The Cat School and A Crown I Refuse to Give

It was quarter past 7 in the evening. Anne and I  were seated on the veranda chairs for our daily dose of post-dinner conversation. The day had been very warm. A cold moist breeze gently blew in. “It's raining somewhere,” I said. She didn't reply. She put a finger over her lips and then pointed towards the cat on the road.

We live in a gated community. The colony road, at its broadest outside our house, serves as a tiled pad for turning vehicles. The mother cat was there with her kitten. A child in the colony had brought the mother cat into the colony as a kitten. She was smart and grew up to be a beautiful cat. Ever since, tomcats in the neighbourhood viciously vie with each other for her affections. She litters regularly. 

Seated majestically, she had a rat under one of her paws. Her kitten sat curiously watching the rat struggling to escape. Without warning, she let the rat free. What followed was a hunt in slow motion. The rat ran for its life. The kitten seemed lost. Mama chased the rat, caught it, returned to where she was and settled down. Then without warning she released the rat again. The kitten chased the rat  but failed to catch it. Mama wouldn't let the lesson end in failure! The lesson was repeated a few times. The rat also must have got tired of futile attempts to escape. Finally, the kitten got it right and caught its first feast. “Efficient teacher,” remarked my wife. 

Jungle demands survival skills and matriarchs invest a lot in enabling progenies. What about us ? I wondered. 

There are more than one answer to each question in life. They are present around us. But it reveals itself only if one has the eye to see, ear to hear, head to decipher and heart to relate. I had my chance. This issue had come up for post-dinner discussion a few days before the ‘cat’ incident.

A friend of mine had recently ventured into the field of business. An attempt to start something, especially a business, that demands a lot of physical and mental commitment when one is well past sixty, the decision and follow through, the least to say, is incredible. My friend had retired from the army where he held a very senior position. He had a pension and could spend his days pursuing his passion. I was proud of him. “What prompted you to start this?” I asked. “See Jacob; I couldn't have handed over my designation to my son. But in business, I can anoint my children,” he replied. 

Awash with guilt for a moment,  I realised that I had done nothing like that for my girls. All along when they grew up, they were guaranteed only facilitation for their education. They had to be on their own for everything else. They did exactly that. They chose the field they wanted and toiled hard. One a Masters in Business Administration and CS and the other an IITian, they never disappointed me. They roughed it out in the wide open world and found their space.

Did I fail my children? 

Enabling progenies by creating a conducive environment is a parenting responsibility. Empowering them to achieve their goals is a step ahead. They have the authority to decide for themselves. They have the responsibility and therefore the accountability to themselves for what they have become or haven't. Handing over a crown and anointing them was never on my agenda. Did I abdicate my responsibilities?

There was no reason for me to grudge his reasons but his cause was at great variance with my convictions. Right and wrong is a matter of perception, a considered choice of every individual. He  might be right. 

Was his endeavour a pursuit of passions or driven by compulsions? Passions could be compelling but can compulsions become passions? Maybe!

It is said that survival is the toughest in The Savanna. Life and death are in an undetachable embrace there. Every death in Savanna sustains many others' life and every living thing, flora or fauna, is a potential death threat to another. Each mother in the wild Savanna knows that chances of survival of offspring depend solely on their ability to defeat death at every corner and every moment. We comfort ourselves in the belief that such life is confined only to the wild. We call it ‘Law of the Jungle’!

Think again. We could be wrong. They may be better off than we think.  A close look will reveal that odds stacked against human species are far more than that we currently comprehend. According to one study, the entire human population is cramped into less than 1.5 million square kilometers, a mere 1% of the total habitable land on the planet where as the wild animals have about 40 million square kilometers a whopping 38% as Forest. We normally speak about endangering other species by encroaching into their space, but remain silent and criminally oblivious to the unpardonable death and destruction we cause to our own species in the quest for religious, political or economic dominance. In such an environment, shouldn't we be enabling our offspring far better and more seriously than the mothers in the wild?

Unconsciously, it is the same parenting instinct, as in the wild, but greatly skewed that compels us to create tangible assets to be handed over to our offspring in the belief that they will take it forward and hand it over to their offspring. Unfortunately, inadequately enabled and insufficiently empowered, the recipients soon waste out the assets.

“पूत कपूत तो क्यों धन संचे,; पूत सपूत तो क्यों धन संचे" wasn't said in vain.  

