AN EXPERIMENT IN PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY
An Experiment in Building
Participatory Democracy
Towards the Concept of a Fourth World
M P PARAMESWARAN
BHARAT GYAN VIGYAN SAMITHI
NEW DELHI
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CONTENTS
1.
Chapter I
Decentralisation: India and Kerala
2.
Chapter II
The Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad
3.
Chapter III
Committee on Decentralisation of Powers
4.
Chapter IV
People’s Plan Campaign & PLDP
5.
Chapter V
Neighbourhood Democracy
6.
Chapter VI
Towards Holistic Plan
7.
Chapter VII
Ideas About a Post-Capitalist Society
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CHAPTER I
DECENTRALISATION: INDIA AND KERALA
Introduction
Kerala is a tiny state in the southwest corner of India. The people of the state have embarked
upon an experiment which may prove to be of great value not only for the people of India but
for all of humanity.
Though a small state with an area of less than 40,000 sq. km, Kerala has a population of over
30 million – more than that of most countries in the world (only 32 countries have
populations larger than that of Kerala). The Kerala experiment is, therefore, not a micro-level
one. It is macro in character, and its results will be valuable even for large areas. It has the
potential to evolve into the ‘next great social experiment,’ after the failure of the first
experiment to build socialism in the 20th century.
There are several actors in the drama of the Kerala experiment. Each one of them is
contributing to its unfolding. Each actor has her/his own perception of the drama and his/her
own role to play in it. This book is written from the perspective of one such group of actors:
the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP). There are several other larger and more powerful
groups, the most important among them being, perhaps, the Communist Party of India
(Marxist) – CPI(M). Having been written on the basis of the perspective of one group, this
book may have, like other similar narratives, inbuilt biases, exaggerations and even
distortions. Fortunately, however, this is not the only narrative available to the public. There
are several others.1 And above all, at least in Kerala, people have their own experiences with
the experiment to draw lessons from.
Humans have always existed only in the form of collectives – from primitive, isolated tribes
to the modern, globalised community. Some form of social contract is present in the very
process of human evolution. With the changing conditions of existence, the form and content
of the social contract have also changed. During the paleolithic, food-gathering and hunting
stages, there was one predominant form of contract, established through tribal customs. That
period is generally known as primitive communism. With the advent of agriculture and, later,
industry, we see the evolution of other forms of social organisation – slavery, feudalism,
caste divisions, capitalism and socialism. At some stage of this evolution came a new type of
arbiter of ‘contracts’ – the state. One can see that basically this coincides with the origin of
private property, private ownership of the means of production. Across the world and
throughout history, one can see different forms of the state – tyranny, dictatorship, autocracy,
oligarchy, monarchy, military rule, democracy. Many of these exist even today in different
parts of the world. The most respected and acceptable form among them is ‘democracy.’ But
the type of democracy with universal suffrage is of very recent origin. In many countries,
women, slaves, the landless, Blacks and such other marginalised groups were excluded from
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the right to vote even till the early decades of this century.
Democracy means ‘rule of the people,’ though more often than not it is practised as ‘rule over
the people.’ All the democracies that have been tried out till today have had their limitations.
The democracy of post-independent India is, in principle, universal. So is the case with the
democracies in the United States of America, United Kingdom, Japan (constitutional
monarchy), to name a few. ‘Universal’ only implies the formal absence of discrimination
based on race, caste, religion, gender, language and so on. In principle, everybody above the
age of 18 has, in India, the right to vote, and also the right to be elected. But these rights are
not fully or easily enforceable. The Election Commission notifies an election. Major and
minor political parties field their candidates. Citizens have the freedom (though not always)
to vote for any of them or not to vote. They seldom contribute to the process of identifying or
determining their representative. Even the so-called ‘independents’ are fielded by one group
or the other. Once elected, the ‘representative’ is free of the people. He/she can change
his/her allegiance, be corrupt, be anti-people. The citizens cannot do anything about it till the
next election. There is no provision in the Constitution or in the election rules to enable the
electors to call back the elected if they so desire. Even in the next election, the political
parties may field the same candidates whom the people mentally reject. The only choice for
the people then is the lesser of the evils – either to vote for another party, which they do not
want to because of their commitment to one’s party, or to stick with their own party and
suffer the candidate. The role of the individual citizen in politics, in managing the affairs of
society, has been, historically, weakening, and today it has become extremely insignificant.
The same is the case in the economic sphere. Economic activities of societies have been
gravitating towards cities and megapolises. Control over these activities has been getting
concentrated in fewer and fewer hands – from the simple monopolies of the earlier times to
the unimaginably large transnational corporations of today. Ordinary citizens have no control
over them. In the case of developing countries, even their governments have lost control over
the national economy to these transnational corporations. Individuals, even nations, have
become mere pawns in this great game of chess being played by transnational corporations,
and are getting uprooted in the cyclonic movements of speculative capital.
We find that a large number of countries which freed themselves from their colonial rulers in
the last century have failed to build up democracy. They have succumbed to some form of
military dicatatorship or puppet democracy instead.
The great experiment to build socialism in the last century, though successful in many ways,
ultimately collapsed, and that too pitiably. The absence of democratic participation of citizens
is accepted as one of the reasons for the collapse of this experiment.
Of the democracies that have survived and that exist, India is acclaimed to be the greatest.
Largest in numbers, of course, it is. But is it the greatest in democratic attributes? That may
be questionable. Still, Indian democracy is significant. People have punished, more than
once, individual leaders and even major parties for their misdeeds. The experience of the
dozens of elections held during the past four decades demonstrates this. So, not only in
numbers but also in some of its qualitative aspects, Indian democracy is alive. However, even
this falls far too short of ‘real democracy’ – a ‘government by the people.’ Individual citizens
in India have only very limited choices. Elections have become prohibitively expensive. Lok
Sabha (House of People’s Representatives) elections demand more than a crore (1 crore = 10
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million) of rupees from each candidate. State Assembly elections require at least half of this
amount. Even panchayat (local self-government) elections today require substantial financial
backing. Money power has overpowered people’s power. Only the outer shell of democracy
is in place. Its essence has, since long, decayed. We have been overtaken by the ‘dictatorship
of money power.’
