A lot of newsprint is being utilised these days to state that Kerala is now engulfed in an emerging wave of young technology entrepreneurs and how the state government is hand holding college students to earn their millions while still in their mid-20s. This for me is a very simplified analysis of Kerala?s technology landscape and points towards a certain ignorance of how things work in the tourist state.

For the uninitiated, Kerala was among the first few states (if not the first) to set up an electronics company in India in the public sector. Keltron, set up in 1973, had given the company a head start and its television sets were widely used in Kerala. Now it is a story told by old timers to their children though it still exists as a platform offering knowledge services. This is classic Kerala?getting a healthy lead but squandering the possibilities in no time. One can see that in the fields of education, health and technology. One hundred per cent literacy but not a single world class university or college; great primary health care services but hardly any national level hospital known for innovation; huge pool of people with sound technical know-how but lacking in management soft skills.

Kerala?s new attempt at technology?this time branded as start-up renovation?is nice old-fashioned hype. Any state in this country ?considering its demographics?will by default have a handful of start-ups anchored by youngsters. Kerala too has a few of them in their infancy. This is touted as some kind of renaissance!

In the centre of all this is Startup Village, one of the incubators formed under the PPP umbrella. It was launched in April by Infosys executive co-chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan, one of Kerala?s favourite sons. Now, Kris has all the right intentions. He knows that Kerala is not going to get it right as a technology destination, if youngsters do not come to the fore. Nearly a decade was wasted waiting for something called Smart City, which was anything but that. The project backed by UAE?s petro dollars went through a circus of activities and even today no one is clear as how it will shape up eventually. It was said that many leading IT companies will set up shop there. Anyone who had a grip on Kerala?s ways knew that was not going to happen. The episode connected to Volkswagen was the latest. Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy during the Emerging Kerala investment meet in mid-September, declared that the auto major was planning to invest R2,000 crore in the state. Even Volkswagen officials did not know anything about it. That shameful episode was treated like just another working day in Kerala.

The government?s appointment of Sam Pitroda as a mentor showed how muddled its thinking was, and remains another strong case in this argument. Sure, the man is close to the one family that matters in India, but to expect Pitroda to propel the state into the next technology rung is asking for too much. Pitroda put forward a 10-point development agenda in a flash. It included job-oriented education, skill enhancement capsules, utilisation of retired government officials, topped off by a high speed rail corridor. There was nothing that he proposed which could be termed as insightful or inventive. What Kerala truly enjoys is a discussion. Proposals are always welcome, but the end result is not as important.

The core of the matter is that Kerala continues to live in a cocoon. It does not have the social environment in which entrepreneurship and innovation can thrive. People outside the state tend to think that it is the militant trade unionism that stops Kerala from achieving its real potential. While there is some truth to that notion, that?s not the only factor. Young technologists, the world over, look to live a certain lifestyle that keeps them refreshed and uncluttered. Kerala does not allow such a space. Even its tourism sector is constrained due to this fact. Entertainment is in short supply. Movements are carefully watched by the moral police in most parts. Professional conduct is still a foreign concept. Union minister KV Thomas told me a few years ago that Kerala has to learn to live with it. Kerala may have to learn to do so, but it is difficult to ask youngsters with an entrepreneurial streak to do the same.