Creating assets in pursuit of one's own passion is great, but driven by compulsions to crown the progeny may not always yield intended results. Each Empire and each Kingdom of the past bears testimony to this profound truth.

Pursuit is a personal choice and compulsion a state of helplessness.

I have no crown to handover.

Additional Input

For those interested

The planet can be divided as follows

Land mass -149 Million Square KMs ( 29%).

Oceans   - 361 Million Square Kms (71%).

Of the total landmass  (149 Million Square KMs)

106 Million Square KMs (71%) is habitable.

 15 Million Square KMs (10%) is Glacier

28 Million Square KMs (19%) is Barren Land

Of all the habitable land in the world (106 Million Square KMs )

48 Million Square KMs (46%) is used for Agriculture.  

40 Million Square KMs (38%) is Forest

<17 Million Square KMs (14%) is Shrubs

>1 Million Square KMs (1%) is settlement and Infrastructure

>1 Million Square KMs (1%) is Freshwater

Is Descent Inevitable after Ascent – Strategy to Stay on Top for Long

Newport in Rhode Island is a beautiful place. Situated by the Atlantic Ocean it offers visitors with frames for perfect pictures. It also houses some stunning mansions.  I had never heard of Newport before, but was the recipient of the large heartedness of Issac Simon, my brother-in-law who not only suggested the trip but even offered to take us on the eighty-five  mile drive to the mansion town. The drive, one of the many such, he graciously hosted so far, was beautiful from the word go with the fall painting the entire route with colours, I had seen never before.

With tickets in hand, we actually walked into a piece of American history. Ahead of its times, each room stood out well appointed carefully planned and exquisitely executed. In fact, everything about the mansion was bathed in audacious opulence and grandeur, all funded by slices from the immense riches the individual had amassed over his lifetime. We spent almost three hours within, what was once, someone’s summer house, admiring each inch of space and every piece on display. To top it all, the Atlantic Ocean right outside the mansion premises gave it a touch of magic. I walked out of the mansion in awe of the owners and headed for the blue expanse of Atlantic ocean.

The wind was picking up and I started feeling cold even through the bright sun. As I gathered my jacket closer, and turned around to look at the grand mansion, a sudden thought occurred to me;  how are their descendants living now? Are they still rich and living like their ancestors ?

One of the first things I did, on my return, was to search for details. I was surprised to find that the wealth they had once amassed, barring few patches of comfort, had all but been either diluted or  squandered away. What a tragedy! What about other rich families of the yore?

I searched for other known rich families across the world. The story wasn’t much different. Almost all of them had their wealth either completely wiped out or they were just pale shadows of their glorious past. It  then occurred to me that it was not just rich families! Great empires, kingdoms and  organisations were no different!

Is descent then the inevitable next, after the ascent?

I recall my elders talking of the four-stage cycle of ‘rags, riches and back'. Depending on the diligence exercised by individuals in the family or those in control, the cycle may gather or lose momentum. However, the cycle, according to the elders, is inevitable. 

Starting from abject poverty, the poor (‘Daridran', in my native language Malayalam) spends his life in misery. His children having seen, experienced and driven by poverty dream of better life.  They, with fire in their bellies, strive with all their might to change their state of existence. They essentially live out their life in hard-work accumulating wealth slowly. They are mostly misers (‘Lubdhan’) and seldom spend anything on themselves.

Having seen what the parents have gone through and inheriting the seed capital and better footing, a lubdhan's  children continue to work hard and soon become rich (Dhanikan). Born into affluence and plenty, children of the dhanikan have no clue of the hard ways the family had come through and therefore have no qualms about splurging and squandering their inheritance. This is the generation of the prodigals (Dhoorthan). 

With floodgates open, wealth flows out of family vaults and soon they fall on hard times completing the cycle. Children of the Dhoorthan inherit empty vaults and debts and soon are divested of anything that is left over. They soon become Daridrans! The cycle is completed.

Despite this universal truth being known by everyone, the cycle continues to play out, day in  and day out across the world. Each stage, however,  could accommodate more than one generation depending on diligence applied.

The same principle applies to emperors, kings and family run institutions. We have learnt of ancient civilizations and their magnificent existence. What happened to them? Why did they vanish? Did this cycle-rule apply to them too?