Throughout human history, one can discern a pattern: the increasing concentration of wealth
in fewer and fewer hands. Capitalism strengthened and enhanced this. It converted
handicrafts-producing artisans to factory labourers, thereby alienating the means of
production and the products from the actual producers. Instead, both were appropriated by a
minority who were supposed to be the owners of the means of production. In due course, the
thousands and millions of capitalists engaged in ‘free competition’ (which was never really
free) were replaced by a fewer number of monopolies. By the early decades of the 20th
century, this process was more or less complete, its end result being the total alienation of
even the ‘owners’ – shareholders – from the process of production. Capitalism became
Monopoly Capitalism and Imperialism. Towards the end of the century, capitalism underwent
further qualitative change – it became Finance Capitalism. Even capital became alien to
production. The quantum daily financial transactions today – speculative selling and buying
of shares – is 70 to 80 times the value of daily production of goods and services. Commodity
exchange has been replaced by money exchange: from C-C through C-M-C and M-C-M, the
process has finally came to M-MI-MII. The capitalist has lost control over capital. Productive
capital has become speculative capital. It is no more the rule of capital, it is the rule of
‘money.’ Money has, thus, gained control over economics and politics, and, naturally, over
ethics and culture too.
Today, nobody has control over production. The ‘holy market’ has proved to be nothing but a
‘mad house.’ It cannot decide anything. It does not have any wisdom. Human society has,
mostly, lost control over itself and is rushing towards self-destruction with increasing speed.
Many scientists and even political leaders have begun to notice this. Even as early as the
1870s, Frederic Engels had warned us about the implications of uncontrolled intervention in
nature. He wrote in the small essay ‘Part Played by Labour in Transition from Ape to Man’2:
Let us not, however, flatter over much on account of our human conquests over nature. For,
each such conquest takes its revenge on us. Each of them, it is true, has in the first place the
consequences on which we counted, but in the second and third places it has quite different,
unforeseen effects which only too often cancel out the first. The people who, in Mesopotamia,
Greece, Asia Minor, and elsewhere, destroyed the forests to obtain cultivable land, never
dreamed that they were laying the basis for the present devastated condition of those countries,
by removing along with the forests the collecting centres and reservoirs of moisture. When on
the southern slopes of the mountains, the Italians of the Alps used up the fir forests so carefully
cherished on the northern slopes, they had no inkling that by doing so they were cutting at the
roots of dairy industry in their region; they had still less inkling that they were thereby
depriving their mountain springs of water for the greater part of the year, making it possible for
these to pour still more furious flood torrents on the plains during the rainy season. Thus, at
every step we are reminded that we by no means rule over nature like a conqueror over a
foreign people, like someone standing outside nature – but that we, with flesh, blood, and brain,
belong to nature, and exist in its midst, that all our mastery of it consists in the fact that we have
the advantage over all other creatures of being able to know and correctly apply its laws.
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Unfortunately, neither Engel’s followers nor their successors appreciated this warning.
Capitalism, by its very nature, relies on an ever-expanding production of goods and services,
causing an ever-increasing demand for natural resources. Several people in the 20th century –
Rachel Carson3, Richard Falk4, Ralph Nader5, Herman Daly6, Barbara Ward7 and hundreds of
others – had recognised the limits indicated by Engels. Green movements and environmental
movements have gathered significant momentum. Leaders of the world nations met at Rio de
Janeiro and took momentous decisions. But none of this has changed the course of human
society. George Bush (senior) haughtily remarked, at the time of the Earth Summit: ‘The
American way of life is non-negotiable.’ Not only Americans, but many others too feel so!
Necessity of a New Social Contract
One characteristic feature of the human species is the ability for conscious self-control. This
self-control gets expressed outwardly through various types of social contracts, which the
members of the society mutually and willingly enter into. The terms of these contracts may,
however, differ from society to society and from time to time.
The ‘socialist’ organisation of society was one such contract. It was considered to be superior
to most other forms of earlier social organisation. The experiment succeeded in
demonstrating that a ‘paradise’ can possibly be built on this earth itself, and not in the world
of the dead. But the leaders of that experiment developed, over time, different personal
concepts of paradise and started to act accordingly. There was no possibility to question them
or to correct them. The dictatorship of the proletariat, instead of being an organ to suppress
the counter-revolution of the minority, degenerated into a dictatorship of a party elite and
bureaucracy. People, the makers of the revolution, became impotent spectators of the
counter-revolution. The ‘Market Demon’ emerged victorious. But this victory is only an
illusion. Summarising the experience of the entire century and even previous centuries, Eric
Hobsbaum concluded his book The Age of the Extremes8 thus:
We do not know where we are going. We only know that history has brought us to this
point and – if readers share the argument of this book – why. However, one thing is
plain. If humanity is to have a recognisable future, it cannot be by prolonging the past
or the present. If we try to build the third millennium on that basis, we shall fail. And
the price of failure, that is to say, the alternative to a changed society, is total darkness.
Yes, humanity has to cut open a new path. Many are at it, to evolve a new social contract.
This book attempts to evolve the outlines of such a contract. It relies heavily on the
experience of the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad and on the experience of a variety of social
and political movements. The author is attempting to fit them all into a logical structure based
on his personal experience of life in the USSR during 1962-65. The views expressed are
tentative and could be subjected to restructuring.
Equal participation, equal responsibility and equal rights – these are some essential elements
in this contemplated new society: in other words, the new society will be a creative
democracy with ever-increasing participation of individual citizens. Decentralisation and degiantisation are important preconditions for universal participation. So, the new society may
also be called ‘Decentralised Democracy.’ But that is not sufficient to define it. Humans
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require a variety of natural resources including coal and oil, iron, copper and so on. They are
not inexhaustible. Until the end of the 19th century, the ‘demand’ and the ‘need’ for these
were limited when compared to their availability, so we did not feel the pinch. During the
20th century, however, the world’s population has increased by several times. Per capita
consumption of these natural resources has also increased by several times. As the two
combined into runaway consumption of these resources, the limits have become evident. In
the new society, there will be stringent controls over the use of natural resources. These are
self-controls to be instituted by the human species, which has realised the danger of
exhaustion of natural resources.
Even though the dominant mood continues to be one of unlimited exploitation, the number of
people who have realised the necessity of controls is increasing. They are, however, still too
weak to change the direction of human ‘progress.’ It is in this context that the People’s Plan
Campaign in Kerala, to build a decentralised and participatory democracy, gains significance.
