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From: Regi P George <george_regi@yahoo.com> Date: Sat Jun 18, 2005 Subject: Black Spots in Kerala's Socio-Economic Scene This EPW article must be an eye opener to everybody concerned about Kerala. -regi. Black Spots in Kerala's Socio-Economic Scene Kerala now enjoys a high rate of economic growth and remittances continue to boost consumption. But going by a number of socio-economic indicators ?? such as farm production, unemployment, incidence of lifestyle diseases and suicides ?? the state is no 'god's own country'. A K Pat http://www.epw.org.in/showArticles.php?root=2005&leaf=06&filename=8735&filetype=html called as ???god??s own country?? in the tourism parlance. What could have earned the region this distinction is a beautiful and inviting landscape, friendly climate and unparalleled social system with a guarded communal harmony and peace. If this is so from a macro perspective, what is the reality obtaining in the various socio-economic spheres or how far does the state of affairs conform to the projected splendid picture of the state? Recent research studies have proved that Kerala over the years has moved away from the economic development position that earned it what is called the ???Kerala Development Model??. Under this, the state ranked first in the human development index in spite of its low per capita income, industrialisation and urbanisation. It now enjoys a high physical quality of life as well as high economic growth with the state domestic product and per capita income comparing favourably with other states. The trends in the net state domestic product indicate that there was a turnaround in the growth of the state economy in 1986-87, which was supported by the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy, while the predominant contribution (55 per cent) being from tertiary sector. The state has been an immense beneficiary of the annual remittance by the expatriates. Total remittances to the state in 2003-04, for instance, were estimated to be Rs 18,364 crore from all countries. The high level of inward remittances has been indirectly giving a boost to the growth of the tertiary sector in the state and tradable goods production in the other states. However, it was noticed that the tradable goods sector in the state was sluggish for (i) the entrepreneurs have been reluctant to set up production facilities in the state for want of a congenial investment climate and (ii) the farm sector, in particular the commercial crops, was affected by liberalisation measures; and (iii) the expansion in the tertiary sector was not broad-based or with the needed linkages. Hence, the higher economic growth did not result in higher employment and comprehensive welfare of all the sections of the population. Unemployment Kerala??s major economic problem proverbially is unemployment. According to the data released by the government of Kerala, there were 38 lakh unemployed persons registered with the employment exchanges at the end of March 2004 as against 32 lakh in 1995. The employment situation would look grimmer if the position outside employment exchanges is also taken into account. About 2.5 lakh persons are graduates and over 7 lakh unemployed have completed secondary school courses. There were 3,000 medical graduates who were unemployed. Although the overall unemployment situation is severe, there are jobs going abegging in the unorganised sector. Work in the plantation, construction and road building, farming, etc, which call for hard physical labour, are taken up by the labourers from nearby states as well as from Nepal and West Bengal. For these job-seekers, Kerala is what the west Asia is for the Kerala people! Even the jewellery business which flourishes in the state has to depend on migrant workers from other states. A field survey indicated that the number of female workers engaged in various activities showed a declining trend. Over the decade ending 2004, the number of female workers in the state reportedly fell by 11 per cent. Women workers in the farm sector are employed only for 3 to 4 months in a year. The education sector reported fall in the number of lady teachers. The number of unemployed women far exceeded unemployed men. Agricultural Sector The agricultural sector, the mainstay of the economy, has been showing a lacklustre performance. For instance, in the case of foodgrains, Kerala??s share was only 0.3 per cent of the total production in the country in 2003-04 as against 1 per cent in 1980-81. The state has been recording negative growth rates in the production since 1980-81, barring a few exceptions. The production of rice ?? the staple food of the people ?? was only 5.7 lakh tonnes and has been registering decreases