A close look at our self, our family or even the organization that we work for could reveal the stage we are at in the cycle. It would then be natural to ask; can we  prevent the downward arm of the cycle from befalling upon us and our family?

To my mind, it all depends on how much of our hunger for growth we can pass on to our next generation and how much we have insulated them from realities of life. In the garb of making things easy for our progenies, we tend to insulate them from the rough and tough of life and end up making them unfit and inadequate to face challenges of life. We end up extinguishing the fire within their bellies rather than fuelling  it. Our misplaced love end up depriving them of opportunities to attempt, fail, learn and then relaunch themselves. In other words the current generation has a strong influence in what the next is up to.

Most of us, irrespective of where we are in the cycle, believe that we have come up the hard way. We tend to exaggerate our sufferings and discount what we got. Many believe that it is their divine duty to provide their progenies with whatever they were denied or couldn’t afford.  In the process they create the next generation that, might or might not, have an idea of the cost or price of their possessions but they certainly have no clue about its value. Even those in the splurge mode do find ways to lament their lack of avenues and resources.

It is for us to decide weather to accelerate the growth phase or let a freefall occur. But first let us check where we are? That calls for real introspection.

 

LIFE’S PURPOSE: THE GARDEN BENCH AND FEW REVELATIONS

Background

The cemented garden bench, across my house, with bright golden yellow borders and white cross members, looks perfect a partner for the strange tree painted on the wall next to it. The unnaturally multi coloured leaves, all imprints of hands, make the white wall come alive. I do not know what the artists want to convey. To me, it represents a declaration of the arrival of the new generation, colourful and different. The symbolic leaves, reveal the unmistakable urge for attachment despite the deliberate choice of detached existence, uneasy coexistence of silent symmetry with loud asymmetry and subtle yet visible order in the chaotic riot of colours. 

During day, the bench and the tree on the wall merge into insignificance with the surroundings. But as darkness descends and the caretaker switches the light on, they transform the area into a surreal spectacle, seen to be believed.

Occasionally few, of those ‘palm-print artists’, occupy the garden bench, in a huddle, mostly loud, sometimes in hush-hush mode, but always deliberately unmindful of our existence.

The Trigger

The post-supper conversation between my wife and I sitting, out on our veranda chairs, is a ritual we rarely miss. Our neighbour a septuagenarian widower joins us nowadays. We find something to talk about every day.

It was the first of February and we were half way into to our discussion when I noticed the caretaker of our colony sitting still on the bench.

Appointed for security, he is of minimal security value.  His primary job is to switch on and switch off the water pump that fills our colony’s overhead tank. Very particular in switching it on, which he does many times a day, he often forgets to switch it off. Sensitive to water wastage, I often switch it off. His disarming demeanour makes it difficult for me to scold him, though I do at times. At 72, he is active, always happy and happier after a glass of toddy, which he manages, at least once a day. Resourceful, he easily manages more. Despite the hard life behind him, he carries no grudge.

Sitting motionless on the highlighted bench, he seemed like one who had achieved the ultimate bliss through denouncement. Whether it was toddy induced stupor or age inflicted deafness, I don’t know, he remained oblivious to the sound of water gushing out of the overflow pipe. I shouted out to bring him back to the duty-bound world. He immediately rushed to switch off the motor and came back with the excuse always given and his characteristic smile. Thereafter, he returned to his room to sleep.

As he walked away, I remarked, look at him! He lives for the moment. Neither today nor tomorrow seems to worry him. He has no savings and estate to leave behind with an elaborate will. His daughters are married and wife has a part-time job in the nearby pump. He is not bothered about how his old age will pan out. He lived like that all his life. Content with his state of meagre existence he lives to enjoy the moment.

Think of it, he is a lucky man.

In the hope of making our old age safe and secure, we exhaust ourselves and our lives, struggling to accumulate and hoard things? If that wasn’t enough, we start working to secure the future of our children and even the ‘yet-not-thought-of’ grandchildren. The self-imposed burden of defining their destiny becomes the very purpose of our life and the sole driving force of existence.  Though we know of the uncertainty, today holds and tomorrow brings, we are relentless in our toil in vain.

This realisation compelled me to ask my wife and my neighbour, “What could be the purpose of his life?” “What is the purpose of our lives?”