As indicated earlier, the Kerala experiment has global significance. And the ‘Kerala Model’
has been receiving international attention since long. Today, many consider it an exception,
non-replicable and unsustainable. Maybe it will be so, if we believe it to be so, or if we do not
act, or if we act wrongly. Like elsewhere in the world, in Kerala, too, many believe that
resources are inexhaustible and that technology can solve all problems. We have not
attempted to enter into any polemics with them, because ‘beliefs’ are not amenable to
scientific or logical scrutiny. This is aimed at those who are convinced about the necessity of
a new society and those who are disillusioned with the past and existing societies. The
broader and the deeper this sharing is, the stronger will be the movement for a new, better
society.
The Indian Experience
India – Bharat – is an ancient country. Amongst the bewildering array of cultural diversities,
a sort of unity has been evolving over centuries and millennia. But the present politically
united India is the product of the freedom struggle. It is only half a century old. During the
British rule, though there was a politico-administrative unity exercised through the viceroys,
there existed within the continent a variety of political units and administrative systems –
areas governed directly by the British governors, princely kingdoms, feudal fiefdoms,
cantonments, etc. There were widespread variations among these areas in terms of economic
base, social customs, and extent of modernisation. India was, and still is, a country inhabited
by civilisations ranging from the Stone Age to the Space Age. The freedom struggle
succeeded in unifying India, but not wholly. It was split into a Pakistan and an India, bleeding
hundreds of thousands of human beings, both literally and figuratively. The wound is
unhealed. The pain still persists.
Integrating the assortment of political entities in the erstwhile colonial India into one political
unit was not at all easy. The Kashmir issue still remains a festering wound – even after 55
years. The credit for the process of integration and formation of a unified Indian state is
usually given to Sardar Vallabhai Patel and V P Menon. But what they achieved was not
stable. The ‘Greater Andhra Movement’ and the martyrdom of Potty Shriramulu, Sampoorna
(total) Maharashtra and Maha (great) Gujarat movements, the division of Provinces of East
Punjab Sindh Union (PEPSU) – all show the inadequacy of the great integration of 1948. This
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did not escape the attention of the Constituent Assembly formed in 1948 to draft and adopt a
Constitution for the Indian Republic. It arrived at the conclusion that one had to accept the
historically evolved and persisting diversities in India and, therefore, develop not a unitary
but a federal system of government.
Even during the time of the freedom struggle, the political and administrative structure of a
free India was a frequently discussed topic. Mahatma Gandhi conceived a five-tier system of
governance. He saw Gram Panchayats (village self-government) as the most basic and
elementary unit of this system. The role of the higher levels was to facilitate the functioning
of the lower levels and not to control them – give them information, expert advice, help them
in broadbased integration, etc. The ‘centre’ was to be controlled by these basic units. It was
not to be the other way round. The All-India Congress Working Committee which met just
after attainment of independence adopted a resolution9 which said:
We have achieved political independence. Congress has to move to its next responsibility – to
institute real democracy in the country, to build up a society based on social justice and equity.
Democracy has to transcend from political sphere to socio-economic spheres. Democracy today
requires planned central direction and, on the other hand, decentralisation of economic and
political powers conducive to better efficiency, cultural progress of the entire society and
defence of the nation. The smallest geographical unit – the village – should be able to
effectively direct the life of the community through democratically elected panchayats.
But BR Ambedkar, the acknowledged architect of the Constitution, was apprehensive of
village panchayats as they were, and still are, dominated by feudal landlords inimical to
scheduled castes and other oppressed people. He was glad that the ‘Village Republic’ concept
of Gandhi did not find a place in the draft Constitution. According to him, villages were
‘garbage bins of localism,’ ‘caves of ignorance,’ ‘seats of chauvinism.’10 But Gandhi was
unhappy. He wrote again11:
This is a lapse which demands immediate attention. Our freedom should echo the voice of the
people. The more the powers we give to panchayats, the better it is for the people.
However, the majority of the Congress leaders rejected Gandhi’s plea, though not exactly on
the grounds propounded by Ambedkar. They wanted to centralise all powers unto themselves.
So, they were ready only to make some statements, in the form of Directive Principles
(Article 41) that: ‘the state governments should take steps to form gram panchayats and to
give them enough rights and powers so that they can function as local self-governments.’
It took another 40 years for the concept of ‘Local Self-Government’ to become an integral
element of the Constitution through the 73rd and 74th Amendments of 1992. Meanwhile,
each state implemented the Directive Principles in its own way. A detailed review of these
attempts is beyond the scope of this book. Suffice to say that these ‘directives’ were, in
effect, ignored by the state and the Central governments.
The very next year after the adoption of the Constitution, India entered the era of planned
economic development, encouraged by the phenomenal success of the Soviet Union. It was
the success of the USSR that prompted the architects of the Constitution to declare that India
would be a ‘secular, democratic and socialist republic.’ The main target of the First Five-Year
Plan (1951-56) was a substantial increase in the foodgrain production in the country. The
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Grow More Food Enquiry Committee, constituted to guide this objective, put forward in its
recommendations a concept which was later to become a major institution throughout India.
The committee suggested that rural India be divided into a number of Community
Development Blocks, that each Block should have a Block Development Officer (BDO) and a
number of officers to help him. Today, the BDO’s office still continues to be a powerful one.
Thus, an additional tier between the village panchayat and the district was established.
The Second Five-Year Plan (1956-61) witnessed a fundamental change in the philosophy of
planning and of development. Known widely as the ‘Nehru-Mahalanobis Model,’ it leaned
heavily on the experience and theory of planning in the Soviet Union with an emphasis on the
development of heavy industries. It also recognised the necessity of strong democratic
institutions at micro (village panchayat and block) levels. It was generally agreed that the
responsibility of local administration and developmental activities should be brought under
local self-governments. The state shall have only certain minimal functions to perform related
to legislation, law and order, judiciary, etc. Within each district, there should be people’s
councils at taluk (block) levels with clearly defined functions.
And thus, a committee under the chairmanship of Balwant Rai Mehta was appointed by the
National Development Council to look into the working of Community Development
Programmes and suggest necessary modifications. That was towards the end of 1957. It was
this committee that recommended the Panchayati Raj system with elected people’s
representatives’ panchayat at the village level and panchayat samiti at the block level. The
block-level samiti members were to be elected by the village panchayat members. The
responsibilities at each level, too, were defined. The panchayat samiti at the block level was
given very important responsibilities – all aspects of agricultural development, cooperation,
drinking water, public health and environmental cleanliness, local roads, famine relief
measures – all these (as well as the special projects formulated by state governments from
time to time) were to become the responsibilities of the Block. The committee was ready to
expand even further the powers and responsibilities at the panchayat and block levels.
