Local body elections are underway in Kerala. People will elect their representatives to grama panchayat, block panchayat, zilla panchayat, municipalities and corporations as per their place of residence. Kerala is one place in India where the Panchayati raj system of election and local self-governance works in a well-oiled fashion. The local governments deliver and the public has belief in them. This became evident whenever we have crises like natural calamities and lately during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reservation in terms of gender, scheduled caste and tribes ensure wider representation of people by the elected representatives. Everything is good but we still find some deficiencies that can be addressed in the Panchayati raj system. Delimitation is an exercise to assess the changing socio-economic demographics in a locality to continuously graduate them from a grama panchayat to a corporation. The exercise ensures that an area is categorized correctly so that a capable self-government

Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board [KIIFB] has been drawing news headlines for a long time. It was mostly for all the good that it was doing. But recently it is all for the wrong reasons. Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board [KIIFB] has been existing since 1999. In 2016, the current government reconstituted the organisation to a corporate body enabling it to attract investments to the state to fund infrastructure development projects. Kerala government is guaranteeing most part of the payments to KIIFB. It’s like, if KIIFB funds a road project, Kerala government will return the money to KIIFB in instalments over the years. KIIFB will attract investments globally at competitive rates making the cost of funds to the government much better than what is otherwise available from financial institutions in India. The need for such a novel financial intervention was the debt pile Kerala was carrying. The fiscal norms in India were not allowing the Kerala government to take more

A day won’t pass without news of school-going girls or women raped in Kerala. The difference is only the attention that each gets. Some are trumpeted out from newsrooms, some sidelined. It seems like the public does not care. The public takes it in the stride as if it is an inevitable road accident. Few movies and violent crimes here and there shake the public consciousness then and now. That’s all! We do not fight this malaise as we fight polio or cancer or child labour. It’s probably because we do not have crusaders for the cause. Except for some samaritans, we have vultures who devour the social evil. We have political leaders who belittle the victims, police who protects the violator, judicial system which only exacerbate the pain of the victim, society which isolates the family and media who run their own agenda. Where do we have an institution that can help the survivor overcome the physical and emotional trauma, the family from social ostracization while ensuring the legal recou

Does the COVID-19 promise any lasting paradigm shift in the Kerala economy? Yes, definitely for good! Kerala has always been the fountainhead of knowledge workers across India and the world. Professionals, engineers and non-engineers, are employed in all the new-age enterprises including IT, ITES, Fintech, e-commerce, mobility, auditing, education, design & media. They work outside Kerala and make a living there - marrying another Malayali and raising their kids there. Except for people working in Gulf countries who would spend a predominant portion of their earnings in Kerala, they spend only a small portion of their earnings back in Kerala. Most of the time, they don’t even return leaving behind their ancestral properties and parents. We call it the “brain drain”! This could change, we are now seeing more of them back in Kerala ‘working from home’. We thought they will go back once the COVID-19 eases. But that is still some time away. Amazon extended their “work from home” till J

Are migrants from other states a burden or benefit for Kerala? That’s a question popping up in our thoughts and discussions now and then. Particularly, when we have incidents of brutal murder or robbery by them on the locals. Immigration is a global concern, where a lot of political capital is spent on retaining or gaining power raising this. We mainly encounter four thoughts against immigration. Immigrants rob jobs and livelihood of locals The social support extended to them is a financial burden on the state There are criminals and terrorists among immigrants Immigrants ruin the local culture Perumbavoor, a town near Kochi, is a hub for migrants in Kerala. The town has welcomed them to the extent that people included Hindi in name boards of shops and route boards of public transportation bus. But still, the town witnessed multiple murders and robberies by them. Lately, there was even Al-Qaeda terrorist arrested from Perumbavoor. Hence, the thoughts and concerns of locals are real and

Kerala is now officially in the 2nd wave of COVID-19. The numbers are rising and the peak seems to be a few more days away. As our masks slipping-off, COVID is slipping-in! It has been 6 months since our movie theatres were closed. There was no movie released during school holidays and Onam. Most likely there will not be any releases during the imminent Puja & Id holidays. Christmas also is doubtful. The industry is passing through its toughest time. Regal Cinemas, the 2nd largest movie chain in the United States shut their doors recently. Going by that, how many theatres will reopen in Kerala is to be seen. Except for the financially stable, all the cast & crew behind movies are struggling. It’s the same in the tourism industry. The hotels and resorts missed domestic tourists during the school holiday and Onam seasons. From October till February, it is the time for International tourists. They would also give this season a miss. The industry is going through a crisis not soon

Is it ok for a woman to slap a man? Is it ok for a woman to swear a man? Is it ok for a woman to outrage the modesty of a man? Few women took the law into their hands and did all of them to a man who was making abusive videos with sexual overtones against them. Right or wrong reasons, taking the law into hands is not good for the society and the law should take its course. That’s it! It does not matter whether it is being done by men or women. In a state where men kill others for political reasons, a woman slapping a man need not be given greater importance. But the slap was on the face of many ‘alpha males’ in Kerala. They were equally surprised by the range of ‘vocabulary’ these women had! The revered health minister quickly endorsing the act made the matters worse for them. Women may feel reassured by this bold and unlawful act. But endorsing the act will not serve good for society. For a state that is ahead of even other countries on multiple Human Development Indicators, another