The Counter

Anniey, my wife is a very intelligent and practical lady. A gold medalist of her times in academics, she is well read and keeps an ear to the ground. “Well,” she said, “He must surely have had some aspirations in the past and some now.” He would have wanted to have a house, wear good clothes, eat good food, travel. Surely every man and woman would want to have all that”.

Yes. Certainly. Everyone in whatever state he or she is born into, would want to become better. Desire to own, improve one’s own state of existence, part take in comfort should be our aim. I believe its our duty to be richer than when we were born.

That is not what is marketed by all sorts of Gurus as ‘purpose of life’. They tend to add halo to our existence and in the process complicate a simple natural process called life.

Life’s Purpose

The ultimate advice gurus give us, is to define the purpose of life. They convince us to connect our present with the future and life beyond, compelling us to do things, normal living things are not supposed to. Most of us are convinced that we Humans are the only ones blessed with possession of Soul.

Even though every one of us know, that there is a definite end to each one of us, we toil today to live tomorrow and even dictate the life after. Many of us want to leave something movable or immovable for posterity. The driving force, accepted or denied, behind such action of ours is the desire to be remembered by our progeny, their progeny and even the society well after we're gone. Most of our actions under the banner of ‘purpose of life’ is undertaken solely with the aim of leaving our footprints, hoping that it lasts for ever[i].

Life's purpose is not a recent discovery. It has been spoken of even in old tests. If we should be driven by a life's purpose now, even those before us would have felt the same!

Examining their life and its outcomes could help us define the purpose of our life and draw up pursuit strategies.

World’s Greatest

The most powerful student of Aristotle, Alexander III, mostly known as Alexander the Great, in 33 short years of his life, ruled ancient Macedonia for 13 years, most of which was spent in ruthless empire expansion. There is no written word about what his purpose of life was, but whatever it was, he would have done everything, with all the force at his command to fulfil it. If it was the creation of an endless empire, or a way of life he wanted others to follow, everything he created over unimaginable bloodshed and countless mutilated bodies disintegrated soon after he died.

Genghis Khan, who created the world’s largest contiguous empire between 13^th and 14^th centuries, often called the ‘green invader’, killed so many, that huge swathes of inhabited and populated land became depopulated and became forests! What his life’s purpose was, remains a mystery. Whatever it was, it isn’t around!

They are not alone. Ruthless rulers, lying leaders, shrewd businessmen; none of them had any different fate. Each of them devised means to decimate opposition, overcome challenges and create suitable environment for exclusive growth and spent a lifetime attempting to create systems to carry their names till eternity. Addiction, it turns out to be, turns them blind to reality.

But we can see! The same story is being spun in vain even now, across the world in every country, society, business and even at home.

Empires, fiefdoms, institutions and people; they all obey this law. One may find few examples to dispute the hypothesis. The disagreement comes from our inability to see the graph ahead in time. Extension of the graph forward on axis of time eventually proves that the exception is merely a visibility issue.

No exceptions?

Exceptions Prove the Rule

There could be an argument that ideologies could beat this law. Therefore, if the purpose of life of an individual is to create and propagate an ideology, would it last long, if not forever?

Dispassionate dissection of the argument would easily dispel the fallacy. The loftiest of ideals, fervently celebrated, could also find itself being trampled upon, at times by the very same people who use it to usurp power. Contemporary National and international politics is witness enough to the weaknesses of the argument.  Communism has acquired capitalist colour driving equals and more equals further apart; religions have evolved finding better ways to sell salvation and assassin of the ‘Father of The Nation’ is repackaged as freedom fighter. Time can make zeros of heroes can and martyrs out of killers.  Nothing is forever; not even gratitude.

‘Purpose of life’ is fallacy that we have been conditioned to believe in; a collective narcissistic pursuit. Though just one element of a complex interwoven food chain, we fool ourselves us into believing that we are special and ordained to lord over others. Kept alive by the grace of flora and fauna within and feeding on flora and fauna outside and mortally susceptible to even the tiniest bacterium or virus, we are only as good as any other species and definitely bad for others. We exploit the earth at the cost of other species and continually endeavour to exploit even others in our own species. Our cruelty remains unmatched among all species. All that we say about finding purpose of life masks either our selfish or escapist motives.

Crass Pessimism?

Against all lofty teachings?

If not for a purpose, what must we live for?

The Truth

Truth is often unpalatable. Purpose of life, irrespective of the owner, has a shelf life.