However, to begin with, the emphasis was to be on rural development. The committee did not
suggest any significant democratic structures at the district level. Based on the
recommendations of the committee, efforts were made to set up panchayati raj institutions in
Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab,
Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. They functioned with more or less
powers and efficiency for about five to six years. The major development objective during
the period was an increase in foodgrain production. The acute food scarcity of the early 60s
directed the attention of the people and the governments into other areas. A plethora of
‘intensive’ programmes were given shape to – Intensive Agricultural Development
Programme, Intensive Agricultural Area Project, High Yielding Variety Programme and so
on. Later years were to witness an unceasing procession of such ‘centrally sponsored
schemes’ – Small Farmers’ Development Agency, Integrated Rural Development
Programme, Jawahar Rojgar Yojana, Suvarna Jayanti Rojgar Yojana, Indira Awas Yojana,
etc.
Suffice to say that even khadi (handspun textiles) and village industries, which according to
Gandhi were to be the backbone of the rural economy, came under the centralised control of
the Khadi and Village Industries Commission. Commissions, corporations and boards at
Central and state levels usurped a major chunk of the development responsibilities from the
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people’s elected representatives at various levels. To put it in brief:
1
Bureaucrats became the leading force of governance.
2
Even though people’s representatives were responsible for policy formulation and
enactment of laws, bureaucrats began to play an ever-increasing role in drafting and
interpreting them. This led to a totally changed self-image of the people’s
representatives. They no longer considered themselves responsible for the effective
management of the people’s resources, or for running the administration. The
Parliament and the Assemblies degenerated into fish bazaars (markets).
3
Whatever nominally federal elements included in the Constitution have all been eroded
one by one, directly and indirectly, through Constitutional amendments and economic
concentration.
4
The fragmentation of all main national political parties and the growth of unprincipled
local politicking formations may convey the impression of a weakening Centre and
stronger states. However, such developments only contribute to political volatility.
Effectively, the country is now in the hands of a coalition: transnational corporations,
local business sharks cooperating with them, modern landlords, and above all the
omnipresent underworld.
Though these developments became brazenly open only by the last decade of the 20th
century, even in the 70s and 80s, they were visible to discernible eyes. In 1978, during the
Janata Party rule, yet another committee on panchayati raj institutions was constituted under
the chairmanship of Ashok Mehta. Its report, too, failed to evoke positive response from the
state governments. In passing the report had stated that ‘the existing demand of distribution
of powers between the Union and the states would require a detailed but separate
consideration.’ The committee refused to consider it in their report. So the idea of
decentralisation was limited to the states and panchayats. In his famous ‘note of dissent,’
EMS Namboodiripad, a member of the committee, wrote12:
This, however, does not according to me bring out to the full the crucial importance of recasting
the constitutional framework regarding Centre-State relations. I am of the view that unless the
whole question is fully considered, leading to radical amendments in the Constitution, all that is
proposed in this report would remain as such on paper as the Balwant Rai Mehta, as other
recommendations have so far remained.
Elsewhere in the same note he continued:
My faith in democratic decentralisation, in other words, arises from the fact that it helps the
working people in their day-to-day struggles against their oppressors and exploiters. I cannot,
therefore, think of Panchayati Raj institutions as anything other than integral parts of the
country’s administration with no difference between what are called ‘developmental’ and
‘regulatory’ functions. What is required is that while certain definite fields of administration,
like defence, foreign affairs, currency, communications, etc. should rest with the Centre, all the
rest should be transferred to the states and from there to districts and lower levels of elected
bodies.
The government at the Centre, however, was in no mood to facilitate the working people in
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their struggle against the exploiters. It continued to retain and increase its powers – both
political and economic. The report was ‘respectfully’ shelved.
During the 70s and 80s, a few states did experiment with panchayati raj institutions.
Important among them was the Karnataka experiment. But these never had any significant
impact on the general course of events. Standing out amongst all these is the West Bengal
experiment, now more than two decades old. A comparative study of the West Bengal and
Karnataka experiments can be seen in a short monograph Panchayat Raj in Karnataka and
West Bengal by T Gangadharan.13
The 1996-2002 People’s Plan Campaign in Kerala was both quantitatively and qualitatively
different from all such earlier experiments. To understand this difference, one has to look into
the vicissitudes in the efforts for decentralisation in Kerala during the past four decades.
Kerala
The first elected popular ministry in Kerala assumed office in April 1957. EMS
Namboodiripad was its Chief Minister. In August the same year, an Administrative Reforms
Committee was formed under Namboodiripad’s leadership.14 Two of the important terms of
reference of the committee were to:
1
Come up with recommendations for decentralisation of power to different levels with
the objective of making administration more efficient.
2
Suggest democratisation processes to make local self-governments and other people’s
representative bodies active partners in executing the functions of the government.
The committee submitted its report in July 1958. It recommended that panchayats should be
viewed as the basic units of the government at the village level and many powers, including
revenue, be transferred to them. Above the panchayats, the blocks and taluks were to be
restructured and revenue and development functions were to be integrated. At these levels,
instead of the committees nominated ad hoc, the committee suggested that people’s councils
be formed through indirect elections. In the beginning, there was no clear understanding
about the structure of the district council. It was recommended that in the long run, the
districts should be made fully autonomous units, except in a few fields. This could be
achieved in three stages. Based on these recommendations, the Kerala Panchayat Bill was
introduced in the state Assembly on 29 December 1958, and the Kerala District Council Bill
on the 16 April 1959. Their objectives were defined thus:
1
One District Council in each revenue district to be formed.
2
Representatives elected from among the councillors of municipalities and
representatives elected through adult franchise from rural areas to form this Council.
District-level officers from development departments to be non-voting members.
3
Seats to be reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
4
The number of non-official members to be between 15 and 30, according to population.
5
The term of office to be five years.
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Before these bills were adopted, the Assembly was dissolved. This was on 31 July 1959. In
1960-61, when Pattom Thanu Pillai was Chief Minister, the Kerala Panchayat Act, the Kerala
Municipality Act and the Kerala Municipal Corporation Act were passed in the Assembly.
But these Acts had only a very limited objective: to remove some of the major differences
that existed between the Malabar area and the Travancore-Cochin area. There were, also,
some suggestions to increase responsibilities and revenue resources of local self-government
institutions.
