News from Kerala has never been about the development of the state. It has always been about allegations and counter-allegations, and all types of scandals?be it financial, sexual or just plain and simple character assassination. Try start talking of development (or rather the lack of it), people just look at their gold-plated watches and walk away. Prosperity for the average Malayali has always meant constructing palatial houses. Development beyond one?s compound wall has never been part of his agenda, and this gets accentuated every time the assembly elections come around.
Hence, this time too, there was hardly any surprise. Neither the Congress-led UDF nor the CPM-led LDF used development as the poll plank, as they knew that the average voter hardly ever thought outside of scandals and controversies. The VS Achuthanandan government, over the last five years, had made sure that none of the developmental projects took off, citing environmental hurdles. The much touted IT project called Smart City was mired in unnecessary controversies for a number of years, before being cleared with many pre-conditions. It remains to be seen whether the project would yield any desired results for the state.
Now, by all yardsticks, Achuthanandan is a man of great principles and uprightness but, in today?s fast-paced world, one has to combine those virtues with a vision for progress. That?s where successive chief ministers of Kerala have failed. They would be so lost in creating and evading controversies that there was always little time left for productive work. In this case, Achuthanandan was also the chairman of the Single Window Clearance Committee constituted for speedy approvals of mega projects.
Expectedly, he strongly opposed projects like the high-tech city by Shobha Developers and the Yasoram Skycity project. The aversion for anything big and bold had spread like a disease through the state.
While there is absolutely no guarantee that the Congress-led UDF government would be any different, one can always hope. The UDF has always succeeded in pretending that they have a vision for the state?s economic revival but hardly ever done anything about it. That?s a fine art they have perfected over the years. Now, the question is whether that would be carried forward over the next five years as well. The early noises coming out of the UDF camp are encouraging. They have said that there would be an attempt to make Kerala a knowledge destination hub. That is easier said than done, despite the talent pool. There are hardly any companies knocking on the doors to break in. Unemployed, educated youth form a good part of the frustration in Kerala and with successive state governments failing to attract investment into the state, the jobless remained without a desk, and then proceeded to populate the West Asian oil companies.
With the Gulf countries starting to employ natives, the youth of Kerala have started looking elsewhere. Australia, Canada and Africa have become attractive destinations. The Malayali is sure to find a job somewhere in the world thanks to his ability to adapt and survive, but then what about developing domestic resources to keep him at home? If the UDF government can make a start by getting some new investments into the state, especially in the knowledge sector, that?s what the youth in Kerala would want today.
With regards to information technology, the state enjoys a high bandwidth advantage, which is the cheapest in India. Commercial capital Kochi is located at the landing points of both SEA-ME-WE 3 and SAFE international submarine cables. But the private sector has stayed away. About 85% of the built-up space for IT in Kerala is owned by state-run parks like Technopark, Infopark and Cyberpark. The state will have to attempt to stay out of capacity building in the IT space, and leave that to professionals. A few of the Technopark firms like UST Global and IBS decided to expand in safer bets like Bangalore and Chennai. And that?s a worry.
The state also needs to pump in more investments into its biggest draw?the tourism sector. It?s not just enough to be lush green and pretty, it is also equally important to ensure that tourist destinations are well connected. Anyone who has taken the bumpy ride to Kumarakom would instantly know what I am talking about. For Oommen Chandy, the designated chief minister, it?s not going to be about whether he can?rather, he should.
dj.hector@expressindia.com