
McKibben, B.The Enigma of Kerala, Utne Reader,
March-April, 1996
2.
Tharamangalam, J. The Perils of Social
Development Without Economic Growth, Bulletin
of Concerned Asian Scholars, #1, California,
1998s
3.
George, K.K.The Kerala Model of Development,
Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Nos.4,
California, 1998.
4.
Jagadeesan, Dr.C.K. Exploding an Enduring
Myth: ‘The Kerela Phenomenon’, Health for
Millions, March-April, New Delhi, 1997
Please feel free to reproduce material from this publication but with due credit.
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Facts Against Myths is a monthly bulletin offactual
information on a number ofdevelopment myths and
fallacies, etc, including information against alien
development models, paradigms and false concepts
on caste, creed and gender.
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