But all these suggestions remained on paper. As in many other states, in Kerala too, elections
to the panchayats were not held for many years. The 1978 panchayat election came after 16
years. In 1964, based on the recommendations of the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee report,
one more tier – the block – was incorporated between the village panchayat and the district
council. Chief Minister R Sankar presented the ‘Panchayat Union Council-Zilla Parishad
Bill’ in the Kerala Assembly. The Bill was not passed.
After a long spell of President’s rule, a popular ministry was again sworn in under the
leadership of EMS Namboodiripad. The Kerala Panchayati Raj Bill was presented to the
Assembly in August 1967. Before it was passed, the Assembly was dissolved again. It was
only in 1980 that the Kerala District Administration Act received President’s approval. From
1978 onwards, election to panchayats were held regularly in Kerala, but otherwise the field
situation was no better in Kerala than in other states. West Bengal continued to be an
exception.
It was only after the new Ministry under the leadership of EK Nayanar assumed office in
1987 that decentralisation of power once again became an important agenda. Already four
decades had elapsed since the achievement of independence. Instead of decentralisation,
India had gone several steps up on the ladder of centralisation. To bring it down was no easy
task. Only in 1989 could elections be held to district councils. However, they were shortlived.
The United Democratic Front ministry which came to power in 1991 dissolved the councils.
Constitutional Amendment
The Constitutional Amendment Bills 73 and 74, which were adopted by Parliament, again
gave new vigour to the idea of panchayats. Still, many states delayed the enactment of the
state Panchayat and Nagar Palika Acts. In Kerala too, they were delayed. Only at the last
moment, in 1994, were the new Kerala Panchayat and Municipal Acts enacted. There was
practically no discussion on them. They were full of internal contradictions and impossible to
implement. Elections to panchayats were held in 1995. Terms like decentralisation,
democratisation, people’s participation, etc. continued to remain empty slogans. The political
will to realise them was conspicuous by its absence. Many related acts, rules, statutes and
directives were yet to be amended; a large number of them were against the spirit of
decentralisation.
Further, the responsibilities and powers of each tier of the panchayats were to be fully
delineated and human and material resources were to be provided. Efforts in this direction
progressed at snail’s pace. In fact, nobody – neither the political leadership nor the
bureaucracy – was ready to share powers, or to forgo even the smallest of benefits. They
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refused to act without external pressure. In Kerala, and perhaps only in Kerala, such pressures
did develop. The Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad has played an important role in the
development of these forces, and in engendering the People’s Plan Campaign. It provided the
campaign with the largest number of campaigners. For the Parishad, this was the culmination
of two decades of struggle and the beginning of a new set of struggles.
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CHAPTER II
THE KERALA SASTRA SAHITYA PARISHAD
The Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (or KSSP as it is popularly known) is a unique movement.
Though legally an NGO, it is quite different from other conventional, run-of-the-mill nongovernmental organisations. It was formed in 1962 by a group of science writers as a ‘Forum
for Science Writers in Malayalam.’ The main objectives were to enrich scientific literature in
Malayalam and to popularise science and develop a scientific attitude and worldview among
the people. Besides organising regular lectures and classes, the KSSP also started publishing
three journals – Sastragathi, Sastra Keralam and Eureka. During those times, the KSSP
activists were very enthused by the writings of JD Bernal and his associates, and by the
experience of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries.
There was firm faith in the capability of human beings and in the endless possibilities of
science. At the same time, books like Silent Spring by Rachel Carson had started to influence
the activists of the KSSP from another angle. It was becoming evident that the application of
science and technology did not uniformly benefit everyone in society. Often, it harmed many.
This was found to be true not only when science and technology were applied to war, but also
when they were used for peaceful development activities. It was found to do good to some,
but harm to others, or to do good today but harm tomorrow. The experience of the AluvaEloor region, the industrial heartland of Kerala, and of Mavoor Rayons factory in Kozhikode
raised serious doubts regarding the attitude of absolute faith in science. Thus, just before the
first Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 some activists of KSSP took
the initiative to organised a pre-Stockholm conference on the control of air and water
pollution and environmental protection. In a post-Stockholm seminar for discussing the
recommendations of the conference, a resolution was adopted asking the government to enact
a bill for the control of air and water pollution. This was the beginning of the KSSP’s critical
attitude towards ‘development.’
At that time, the KSSP was just a decade old. Its senior activists went into a critical
introspection about the experience of these years. This led them to realise that:
1
Science and technology lived not so much in the pages of books or in the spoken or
printed word, as they did on the tips of people’s hands, in the processes of production
of goods and services, in agriculture, animal husbandry, village industries, modern
industries, etc.
2
If scientific knowledge was to be used to help people and develop a scientific temper
among them, then, besides publications and lectures, one had to consciously apply
science and technology to productive activities.
It was clear that scientists needed to come down from their ‘ivory tower.’ Or, perhaps, they
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needed to climb up from their abysmal wells to see the wide world above. Scientists were
actually ‘frogs in the well,’ unable to see far-off horizons, which they could have done if they
were dwellers in terra firma! Such a feeling had begun to grow among the KSSP activists. In
consonance with this understanding, they realised the necessity of working in rural areas
where the major part of production took place. The three science jathas (caravans) organised
as part of the 9th annual conference (December 1971), the ‘thousand science classes’
organised as part of the 10th conference (January 1-7, 1973) and the Southern Regional
Activists’ Camp (October 1973) discussed this idea in detail. From these discussions emerged
the concept of rural science fora. Presenting this concept in a detailed note, a manifesto was
prepared. The first Rural Science Forum was formed in Kooveri village in Kannur district in
1974. It was, however, at the first state-level workers’ camp held at Peechi in April 1975 that
detailed discussions took place on the philosophical, economic and political aspects of the
Rural Science Forum.
Rural Science Forum
To apply scientific and technical knowledge increasingly to the various economic activities of
the village, to enable everybody to do this, and thereby to increase total production and
ensure that most of its benefits went to those directly involved in the production process –
these were the objectives of the Gram Sastra Samiti or Rural Science Forum. In 1976 A
Handbook for Rural Science Forum Activists15 was published. Its introduction states as the
objective of Rural Science Forum:
India lives in its villages. Only through the all-round progress of rural people can India progress
as a nation. Though three decades have elapsed since attaining independence, there is little
change in the conditions of the majority of rural people. They should understand what they are
losing and how to get it back...
