Why is Kerala in a moribund state?
The Malayali may laze around or indulge in trade unionism in the State but has the propensity to work beyond belief once he goes out of Kerala
As the news goes, 20,000 of COVID workers in Kerala, including doctors and nurses, are being suddenly laid off effective
October 1. It is possible that they were informed earlier but we read the news on September 30. This comes as a shock in three ways: One, COVID is not over and the third wave is feared before long. Two, to be suddenly laid off after working on a dangerous mission for, say, a year-and-half sounds unkind. Three, I find it difficult to believe as I have experienced when I worked in that lovely State.
There was then a tradition, unbreakable, of ‘Good Morning’ money of Rs 50. Cochin, especially the Willingdon Island, had a significant cargo traffic. If an exporter engaged a porter for even a day or two, the latter was entitled to Rs 50 every morning for saluting the exporter. He had to be paid the money in cash every day the men turned up. Otherwise, many port workers would surround the exporter’s office and a gherao took place.
Once talking to a tea trader from Malabar, I sought his advice for a suggested diversification in addition to tea. The Malabari’s response was uncanny. In Kerala, there can be seven trade unions for every six workers. One of the most intelligent people in India, the Malayalis allowed very few industries to survive and allowed almost no new ones to come up. West Asian employment saved the Malayalis to an extent, apparently every urban street has about three gold jewellery shops, shining if not dazzling. The explanation must lie in the Malayali’s propensity to work beyond belief once he goes out of Kerala.
In Delhi, I have come across several Malayalis who work on three jobs in 24 hours. Seven to 9 am typing assignment at a lawyer’s house/office, 10 am to 6 am a normal full-day employment. Then overnight work as a telephone operator who is allowed to doze off but is sensitive to the telephone bell, which is essential for a nursing home or a small hospital. This is an incredible paradox: Working incredibly hard away from home but a lazy, cantankerous workman in Kerala.
Does the explanation lie in the Communist virus? From “each according to his ability to each according to his need” was a slogan of Karl Marx. Every human being has an equal need, hence all must be paid an equable wage. With intelligent work came recognition in terms of promotion to higher rank but the pay packet should be similar. The average worker or officer may take the view, why work hard? Do the minimum and go home. In the Soviet Union, you could do so but not agitate. Outside the already Communist society, the red trade unions were formed originally to bring down the capitalist order by continual demands, higher wages, fewer hours of work whose corollary was the employment of more workers for the same quantum of work. A cigarette factory 16 km from the Writers Building, the central secretariat of West Bengal, had 2,380 workers with 119 different designations when 800 or so workmen and 10 designations were sufficient. The trade union was honest but unimaginably unreasonable. Today, West Bengal is a graveyard of industry. In British times, it was the paradise of factories. Perhaps, something similar bugs Kerala.
Communism, in fact, came to the State much earlier than in Bengal where a United Front Government was formed first in 1967. However, in Trivandrum, a Left Front Government was dismissed in 1960 by Indira Gandhi as a Congress leader with the blessing of her father. Nevertheless, it can be said that the genes of these States lent their people to communism from much earlier! Less work, more play until they went to work outside their States.
There is no doubt that ideologies, whether religious or socio-political, do affect the ethics of people who believe in them. The theory of Max Weber on the Protestant work ethic is famous. The Catholics are believed to be comparatively more easygoing than the Protestants. There is no doubt that communism finished Russian civilisation.
There was another fundamental of communism that kept people from working harder. The first was the theory of equal needs, the second was the complete neglect of productivity. Karl Marx and his followers took it for granted that the capitalist economy overproduced and wasted the excess of production over consumption. Therefore, there was a tendency amongst Marxists to take production for granted. The focus of the Communist was on distribution which made the leaders and their followers neglect productivity and concentrate on incomes and wages. Above all, employment of all available was their constant concern.
Vote-seeking politicians did correct the neglect of agriculture. Say, West Bengal attended to land reforms when the Left Front came to power in 1977. But Joseph Stalin onwards, right until 1991, farm produce was neglected in the Soviet Union. Collectivisation of farms made the peasants enemies of all farmers, big, medium and small.
Kerala does not produce much food crops. It grows proprietor-owned spices, coconuts, rubber and so on. And, of course, plantation crops like tea and coffee. This was also because there was nothing like collectivisation in the State.
(This is part of an ongoing series on India making multi-dimensional advancement across States and nations).
(The writer is a well-known columnist, an author and a former member of the Rajya Sabha. The views expressed are personal.)
Source: PTI
