Keralam at 70: holding a mirror to India

Why in the News

Keralam has completed 70 years as a State with health and education outcomes far ahead of the national average. That record questions the income based goal of “Viksit Bharat 2047“, the national development thrust.

What is the “Keralam story”?

1. What it is: The “Keralam story” is the State’s rise from among India’s poorest in 1956, on par with Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, to among its richest.
2. Human development yardstick: Economist Amartya Sen holds that development means expanding human freedoms, not only raising incomes. It is like judging a household by its children’s health and schooling, not its salary.
3. Global standing: As a nation, Keralam would rank 75 on the Human Development Index (HDI), ahead of China and 55 ranks above India. Its infant mortality is lower than that of the United States.
4. The takeaway: Human development does not require high incomes, and income can follow it.

Why does the record question an income based idea of development?

1. Lives at stake: At Keralam’s infant mortality levels, India would save over 5,00,000 infant lives every year.
2. Growth and wellbeing together: Economist K.P. Kannan shows that Keralam’s demographic transition (the shift to low birth and death rates) added 1% a year to its per capita growth, compared with national growth.
3. Migration: Migration also fuelled Keralam’s growth, so human development did not come at the cost of economic growth.

How does Keralam compare with Gujarat, a richer State?

1. Gujarat as the benchmark: Gujarat is richer than Keralam, is growing faster and is projected as a model of economic development.
2. Poverty and infant deaths: Keralam’s multidimensional poverty rate (deprivation in health, education and living standards) is 20 times lower than Gujarat’s, and its infant mortality four times lower.
3. Women’s schooling: 87% of women in Keralam have at least ten years of schooling, against 38% in Gujarat.
4. Child marriage: Only 2.9% of women in their early twenties were married as minors in Keralam, against 18% in Gujarat.
5. Sanitation: Rural open defecation stands at 0% in Keralam and 32% in Gujarat.

What explains Keralam’s record?

1. Robust democracy: The central driver is a robust democracy, rare in the Global South (the developing world), in one of India’s most religiously diverse regions.
2. Consociational power sharing: Consociationalism means religious communities share power. It gives them near proportional representation in legislatures and cabinets, which is rare globally.
3. Secularism and pluralism: Religious coexistence rests on India’s oldest Christian and Muslim communities and millennia of global exchange. Keralam has gone farthest in empowering Muslims as equal citizens.
4. Civil society: Independent organisations push the State and all parties in democratic directions. Eg. Kudumbashree, among the world’s largest women’s self help networks.
5. Palliative care: Around 60% of India’s palliative care services (comfort care for the seriously ill) are in Keralam.

Challenges

1. Weakening federalism: The dominant national ideology is hostile to Keralam’s distinct cultural and political path, and federalism is being weakened.
2. Incomplete inclusion: Labouring women of lower classes and castes, Dalits, Adivasis and migrant workers do not yet share fully in the gains.
3. Ecology, ageing and finances: An ecological crisis, an ageing population, fiscal pressures and dependence on migration strain Keralam’s model.

Way Forward

1. Targeted inclusion: The State should direct land, housing and education programmes at Adivasi, Dalit and migrant worker households.
2. Elder care: Extend the community palliative care network into long term care for the elderly.
3. Jobs within the State: Build skilled employment at home to reduce dependence on remittances.

Conclusion

Keralam’s record shows that democracy, public action and civic organisation can raise wellbeing ahead of income. Whether those gains reach the groups still left out, under ageing, fiscal and ecological pressure, is the unresolved test.

Key numbers

1. Men’s schooling: 82% of men in Keralam have ten years of schooling, against 47% in Gujarat.
2. Child wasting: 10.9% of children under five in Keralam, against 20.2% in Gujarat.
3. Excess deaths: Deaths above normal were 1.5 times official COVID-19 estimates in Keralam, against 33 times in Gujarat.
4. Assembly composition: 51% Hindu, 25% Muslim and 24% Christian legislators, close to population shares.

What is Human Development?

1. HDI pillars: Life expectancy at birth, expected and mean years of schooling, and Gross National Income per capita at purchasing power parity.
2. India’s position: India ranks 130 of 193 countries, in the Medium Human Development category of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
3. Inequality adjusted HDI (IHDI): It discounts each dimension for unequal distribution, which erases 30.7% of India’s HDI value.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2025, GS3, 10 marks] Distinguish between the Human Development Index (HDI) and Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) with special reference to India. Why is the IHDI considered a better indicator of inclusive growth?”