Winding up a business after 22 years of operation! Yes, COVID-19 has forced a reputed advertising firm in Kochi to shut shop. The firm is heavily dependent on revenues from gulf countries and financially constrained to outlive the COVID-19. When Gulf sneezes, Kerala catches a cold! COVID-19 is going to have a lasting impact on Kerala. Prof. S. Irudaya Rajan of the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, which publishes Kerala Migration Survey, estimates 2.5 million emigrants from Kerala across the world. Of this, 1.89 million live in the Gulf countries. Remittances from entire emigrants to Kerala make up to $16 billion. This is equivalent to 35% of the state income! Professor opines that emigrants returned to Kerala through Vande Bharat flights (0.15 million) is just like a trailer of the movie about to be released in December! He predicts the remittances from entire emigrants to Kerala to be lower by $2 billion this financial year. The economy of Kerala would be hit hard!

When a couple of same-sex marry, who is the husband and who is the wife? For want of an answer to this, our solicitor-general argued in Supreme Court that the landmark order in 2018, decriminalizing sexual life, is just that. “nothing more, nothing less”. Our society and values do not recognize the union it seems! The fight is going to be very long for the LGBTQ community to make their own deserved space and identity in India. In Kerala, no one seemed to have shared an opinion. For a state, striving to make space for the LGBTQ community, we should be vociferous and demanding for the cause. Instead, we are focused on parochial politics. For weeks now, our brothers and sisters are in a street fight with police. As they bleed, hawkish media captures everything in detail for all of us to devour from our living room! Media picks ‘bites’ from all three sides, throw them at others for more ‘bites’, and more and more. Media is making the discourse vicious and evil, all in the name of the publi

A friend returned from the gulf and wanted to start a business, manufacturing concrete blocks in Thrissur district. Running pillar to post, for months, he failed to get all required approvals. The time, effort and expenses all in vain! No wonder that ranking of Kerala in “Ease of doing business” dropped over the years from 18th to 21st to 28th now . Enough of our ‘single window clearance’. But we are getting better at another number - suicides. The number of suicides per one lakh population increased from 23.5 in 2018 to 24.3 in 2019 . 1,963 of the 8,556 who took the drastic step were unemployed - 22.9%! Is there a connection? How about 'mango' as an election symbol? Refreshing right? Yes, that is the symbol of Twenty20, the political party in Kizhakkambalam backed by promoters of Kitex Garments. The political scene in Kerala took an interesting turn with the arrival of Twenty20 a few years back. A political party with corporate-style functioning, backed by capitalists, in Kera

A street vendor with fruits was found cross-selling cashew nuts. The vendor reasoned that cashew is from a nearby vendor. They are being kind to each other in difficult times for more wallet share. Being kind and smart! Onam went by without anyone noticing much. There were no new movie releases, except the Amazon release of "C U Soon". What an Onam without an Onam movie! The industry is at pains as shared by stalwarts. People who eke out a living in this industry would have had a tough Onam. Sales of textile, automobiles, white goods and liquor were subdued. The government did their share by ensuring an Onam kit of 10 items worth ₹500, for every household. Political discourse is as usual except that two families lost their breadwinners near Thiruvananthapuram. We cannot be proud of ourselves with such barbaric murder of our brethren. Eastern Condiments got acquired by Orkla . Meeran family (promoters) is now expected to own 10% of MTR. The perseverance and grit of the patriar

Yes, Kerala democratically elects a communist party very often to run the state. But Kerala is not a communist state. Most recently, The Washington Post identified Kerala as a communist state and was juxtaposing the state's achievement in the COVID-19 front. That is not completely correct. The journalist and novelist Manu Joseph captures this clearly here . Do read the article.

The people and government institutions have risen together to fight COVID-19. It has yielded results. The same was recognised globally, notably by media from developed countries. Other states in India wanted to know and replicate how Kerala did it. But it's difficult for anyone else to replicate this so fast. Kerala is a state in a developing country with a healthcare infrastructure similar to that in developed countries. It's not just that. There is a healthcare worker in the name "Asha worker" and a mother and child care centre in the name of "Anganwadi" for every 100-150 people across the state. As required, an executive at the topmost level can access any family in Kerala within minutes. The system is so efficient that every family in the state with senior citizens have received multiple calls in the last 30 days more than once ensuring their health. The hospitals, public healthcare facilities and professionals are also responsive for any emergency. The

Technology has helped all of us. Technology made us more productive, improved the quality of life. But the impact of technology is different for different people. Most of us do video calls but the impact it had on people challenged to hear and speak is huge. They could talk to each other only when they meet. Now they do it anytime, on travel, at work and at home. There probably is nothing that changed their life like the video call did, in their life. Their contribution to economy must have only increased, silently!