The Great Wall of China stretching over 21,196 km, was built by a series of Emperors from different dynasties. Built for the ‘purpose’ of fortifying northern borders of ancient China, it has long outlived its original purpose. China continues to claim real estate far beyond the wall, now primarily a tourist destination!

Shorn of hypocrisy and narcissistic masks our purpose of life is existence. Penned plain and simple, there is nothing to achieve beyond ourselves in this life. Everything else, said about us, binds us in pursuit of a mirage. The primary task is to live and let live with dignity. If a purpose has to be defined, then it is just to be good to oneself and others around. Mutually inclusive thought and action would mitigate almost all problems that the world is facing today.

When humans start considering that other races within our species and other species in the inter-species realms have the same rights of existence, the world could be a better place for living. If inventions and discoveries were deployed only for the good of mankind and not used as exploitative means of socio-economic and political dominance, life could have been different for all of us. It still can be!

It is often said that there is enough and more to satiate everyone’s needs. It is the greed of some, that makes it difficult for others to meet even their basic needs. That remains the bare fact.  The pleasure one gets through cheating and untrustworthiness, little or big acts of smartness, would all be in vain.

Being good to oneself can happen even while being just and good to others. Look at life as an opportunity to be good to people.

Bare Fact

On 2^nd February while coming home from the local barbershop, our caretaker fell by the roadside. Passers-by carried him to the medical college nearby. He passed away on 10^th February.

When I went to pay condolences, I saw him peacefully asleep dressed in the purest of whites. I was one amongst the crowd at the funeral. I watched his mortal remains locked in the coffin being pushed into the burial vault. Along with him locked in his coffin, went the purpose of his life; if any he had. Everybody and everything he loved stayed back.

You and I too would soon be gone and with us all that we believe in. All that we built and plan to build will not.

Paradoxical, but true, each of us, leave ‘footprints on the sands of time’, each one momentary, however impactful and seemingly indelible.

Are you still thinking of a great purpose of life?

---

[i] Vehement denial could be the first reaction

POST COVIDIAN KERALA : ADDRESS CRUMBLE ZONES FOR A BETTER TOMORROW

Better Than The Best

God's Own Country

Kerala’s fight against COVID-19 has been remarkable. The efficiency with which the state managed the pandemic is trending on social media.In the ‘covidian’ fight, Kerala has proved to be better than the best. Miles ahead in many social indices, other Indian states will take eons to catch up with Kerala.

Crumble Zones

Amidst euphoria of ‘success’ against COVID, some disturbing headlines also appeared. These were about Karnataka sealing its borders, Tamil Nadu controlling flow of goods, dumping of 80,000 litres of milk, protest by migrant workers, ‘nokku kooli’ (gawking charges) problems, impending return of jobless expatriates, loss of revenue from liquor sales, death of patients denied medical care and an estimated loss of 80% GSDP, each a pointer to socio-economic crumble zones integral to the state.

Fragile and heavily dependent food security, inadequate industrial production, industry-unfriendly environment, ever looming return of expatriates, native unemployment amidst plentiful opportunities, alcoholism and alcohol dependent exchequer, ironic inadequacies of an efficient public health system and high per capita debt burden are visible crumble zones of the state. Unlike crumble zones in a car which absorb impact shocks and save occupants, socio-economic crumble zones can on impact wreak havoc.

Vulnerable Existence

Hardly any agricultural or industrial production to talk of, the rain-washed, ‘God’s own country’ is a consumer state dependent on the rest of the country for survival. Kerala neither produces enough for its own consumption nor provides environment conducive to industrial production. Kerala's economy is driven primarily by expatriate remittances. Alcohol and lottery earnings do help.

Tiller-Abandoned Land

While land reforms[1] transferred ‘land to the tillers’, it sounded death-knell to profitable agriculture. Micro holdings of cultivable land and dearth of native labour turned land fallow. Native dietary items like jackfruit and tubers like tapioca, yam, once abundant, are hardly cultivated. Kerala is dependent on others to fill its stomachs. Cash crops like rubber, pepper, coffee and cardamom are on laboured breath. Coir industry, once Malayalee monopoly and livelihood for thousands, is also almost dead. Incidentally, the state derives its name from ‘Kera’ or coconut. Cashew industry, once another monopoly, is on ventilator.