over the years (12.7 lakh tonnes in 1980-81) and formed only one-fifth of its total consumption. Kerala??s share in the total rice production of the country was 2.4 per cent in 1980-81 but fell to 0.7 per cent in 2003-04. The state government has been unable to procure what is produced at the support price forcing the poor farmers to sell at below the production cost. Dependency of the state on the rest of the country for foodgrains is significant and growing, with its far-reaching consequences. Furthermore, production trends in the commercial crops sector do give scope for concern. The average annual growth of production of coconut, rubber, tea and pepper in the period 2001 to 2004 has been significantly lower than that in the 1980s and 1990s. In fact, the rate of growth of coconut and tea turned negative recently. The strength of the organised labour in the state needs no mentioning. Strikes are very common and there are varied reasons such as non-payment of minimum wages, termination from service, claims for bonus and higher wages and disciplinary action against the labourer by employer, etc. The number of mandays lost in Kerala was the highest in 2002 at 88 lakh in 3,705 labour disputes according to the labour department. In 2003, the number of labour dusputes touched a high of 4,553 with a loss of 20 lakh mandays. In 2004 (till September) there occurred 1,790 disputes and loss of 13.5 lakh mandays. Frequent hartals also cause disruption in economic activity and huge production losses prompting the companies to go slow on their expansion programmes. Lifestyle Diseases The Economic Review for 2004 disclosed that the incidence of lifestyle and non-communicable diseases like diabetics, hypertension, mental diseases and heart diseases are much higher in Kerala than in other states. With regard to epilepsy and cancer, the cases are lower in the state, but the incidence of cancer has been increasing over the past years. According to the estimates 1 per cent of the population in the state at any time is afflicted by mental illness, while about 3 per cent of population even suffers from minor mental disorders. The incidence of major communicable diseases like leprosy, filaria, malaria and TB is reportedly going down, but the prevalence of respiratory infection is spreading. The state has an estimated HIV population of between 70,000 and 1 lakh. Suicide deaths are also high and rising in the state. The estimated rate is 28.8 persons per 1 lakh people as against the national average of 11.6 per 1 lakh. More pointedly, the state accounts for about 10 per cent of all suicides in India when its population is only 3 per cent of the total population. Suicides are attributed to varied factors like failure of agricultural crops, mounting indebtedness, alcoholism, unemployment, and despair caused by the inability to meet one??s own high expectations of living standards, etc. Kerala has the dubious distinction of consuming a large quantity of alcohol. Perhaps this may be the reason for its second position in the matter of road accidents, next to Maharashtra. According to the National Transportation and Planning and Research Centre and the state traffic department, the number of road mishaps in 2004 rose to a high of 41,220. In these accidents 3,066 persons lost their lives on the national and state highways. The number of accidents in 1960 was around 2,000. Most of the mishaps, 50 per cent of which occurred on the national highways, was stated to be on account of the fault of the drivers. Scandals and Corruption In the case of political and economic scandals also, Kerala is not lagging behind. As soon as a scam is uncovered, an agitation or public outcry erupts. In a bid to dowse the public agitation, the government orders a judicial enquiry. As many as 20 judicial commissions have been appointed by the successive Left and United Front governments during the past decade and they have spent crores of rupees. According to reports, beginning with the enquiry into the scandal relating to rice purchase from Andhra Pradesh in 1950, over 100 judicial commissions were appointed in the state to enquire into scandals covering subjects such as liquor tragedies, disasters, accidents, police atrocities, corruption, sexual harassment, etc. Even though the commissions submitted their report with considered recommendations, the government was not very keen to implement them, and hence, many reports are gathering dust in the concerned government departments. In the matter of placing the judicial commission report before the state assembly and implementation of recommendations, the provision of the Commission of Enquiry Act 1952 which stipulates that the commission reports and action taken report thereon, should be submitted to the state