A Note on Kerala's Development Achievements

Abstract

The most conspicuous feature of the Indian economy is that hundreds of millions of India's people live in conditions of appalling deprivation—in conditions of hunger, ill-health, homelessness, illiteracy, and subject to different forms of class, caste, and gender oppression. Among the states of India there is, as is now well-known, one state—Kerala—whose performance in the spheres of social and economic development has been substantially better than the others. Kerala's accomplishment shows that the well-being of the people can be improved, and social, political, and cultural conditions transformed, even at low levels of income, when there is appropriate public action. In Kerala, the action of mass organizations and mass movements against social, political, and economic oppression and the policy actions of governments have been the most important constituents of public action.

This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.

Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.