Hara-kiri, Malayalee Style

Unreasonable demands, unrelentingly bargained, along with ‘Nokku-kooli’ precipitated conditions unfavourable to industrial and agricultural investment. Labour disputes, with political patronage irrespective of ideologies, ‘locked-out’ many production facilities that eventually closed shop. Kerala became land of ‘bandhs’ and ‘hartals’. While Malayalees in Kerala ‘enjoyed’ committing economic hara-kiri, Non-resident Malayalees, especially expatriates toiled, many in inhuman conditions, to feed needs and greed back home.

Outward Migration

Education and literacy are not synonyms and don’t necessarily make people employable or create jobs. In Kerala, literacy created an environment where natives became reluctant to take up manual labour. Literates discarded traditional occupations and the few who did, became unaffordable and overbearing. Armed with useless degrees, Malayalees couldn’t find enough blue or white-collar jobs of their choice, at home. Local opportunities, in plenty, went unsubscribed.

Malayalees, aware of opportunities elsewhere and managed foothold, migrated, first a trickle, then a torrent. Lured by petro-dollars, they swarm the middle east, mostly doing the very work they shunned doing at home. Doctors, engineers, nurses, paramedics, technicians, anyone and everyone followed. By conservative estimates more than 25 lakh Malayalees live abroad, more than 18 lakhs in middle east alone. Wherever possible they become citizens.

Kerala finds itself in a very a peculiar situation. Plenty of able-bodied natives are unemployed and live off others while forty lakh migrants find work.

Dwindling Breed

One can easily take a Malayalee out of Kerala but never take Kerala out of a Malayalee. Today there is no country in the world without a Malayalee sweating it out, home sick and longing to comeback albeit on vacation.

If migration was not enough, Kerala suffers from the lowest decadal population growth rate[2] (4.9 % against a national figure of 17.6 %). Pathanamthitta has already posted negative figures. In a decade, few more will. Malayalee, natives of Sage Parasuam’s land, is now a dwindling breed.

‘Vasudaiva kudumbakam’?

Outward migration and low birth rate have created a population vacuum. This vacuum and plentiful opportunities for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled labour triggered inward migration of labourers[3] from other states. Kerala is now a miniature India.

‘Vasudaiva kudumbakam’ is a great philosophy, as long as local and regional existence is not threatened. Four million people of non-native ethnicity packed into the small geographical confines will have serious impact on societal life. Cloistered in ghetto like communities for safety in numbers, migrants pose serious law and order challenges.

Signs of irrevocable demographical change, is openly visible on the streets. Native customs, traditions and culture are already stressed. Sooner than later, it could assume serious socio-ethnic and political tones. Assam-like situation in Kerala is not unlikely. It just needs a trigger.

But for now, most have fled the pandemic. Those who could not, will, as soon as travel is permitted. Though the exodus will temporarily cripple Kerala’s economy, serious thoughts needs to go into the matter.

Kerala Can

Given the conditions currently prevailing, if Karnataka and Tamil Nadu seal their borders, Keralites[4] could starve. Despite death of few critically ill patients and interventions by the centre, Karnataka refused to open national highways. This won’t be the last time, it happened. Armed with precedence, closure of all routes to and out of the state, in future crises, can’t be ruled out.

Inadequate food production and poor local employment opportunities has made Kerala a dependent consumer. Promotional sales of white goods and branded apparels in other states if compared would reveal that Kerala is a sellers’ delight, a hapless buyer. Goods and services, when profit driven, will flow.  Markets will force open even stubborn blocks. Even if it doesn’t, it is not an existential issue.

Food grain is a different issue. States can’t achieve self-reliance in everything, but adequacy in native food grains is achievable, especially when blessed with fertile lands. Given its abilities, if it resolves, Kerala can.

Food for Thought

In crisis situations, Kerala must NOT find itself short of grains and pulses. Impoverished can at best bargain alms. Self-sufficiency in food must be achieved. Terrace grown vegetables and symbolic farming cannot replace sustainable and profitable agriculture. Food adequacy can come about only if the entire bank of cultivable land comes under the plough. With eco-friendly technology under control and political will, Kerala can produce native food grains, enough and more for its population.

Agro-industry especially, those processing locally grown items must be promoted. If the state had adequate capability to collect, store and process milk, colossal wastage of milk could have been avoided during COVID. Opportunities for eco-friendly ventures are immense in Kerala. Societal support is what is required.