assembly within six months from the date of report submission, is not often complied with. The opposition party in the state assembly which is vociferous at the time of occurrence of the incidents and forces a judicial enquiry, soon develops cold feet and shows negligence and indifference in following up the reports As elsewhere in the country corruption is the bane of the government administration, in spite of the intensive drives launched by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau in many corruption-prone departments like RTO offices, registration, state electricity board, revenue, and civil supply departments. In 2003-04 the number of vigilance cases registered was 199 involving 646 public servants as against 129 and 334, respectively, in 2001-02. The number of vigilance enquiries ordered by the government in 2003-04 was 380 as against 305 in 2001-02. Public servants involved were 918 and 618, respectively. The level of corruption did not show any change, but mode of corruption seems to have changed in the context of vigilance drives. Debt Trap What is more, the state seems to be heading towards a debt trap. As resource mobilisation failed to keep pace with rising government expenditure and the fiscal deficit widened, the public debt of the state government showed a fivefold increase between 1994-95 (Rs 8,821 crore) and 2004-05 (Rs 42,766 crore). During 1996-2000, the average annual growth of debt was 18.2 per cent and between 2001 and 2005 it was 16.2 per cent. On the other hand, the average annual growth of state domestic output at current prices was lower at 14.5 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively, during the same period. The state??s public debt as a percentage of net state domestic product consequently shot up to 49 per cent in 2004-05 from 30 per cent in 1994-95.The trends in the average debt-NSDP ratio suggested that the increase in indebtedness was pronounced during 2001-05. (The debt-NSDP ratio rose to a high of 44 per cent in the period 2001-2005, from 30 per cent in 1996-2000). A significant portion of incremental debt seems to have been utilised for debt servicing. While debts incurred for funding projects with higher yield and social utility may service the liabilities in time on a sustainable basis and are hence benign, that raised for financing consumption and non-productive expenditure will have a disastrous effect on the health of the economy. What is a matter of grave concern is that, these identified black spots on the socio-economic map are gaining in density. Rising unemployment, restrictive labour practices, a high incidence of lifestyle diseases, falling farm production, cases of scandals and corruption, rising incidence of suicides, record road accidents and associated deaths, consumerism, and mounting government debt do bedevil Kerala??s society and economy. Is this the price that the people of Kerala have to pay for the type of economic and social development as well as the governance taking place in the state or are there some not-so-easily identifiable various factors behind the observed phenomena? ----------------------------------------------- [2] From: Regi P George <george_regi@yahoo.com> Date: Sat Jun 18, 2005 4:30pm Subject: A Poem of Nuruddin Nurani: Kashmir's Patron Saint Nuruddin Nurani may be said to have been the pioneer of Kashmiri literature. He communicated primarily through the vehicle of mystical verses, dealing with a range of subjects. On God's Omnipresence God is one, but has a hundred thousand names. Even a small blade of grass is drowned in His remembrance. On Realising God Abandoning all else I sought You. Searching for You, the day turned to night. I searched within and then realised You And from then on, I have understood myself and You. He is near me and I am near him. I found solace in His nearness. In vain did I search for Him elsewhere Lo! I found the Beloved within my own consciousness. He who works hard and earns a livelihood, Offering his prayers regularly, Leads a life meaningful. He who toils in his field in this way, Shall reap a rich harvest. Crossing the river, he shall remain immune to the fire. On Learning If there is anyone who can truly be called a maulvi, It is Hazrat Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi [the famous Sufi of Konya, Turkey], Who crossed the vast ocean and became his own friend. Otherwise, on seeing a maulvi, pray that you might be relieved from his presence. Among those who claim to be faqirs, Are many modern-day Pharaohs, wallowing in luxury. But those who abandon everything and die in the path of God, Enter the fire and, roasted, emerge like shining gold. Die before you die, That is the true path to knowledge. O Pundit! How can you hope to escape from the fire