KERALA, MODEL OF DEVELOPMENT Modern
Kerala formally emerged as a constituent state of the
Indian Union on 1 November 1956, comprising three
regions: Travancore, Cochin, and Malabar. The Linguis-
tic Reorganization Committee, which recommended the
reorganization of India’s states based on the majority’s
common language, created modern Kerala as a state in
which Malayalam was the unifying language. Kerala has
392 miles (631 kilometers) of narrow coast in India’s
southwest, facing the Arabian Sea. It occupies a narrow but
fecund strip of land (1.5 percent of the total land area in
the country), supporting 4.5 percent of the nation’s popu-
lation. Beautiful Kerala, called “God’s own country,” is one
of the world’s most popular tourist destinations.
Kerala, a model for other Indian states, has achieved
social and educational development comparable to most
Western nations; this achievement is not yet matched by
industrial growth or economic development. Its excellent
record in education, health, and land redistribution pro-
vides a unique case for arguing that the basis for true
development is social and human, rather than economic.
As of 2003, Kerala enjoyed a literacy rate of over 90
percent, only slightly higher among males than females.
Kerala pioneered equitable land reforms and elected
India’s first Communist state government by democratic
means in 1957. The population growth rate in Kerala is
the lowest in India (0.9 percent per annum), competing
with China’s near zero population growth rate. Popula-
tion pressure on Kerala’s meager land is very high, how-
ever, with 819 persons per square mile (the third highest
in India). The low level of infant mortality (14 per thou-
sand) is an indicator of the excellent health standards of
the population, among both males and females. Life
expectancy, averaging over 70 years for males and 75 for
females, is the highest in India. The social status of Ker-
ala’s women is very high, supported by nuclear families,
and Kerala has a high rate of females in the workforce.
The state also recorded the lowest rate of child labor in
the country. The younger population of Kerala is well
trained in both software and hardware programming.
Many people born in Kerala work in other parts of India,
as well as in the Gulf countries, Europe, and North
America. One in four Kerala households has received
some of its income from the Gulf states since 1973. Of
the total of some 40 million people born in Kerala, more
than 8 million were living and working outside Kerala
State in 2003.
However, Kerala’s high levels of human development
are not matched by industrial growth or generation of
employment opportunities within the state. The economy
became stagnant and nonproductive in many sectors,
except tourism. Globalization policies had already affected
its traditional industries, such as coir, hand-loomed tex-
tiles, and cashew nuts, thereby multiplying the number of
unemployed in the state (25 percent in 2003, the highest in
India). Nearly 4.2 million people were unemployed, and
the proportion of nonworkers (including children, the el-
derly, and the disabled) in Kerala (68 percent) is higher
than the national average (61 percent). The per capita
income in Kerala, however, is estimated at 19,460 rupees,
compared to 16,047 rupees at the national level.
All the villages and towns of Kerala are electrified and
91 percent of the rural habitations have access to potable
water. According to the National Sample Survey, the
population below the poverty line constituted only 12.5
percent, the lowest of any state in the country.
At the political level, Kerala has a healthy tradition of
bipolar coalition politics in the backdrop of a multiparty
system. The Indian National Congress and the Commu-
nist Party of India (Marxist) are the two leading parties.
Smaller parties, like the Communist Party of India, the
Indian Union Muslim League, the Kerala Congress (M),
the Kerala Congress (J), and the Kerala Congress (B),
compete for power in the coalitions. The State Legisla-
ture has 140 seats, besides 9 seats in Delhi’s Rajya Sabha
(the Upper “House of the States” in Parliament) and 20
seats in Lok Sabha (the Lower “House of the People”).
Though in 2003 54 percent of Kerala’s population
were Hindus, it had the largest concentraton of Muslims
(25 percent) after Jammu and Kashmir. It also had 20 per-
cent Christians and a small but ancient Jewish minority.
Political History
The princely states of Travancore and Cochin were
not under the direct control of Britain’s paramount impe-
rial power, but the Malabar region was part of the British
Raj’s Madras presidency. Historically, Travancore led the
other regions in terms of social development. Its
maharaja welcomed Christian missionaries, who estab-
lished churches, schools, and colleges, offering a liberal
Western education to the masses. The missionaries also
pioneered the state’s struggles against harsh Hindu prac-
tices, including untouchability and slavery. The struggle
for responsible government in Travancore and the
national freedom struggle in Malabar gave Kerala a
galaxy of social and political leaders, known as the “four
Ms”: maharajas, missionaries, movements, and Marxists.
Kerala’s Communist Party transformed itself into a
powerful social democratic force, and adapted to India’s
parliamentary democratic framework. It headed seven
coalition state governments, besides its own brief inter-
lude of Communist rule, implementing land reforms and
decentralization measures long before other states. High
wages for workers and powerful trade unions were also
contributions of the Communist Parties in Kerala.
The Kerala model of social development is unique in
several respects. Its nearly egalitarian society, positive
records in health, education, decentralization, and popula-
tion planning, and its active coalition system of governing
have made the state a vibrant civil society, transforming
itself from traditional, ancient feudal roots. Kerala concen-
trated more on investing in its people rather than in mar-
kets. Human resources are the mainstay of its development.
G. Gopa Kumar
