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KERALA MODEL REVISITED: NEW PROBLEMS, FRESH CHALLENGES
The percentage share of those under the poverty line in Kerala has declined due to faster economic growth. Does it mean that if the same policies are followed, eventually those considered desperately poor as a section will cease to exist in Kerala Society? It is difficult to happen. Three reasons ar...
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| Format: | Printed Book |
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CSES Working Paper No. 15
2006
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| Online Access: | http://10.26.1.76/ks/003025.pdf |
| Summary: | The percentage share of those under the poverty line in Kerala has declined due to faster economic growth. Does it mean that if the same policies are followed, eventually those considered desperately poor as a section will cease to exist in Kerala Society? It is difficult to happen. Three reasons are pointed out by this study in support of such a Conclusion. 1) The social and cultural cleavage between the desperately poor and those above them, more than economic differences, are on the increase. Those immediately above the desperately poor can afford to purchase services from sources other than public institutions and services. To the poor, the only way out is to get such services from the public channels. Since they are turned to be the only beneficiaries of public institutions and services, they only will demand the upkeep and maintenance of efficiency of such institutions. Since they will not be able to exert as much pressure as other social groups in public decision making their interests will not get much attention. 2) In democratic decision making, the most important are the political parties. The poor whose interests get systematically neglected will not be able to make themselves heard in the forums of political parties. This possibility is higher in Kerala where the polity is trapped into a two party or two front system. To set a polarization started in favour of the desperately poor within such a closed polity is difficult. 3) Though there have been some organizations and organized moves from among the poor themselves, they have yet to prove to be able to surmount the obstacles that their predecessors had to face and failed to surmount completely. Therefore, however welcome the recent economic growth is, through it alone Kerala's comprehensive development is difficult to be realized. |
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