without good deeds? The ego has rendered all your knowledge useless, Making you forget that tomorrow you must return to the mud, And that all your wealth and pomp shall vanish. On the Unity of Humankind Ice, frozen water and snow, all these have been created by God. They all appear different, but are of the same essence. When the rays of the sun fall upon them, They all turn into water. On the Futility of Caste One who prides himself in his caste, Is bereft of reason and wisdom. In this world only the good can claim true noble descent, And in the Hereafter caste has no meaning. Were you to understand Islam truly, You would never boast about your caste. What use is there in priding yourself in your caste? For, when death overtakes you, your bones will be ground to dust. On the Corrupt 'Ulama and Fake Rishis and Pundits The Mullah in the mosque, And the Brahmin before the idol of stone, Perhaps only one out of a thousand of them will be redeemed. Otherwise, Satan shall grab them all. 0 brother Pundit! Till when will you remain wedded to worshipping stones and springs? Your thoughtless search bears no fruit. The fake dervish counts his beads, And derives joy from hearing their sound, But closes the door of the mosque and does not say his prayers. Remember, 0 cheat! You are not God's friend but his foe. By simply bowing down, you cannot become a Rishi. By retiring to a cave, you cal1not find God, For the mongoose and the rat seldom come out of their holes. By bathing, the mind cannot be cleansed, For the fish and the otter never climb up to the bank. The fake Rishi is always worried about his stomach. Eating delicious food, he has forgotten God. Donning the dress of a Rishi, he misleads others. If he is a Rishi then who is a thief? The Mullah is happy with gifts and feasts. The Shaikh is driven by greed and lust. The Sufi stops not from cheating others. Eating three seers of mutton and a maund of rice, The old, infirm Pundit searches for a young virgin wife. Near to his funeral pyre, he refuses for a wife a widow. On Love The true lover is he who burns in the fire of love and emerges like a piece of gold. He alone can travel in the Infinite who is afflicted by the pain of love. Pangs of separation have melted me like the snow of the high peaks, The thug has robbed me of all my possessions. O Hindus and Muslims! How will you attain salvation, When you shall be taken to the place Where neither mother nor father can help you? If you don't take good deeds with you, Then prepare yourself for the angel who will drag you to hell. 0 Hindus and Muslims! Turn to God and enter His service. Justice is superior to meditation. On Communal Harmony We all came into this world as brethren. One lives in a palace, another in a hut. Still, as brothers we came here all, But now we are strangers and foes to each other. 0 God! When will this ever cease? We belong to the same parents, Then why this difference? Let Hindus and Muslims worship God alone. We came into this world like partners. We should have shared our joys and sorrows together. We all came into this world as brethren. One lives in a palace, another in a hut. Still, as brothers we came here all, But now we are strangers and foes to each other. 0 God! When will this ever cease? --------------------------------- [3] From: Regi P George <george_regi@yahoo.com Date: Sat Jun 18, 2005 4:32pm Subject: Fair & Lovely Modern India's complex connection with complexion(Opinion) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050606/INDIA06/TPInternational/Asia Modern India's complex connection with complexionBy MIKE MCPHATE Monday, June 6, 2005 Special to The Globe and Mail NEW DELHI -- The young woman with pretty eyes and flawless diction aspires to celebrity. But her skin is too brown. One day, her sister hands her a tube of Fair & Lovely skin-lightening cream. Flash forward. She's decked out in heels and a pink sari, her hair is styled in willowy curls like a film star, and her dusky complexion is pale, nearly as white as her smile. She lands her dream job as a cricket commentator. Mom wipes a joyful tear. The storyline of such television advertisements, packaged by turn in themes of love and career, has helped to propel a blossoming market for skin whiteners in South Asia. It exploits a deeply rooted but largely unchallenged reality: to the Indian gaze, dark skin is ugly. "Racism has become a part of the Indian psyche," Pavan Varma, author of Being Indian, said in an e-mail. "The real irony is that a brown nation looks down on the dark." India, home to one-sixth of humanity and birthplace of four major religions, is a country bursting with variety. Inhabitants speak more than 1,500 native tongues, cook from at least 35 regional cuisines and align with as many as 772 registered