Our general education has been stagnating without any change in its approach and objectives...
even illiteracy has not been eradicated. The cornerstone of the functioning of Rural Science
Fora is the objective situation existing in the villages and their needs. It should become a place
to know and learn, an information centre easily approachable to the rural folk. There are many
institutions and projects with the proclaimed objective of rural development. Though a few of
them function well, a huge percentage of the total resources and efforts directed to them get
siphoned off en-route. Rural Science Fora expect to make these efforts more effective.
Our country is poor – this is [a] cliché. And many believe this is true. But the fact is that we do
not know how rich our country is, and what her resources are. Naturally, there has been little
effort to make all-embracing plans to use these resources efficiently. It is necessary to carry out
detailed studies about our natural and human resources and societal needs. The rural science
fora will initiate such studies. A variety of rural surveys can be conducted by rural science fora.
More concretely:
1
Organise discussion groups for self-study. There are hundreds and hundreds of things which
the people should know. More and more citizens should be persuaded to participate in such
discussions. Experts should be invited to participate and educate. Apart from discussions,
we may try to take science to the people through a number of popular folk art forms.
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2
Organise medical camps, agricultural exhibitions, study tours, etc.
3
Organise welfare activities with the help of, and in collaboration with, the multitude of
governmental and non-governmental welfare agencies.
4
Organise extensive studies and surveys on the status of health, education, employment,
unemployment, etc. of the village and organise discussions on agriculture, industry, health,
education, roads, electicity, resources, etc. in order to initiate the process of village-level
economic planning.
5 One of the major objectives of the rural science fora will be eradication of illiteracy in the
village and to provide opportunities for the continuing education of neo-literates.
A large number of activities of the KSSP in later times – including the Vazhayoor Village
Survey, the literacy activities during the 1978-79, the rural science jathas, the kalajathas, the
foundation of the Integrated Rural Technology Centre (IRTC), the Ernakulam Total Literacy
Campaign, the resource mapping, the Kaliasseri Integrated Planning, the Panchayat-level
Development Planning – were only attempts to put these ideas into practice. One can also see
that, willy-nilly, this was a forerunner of the 1996 People’s Plan Campaign. The major
activity of the rural science fora in 1976 was to understand Kerala. The handbook states:
During the coming October-December period, each rural science forum should organise in 10
centres around it, courses based on the book Wealth of Kerala.16 The help of the nearest KSSP
unit can be sought. Each course should consist of a minimum of five hours. It is desirable to
have 10 hours.
Wealth of Kerala was prepared with the help of experts in the Centre for Development
Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, and the State Planning Board. It was a milestone in the
development literature of Kerala. Seeds of the policies on agriculture, irrigation, energy,
industrialisation, environmental protection, health and education, evolved by the KSSP during
the subsequent couple of decades, can be seen in this book.
Science for Social Revolution
The analytical and self-critical enquiries during 1973-74 persuaded the KSSP to redefine its
goals and objectives. Scientific knowledge and scientific temper should, ultimately, help
improve the quality of life of the people. The life of the majority of Indian people did not
improve perceptibly during the three decades after independence. There has to be a change in
this state of affairs. And science should help cause a revolutionary change in the society...
thus progressed the thoughts. Ultimately, this led to the adoption of the slogan Science for
Social Revolution. This was in 1974. All the activities of the KSSP since then have been to
make this slogan more concrete and to realise it in practice. Direct experiences of the illeffects of industrial pollution forced the KSSP to think of industries suited to the conditions in
Kerala. Even as early as in 1975, KSSP came out with a policy document outline on energy.17
The 1978-80 polemics on the Silent Valley hydroelectric project forced the KSSP to make it
more concrete and enrich it with details.18 By 1980-81, the KSSP became clearer about the
nature of the social revolution. This understanding could be summarised thus:
Indian society is divided into two broad camps, one camp consisting of the majority, which is
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either continuously getting impoverished or faces the threat of impoverishment, and the other, a
minority camp which continuously enriches itself at the cost of the majority. Science and
technology has been, and still is, a weapon in the hands of the minority, helping them to exploit
the majority. This situation has to change. Science should now become a weapon in the hands
of the impoverished majority and in their various organisations, in their fight against
impoverishment.
How can this social revolution be achieved? What are the roles of the different classes within
the majority and of their organisations? What is the role of the KSSP? What will be the nature
of the society after such a social revolution? There was no clear or uniform understanding on
these issues. There were three broad points of view:
1
‘Revolution’ is the job of political parties. The path of revolution may not be the same
as that of the Russian, Chinese or Cuban revolutions. But ‘socialism’ of one type or
another will be the objective. The economic foundation of the future society will be, as
in the case of the Soviet Union, heavy industry. Science and technology should help
strengthen this foundation, and at the same time, deal with the increasingly evident
environmental repurcussions. The impoverished majority and their political and mass
movements should be armed with the weapon of science to help them achieve the
above objectives. This shall be the duty of the KSSP.
2
Many, especially a large number of the founder members of KSSP, did not share this
view. They too agreed that Indian society was divided into two camps – a majority
which was being continuously impoverished and a minority which was getting
continuously enriched. But they were not ready to take a clearly partisan attitude. True,
they had their sympathy towards the majority. But they did not know how to express it.
They did not have much faith in political parties or the mass organisations they led.
Educate the public about the real state of affairs, empower them to arrive at logically
valid conclusions and act accordingly, popularise science with this objective – this, and
only this, shall be the duty of the KSSP, they argued.
3
There was a third line of thinking, too. It was this approach which led to the concept of
taking science to the villages. The post-revolutionary society, according to it, would be
based on decentralised and participatory democracy. Each citizen would participate in
the revolutionary transformation of the society and in its day-to-day functioning. The
economy would be sustainable. It would be based on renewable resources. Its culture
would be different from western consumerism. It would measure quality of life in
human terms... this was the line of thinking of this stream.
In course of time, the third viewpoint became more popular among the KSSP activists. The
activity sphere of the KSSP expanded year by year, encompassing education, development,
health, environment, agriculture, irrigation, energy, planning, gender sensitivity... in fact,
every aspect of social life. In each area, the KSSP tried to develop local capabilities. The
objective of each and every programme was to strengthen decentralised democracy and the
local economy. The activities of the KSSP during the subsequent decades amply testify this.
Evolution of a Development Perspective
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The KSSP came out with a holistic view on the development of Kerala, for the first time, in
1976 through its publication Wealth of Kerala. It dealt, however, only with economic
development, not its cultural-ethical and socio-political aspects. The 37-day-long scienceculture jatha from Kooveri in Kannur district to Poovachal in Thiruvananthapuram district
during October 2-November 7, 1977 put forward the following interesting slogans:
1
Make Malayalam the medium of administration and education.