While tourism is a big-earner, it is difficult to sustain 

Backwaters remain the most favoured location
Photo- courtesy Chemicos(76-79)

it without long term ill-effects on local environment, customs and traditions. Money, however plenty, can’t buy food if there is nothing to eat. Moreover, with covid raging and re-infecting the world, when tourism would pick up remains a question. There is an urgent need to regulate tourism and look for alternative sources of income. Regulated tourism, is niche tourism and can earn more.

Labour Activism

Trade union serve as guardians against exploitation but collective bargaining beyond reasonable limits become counter-productive.

Eradication of parasitic activism can help create industry friendly environment. Contrary to official declarations, ‘nokku-kooli’ persists. Despite killing many a golden goose, few still venture home to roost.

Conducive environment helps germination of ideas and creation of wealth. If provided, many expatriates would return to invest and set up ventures. Public must understand that creation of wealth is not always at someone else’s cost. On the other hand, it creates opportunities and accrues wealth to many.

Adversity or Opportunity?

Migrant labour is inevitable for Kerala’s survival. Agriculture, construction, hospitality, housekeeping, tourism, in fact every aspect of economic activity, organized and unorganized, legal and illegal, has a large component of migrant labour. Industrial output of the state today is mostly moved by migrants, while local unions remain relevant lending brains to disruptions.

For 25 lakh Malayalees who migrated out for work, about a lakh or so busy in queues outside liquor vends and few lakhs living off the benevolence of others, there are about 40 lakh migrants in Kerala earning more than 25,000 crores annually. Even if all expatriates return, Kerala can absorb all of them, provided conditions become industry friendly and there is attitudinal change in the society.

A large number of expatriates, especially from the middle east is expected to return having lost their jobs. If the state administration accepts the challenge posed by migrant exodus as an opportunity, Kerala can kick-start the process of redemption, productively absorbing many returnees.

The crisis provides ideal conditions for change on a platter.

Decoding NREGA

Average daily wages for unskilled labour in the state hovers between Rs 600 to 800. National Rural Employment Guarantee Act provides limited days of work at much lesser wages. If four million migrant labourers can find daily work and remit home Rs 25,000 crores annually, why natives have to line up for NREGA doesn’t need much intellect to decipher.  Windfall awaits Kerala if it deploys NREGA initiatives to reclaim fallow lands.

Reorganizing Infrastructure

The state’s response to the floods and Nipa virus attack was commendable. Responsibility of loss of lives cannot be solely rested on insensitivity of a neighbouring state but must be accepted as symptom of deficiency in public health infrastructure.

State’s public health infrastructure must achieve self-sufficiency at district level itself. It will also eradicate ambulances flying on the roads, from one end of the state to the other sirens blaring, endangering many lives for saving one.

Alcoholism

Alcoholism is an issue that Kerala needs to address. This social problem stems from easy money and free time. Winding orderly queue outside liquor vends is not indicative of inherent discipline but of helpless dependence.

Keralites drank more than Rs 14,508 crore worth liquor in 2018-19, sending Rs 2,521 Crore into the coffers. While this may seem substantial, it amounts to just about 2.4% of the state income (compared to the projected revenue of Rs 103136 crores excluding borrowings).

The social cost inflicted by alcoholism is terrible and irredeemable. Prohibition is not the answer. It is time for Malayalees to tighten their belts (or mundu) to meet the challenge head on.

Hope Ahead

While it is easy to find faults and lament about the past, it is better to create history looking forward and putting in place appropriate policies. While geographical limitations can't be wished away, vulnerable dependence can be minimized. While population decline yields excellent social outcomes, inward migration should be controlled to safeguard native culture. While outward migration reaps economic dividends, encouraging natives to take up local opportunities may yield better economic dividends. Current situation requires great planning and greater societal participation.

Kerala is the best administered state in the country. It can also become the best place on the earth, truly Gods own country.

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[1] Kerala Land Reforms Act,1969.

[2] Economic Review 2016, spb.kerala.gov.in .

[3] 2.5 million according to a study by Gulati institute of finance and taxation 2013. A recent estimate pegs the figure at 4 million (V B Unnithan; Mathrubhumi.com ) repatriating to the tune of Rs 25,000 crores per annum to their states from Kerala.

[4] Population residing in Kerala inclusive of migrants.