political parties. Comprised largely of sunny tropics and deserts, most of its people have coffee-coloured skin. But the sirens of Indian cinema and fashion are with few exceptions tall, slender and honey-hued. It's a colour worn by Aishwarya Rai, the green-eyed former Miss World and paragon of Indian beauty, but possessed by a small fraction of the general population. Each Sunday, the fair ideal is put on display in the marriage ads that run in Indian newspapers. Male suitors request slim bodies, expertise in household work and skin tones from within the narrow band of "fair" to "extremely fair." At least 75 per cent of Indian women aspire to lighter skin, according to Hindustan Lever Ltd., maker of Fair & Lovely products. Studies of southern Asian women in the United States and Canada have found that the darker their complexion the less pretty they feel. "They believe they are like an onion -- that the inner part is much more shiny bright," says Delhi dermatologist Rishi Parashar, who often sees patients arrive with rashes after applying bleach to their skin. "These people will never be happy." Indian anthropologists say the preference is ancient, carved into the culture by waves of light-skinned invaders, most recently the British, who left natives with the stubborn notion that they were inferior. The complex spans both city and village, where the majority reside, and afflicts women and men. Women have invented a variety of tone-battling techniques. In the sunny summer months, they shield themselves with scarves, gloves and big-brimmed hats. They soak their bodies in combinations of milk, honey, lemon, cucumber and almond juice, eating the same during pregnancy with the hope of producing pearly-complexioned children. With the rise of India's economy and birth of a 300-million-strong middle class, an appetite has risen for more modern strategies. Western companies such as Avon, Est?İe Lauder and Revlon have responded with an armoury of new skin-lightening products, commonly containing bleaching agents like hydroquinone and Kojic acid. In the past five years, the fairness-cream market has grown by roughly two-thirds to more than $230-million (U. S.). Ashok Venkatramani, a spokesman for Fair and Lovely, the leading brand, said in a statement the company does not promote fairness. Women's desire for lighter skin is equivalent to a desire for different hair colour, he said. The cricket commentator ad, and others like it, he said, "does not condemn a woman who is not fair. It simply delivers the message that it is possible to change one's outlook towards life." Some observers are careful to distinguish India's colour preference from the kind of racism practised elsewhere, such as apartheid-era South Africa, which involved systematic repression of those with darker skin. But there are parallels. Tone is not just a measure of beauty in India; it is also a mark of caste. It's believed that caste occupations were originally decided by skin colour, with dark-skinned people assigned to the latrines and light-skinned people assigned to the Hindu clergy. Thousands of years later, the colour-caste correlation is diluted, but still loosely in place. Aggressive affirmative-action programs have bettered the lives of many at the bottom but India is not nearly yet a land of equal opportunity. "Caste may not be the same as race. But discrimination has gone on for thousands of years," says Uma Kant, a leading campaigner for Dalits, the so-called untouchables who continue to face cruelty, especially at the village level. In recent years, some signs of resistance to the fair-skin ideal have surfaced. The portrayal of white privilege in Fair & Lovely ads prompted outcry from women's groups and intellectuals. Fashion bosses point to the success of dark-skinned model Ujjwala Raut, and edgy new Indian films have begun employing browner actors in leading roles. Radhika Basu, a 24-year-old graduate student at the Indian Institute of Management, says she feels little pressure to whiten up. "Friends used to tease," Ms. Basu said of her mahogany-toned skin. "Grandmothers too." The taunts would hurt her feelings. But no more, she said. With her education and "because of the kind of person I am," she says she feels totally comfortable in her skin. "I am single, and if I went in for arranged marriage, I may come across people who would prefer a fair bride," she said. "But then I'd hate to marry into such a family anyway." |
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| << June17, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net] Posts from Parvez & CCWD |
June20, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net]Let's Remember Kabir - The People's Bard >> |
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