2
Make eradication of illiteracy a mass movement.
3
Science = labour, labour = wealth, wealth leads to the welfare of people, and, therefore,
science leads to the welfare of the people.
4
Industrialise or perish.
In 1975, Kerala, despite being a non-industrialised state, enjoyed a surplus in electricity. The
new giant Idukki hydroelectric power station was about to be commissioned. The State
Electricity Board was busy with the construction of transmission lines to export electricity to
neighbouring states. The KSSP came out with a study indicating that even with the Idukki
power station, Kerala would face power shortage if it was to distribute power to all the
applicants within the state. The KSSP argued that hydro sources in Kerala were limited, that
no system based purely on hydro power is viable, that Kerala need a major thermal power
backup and that it should start the construction of a 200MW thermal unit by 1978, to be
completed by 1982-83. If this was not done, the state would have to take recourse to
powercuts, the KSSP cautioned. The Board authorities rejected the argument. The state
government never bothered.
Result: In 1983, the Board had to resort to powercuts and the situation continues till today.
The thermal station went on line only in 1999, 16 years later. The intervening years witnessed
intense polemics on the power policy, with the KSSP on one side and the State Electricity
Board and development fundamentalists on the other. These became acute in the controversy
connected with the Silent Valley hydroelectric project. This project could have destroyed one
of the last surviving and rich evergreen forest tracts in the country, the abode of a large
number of rare species, in return for a meagre electricity production of about 500 million
units per year (the present demand is over 15,000 million units). The debates made the people
of Kerala highly environment-conscious. The KSSP was able to rally people against the
inhuman air and water pollution caused by the crassly insensitive management of Mavoor
Rayons and many other chemical factories. This too resulted in further strengthening people’s
environmental consciousness. Further, the KSSP came to realise the necessity of avoiding
pollution-causing chemical industries in Kerala’s industrialisation programme. Many leftist
developmentalists argued vehemently against this. They said: We have no choice (there is no
alternative – TINA), we have to industrialise. Anybody willing to set up any industry should
be welcomed. The controversy is not yet settled. Meanwhile, people have taken a stand that
they would not allow polluting industries in their neighbourhood and that they would not
allow nuclear power stations anywhere in the state.
Kuttanad is a unique region in south-central Kerala. Lying on an average 1.5m below sealevel, this tract of nearly 80 sq. km was the site for of a variety of development interventions
– the net result of which was a backlash from nature, proving once again the validity of
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Engels’ warnings. The KSSP studied the landuse, the shrinking water bodies and the
destruction of forests in Kerala and warned about the dangerous erosion taking place in the
economic base of the state. Thus, the KSSP had to develop perspectives on agriculture,
fisheries, animal husbandry, forest protection and so on – in fact, a total perspective for the
primary sector as a whole. But, again, developmental fundamentalism prevented people from
internalising these perspectives.
The KSSP has been active in the field of health for more than two decades. By the early 80s, it
was convinced that the health of the community could not depend solely on doctors, drugs
and hospitals, that even more important were safe drinking water, clean environment,
nutritious food and preventive measures. And the KSSP took this message to the people on a
mass scale.
By 1978, in about 600 out of the 990 panchayats in Kerala, rural science fora were formed.
During the same year, after a 16-year interval, fresh panchayat elections took place and a new
set of people’s representatives came to power. Collaborating with them, the KSSP attempted to
prepare a ‘Perspective Development Document’ for each panchayat. The participatory survey
of Vazhayoor panchayat in Malappuram district, which was later to develop into the
Panchayat Resource Mapping programme, was part of this effort. The concept was that rural
science fora could to function as informal panchayat-level planning boards and that the
panchayats would become local self-governments with a wide range of powers. It took yet
another decade and a half before this could be realised at least in some measure.
The KSSP was forced to shelve the concept of rural science fora, at least for the time being.
The existing fora became formal units of the KSSP. However, discussions and debates about
the development of Kerala continued. Issue No.40 of the journal Gramasastram (Village
Science) was fully devoted to the issue of development.19 Its editorial observed:
Panchayats are the basic units of development planning. The panchayat governing bodies which
assumed power with myriads of hopes and ideas are disillusioned and disappointed. To carry
out even simple development activities in one’s own village, one has to beg and prostrate
before the bureaucracy. What sort of a democracy do we have! Beautiful words and phrases
like decentralisation, democracy, village-level planning, people’s control, etc. shall not be
further prostituted at the podium of public speeches. They have to become real and powerful.
In their collective effort to achieve this, the KSSP will stand by the people of the villages... A
debate on this can be initiated through a series of district-level seminars involving panchayat
presidents, members and others interested in rural development, development officials, etc. In
our objective of transforming science into a powerful weapon for social revolution, the
formation of an effective rural science forum in each panchayat is expected to play an
important role.
The will of the people is reflected best in panchayats and municipalities. Today they have
practically no powers ... a sympathetic State Government can, in fact, change this situation and
strengthen them considerably. Compared to other states in India, such an experiment can be
done more extensively in Kerala. Firstly, our panchayats are relatively big. Secondly, within
each panchayat, one can find a good number of technical and professional people. Thirdly,
there is the back-up support from such a broad-based organisation as the KSSP.
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At the same time, the KSSP raised the demand that an amount of Rs350 million should be set
apart for the purpose of development activities in 11 areas, to be directly implemented by the
panchayats.
In 1981, a major workshop on the decentralisation of powers was organised by the Centre for
Development Studies. Chief Minister EK Nayanar, EMS Namboodiripad, SB Sen (Chairman
of the Sen Committee of 1996) and many other senior persons participated in it. KSSP too
participated in a big way. It was not accidental that it was the very same team which gave
leadership, later in 1996, to the massive People’s Plan Campaign. EMS Namboodiripad was a
national leader who always stood for the decentralisation of powers, ever since 1957.
However, even in the 80s, almost all other political leaders were either afraid or unwilling to
relinquish power in favour of the people. The bureaucracy, too, did not like the idea. And
unfortunately, the majority of the people and their representatives were not anxious to take
over or even accept power. The KSSP was convinced that unless the people became ready to
assume power and acquire the skills to handle authority, there would not be any change in the
state of affairs. And so it continued its efforts with renewed vigour, to enable the people to
take power into their hands.
As mentioned earlier, though the KSSP set out to organise discussions on rural development in
each panchayat, only in a few dozen panchayats did this take place. And even in those
panchayats, the discussions were not effective. People’s representatives at the panchayat level
could never imagine that they would ever be given the powers to take their own decisions and
resources to carry them out. What happened in 1996-97 came almost as a shock to them. KSSP
decided, therefore, to go to the people directly and talk to them. It was thus that the rural
science jathas were organised during 1979-82. Even in 1982-83, the KSSP had said in its
working plan document:
It was for being in constant touch with the day-to-day problems of the villagers and to help
them in their efforts to find solutions, that we promoted rural science fora. However, due to
many limitations, we could do only very little towards this objective. We could never learn
their problems properly. A plan of action to overcome this deficiency is given below.
The units of the KSSP should take the initiative on this issue. Let each unit select a definite area
– a ward, a colony, a village, anything – and identify two or three activists from there. Assist
them to make a thorough study of the most important problems of the area, and then seek
solutions to them. Through this effort they would start their development education. The small
organisation emerging out of this effort may later become Rural Science Forum or a local unit
of the KSSP. There is much to learn from this.
The journal Gramasastram should be developed into an organ to guide and lead the above
mentioned activities and to disseminate experience. By the end of 1982 – say October 2 – this
should be transformed into a village newspaper – 12 pages demy 1/2 size. In order to realise
this objective – local reporters should be identified and trained. A one week training course on
science reporting may be organised in collaboration with the Press Academy.
Rural Academy
The Rural Academy was a dream that evolved after the 13th annual conference in Kannur in
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1976. Rural work throws up a number of problems demanding solutions. So the Rural
Academy was conceived as a centre where solutions to such problems would be sought or
problems referred to other appropriate institutions. It was to be a centre for rural technology,
a centre which would adapt existing technologies to local conditions, a centre which would
encourage local inventiveness, a centre which would disseminate actively improved practices.
It took more than a decade to realise this dream with the institution of the Integrated Rural
Technology Centre at Palakkad.
In 1983, publication of the journal Gramasastram was suspended. The extant rural science
fora, about 200 in number, were transformed into formal units of the KSSP. The KSSP then had
to devise a new strategy to move ahead. This consisted of:
1
Deeper study and practical constructive work in education.
2
In-depth study of the various facets of the Kerala economy and development.
3
More powerful and purposeful usage of the medium of art.
4
More diverse activities in order to energise more and more people.
In 1984, the KSSP published a document entitled Rural Development. It was an incisive
critique on the 37 years of post-independent Indian development, development policies and
the methods of their implementation.20
The KSSP disagrees not only with the current development policies but also with the existing
methods and instruments of their implementation. The planning machinery is not democratic,
but bureaucratic and inordinately centralised. Lower levels of governments and planning
structure have no role to play, neither in plan formulation nor in plan implementation. Plans do
not excite them. This state of affairs has to change. Village level planning can help in this.
Village-level people’s committees should be entrusted with the responsibility of planning and
implementing projects to solve problems that can be solved at that level. Today panchayats and
municipalities are the basic units reflecting the people’s will. They should be entrusted with the
responsibility of development work. Only through such village-level planning can people be
directly linked to development projects.
In Kerala, a State Planning Board has been functioning since 1967. But that has not resulted in
any perceptible improvement in the planning process. Planning has degenerated into an
aggregation of department programmes and budgets. The KSSP is of the opinion that the Statelevel planning structure needs to be drastically revamped. Panchayats have to become the main
planning agency. It is at that level that people can directly participate. More and more material
and human resources have to be brought under the control of local self-governments. Necessary
administrative and financial restructuring needs to be effected.
As mentioned earlier, only in 1996 was this vision realised. Meanwhile, the KSSP continued
its studies and activities. The results of these studies were published as annual souvenirs
during 1985-88.21 The 1985 souvenir dealt mainly with the primary sector. The 1986
publication concentrated on modern industries and the 1987 publication on traditional
industries. The 1988 publication was a comprehensive critique on the development of Kerala
and an introduction to dialogues on the 8th Five-Year Plan (1992-97).
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From Mass Education to Mass Action
In March 1986, the General Council of the KSSP decided to make Kerala totally literate in five
years, and set about making an action plan for the same. It was, in fact, only a continuation of
the literacy work of 1977-79, though after a long interval. As part of the earlier programme,
in 1978 itself the KSSP had formulated a draft programme for the eradication of illiteracy from
Kerala. In 1986, a somewhat detailed project was prepared and submitted to the Ministry of
Education, Government of India. That was before the establishment of the National Literacy
Mission (NLM – it came into being in 1988). A more detailed pilot project to make the
Ernakulam district totally literate was prepared in 1988, and this was approved for funding by
the National Literacy Mission. A project of this dimension had never been undertaken by the
KSSP. Neither had the NLM ever entrusted such a big project to any voluntary organisation. It
involved the mobilisation of more than 15,000 volunteers in one district and making about
170,000 people literate. The KSSP had several objectives. Actual literacy was, perhaps, the
least important of them. Kerala was already 85 percent literate. Illiteracy was, therefore, not a
major obstacle in the state’s development. For the KSSP, the literacy campaign provided an
opportunity to take its concept of development to the mainstream of the society.
The reforms in the field of agriculture envisaged in publications like Wealth of Kerala, A
Piece of Land or Rural Development could not be easily brought into the mainstream through
political or social processes. But that was not the case with education. There was unanimity
in the society on the issue: the present education is inadequate, its quality has to improve. A
child-centred, activity-based, environmental-oriented and life-related system of education
was, at least in theory, accepted by everybody. Efforts for this were slowly taking root. The
Ernakulam Total Literacy project had three specific objectives:
1
To rally people in a big way for constructive work. After independence people were
used to rally only in protest. Rallying 15,000 volunteers from one district alone for a
one-year-long voluntary activity was something which was beyond the imagination of
usual political and social workers. Its general impact was bound to be quite huge. In
fact, without this experience nobody would have even dared to imagine the present
People’s Plan Campaign.
2
To reduce considerably the gap between the people and the bureaucracy through joint
and intensive work.
3
To raise the self-confidence of the people so that they begin to show initiative in
creating new and necessary organisational structures.
The Ernakulam Total Literacy Campaign (TLC) achieved all these objectives to a satisfactory
level. Further, in quite an unexpected manner, it initiated an unimaginably massive literacy
campaign all over India and gave birth to a pan-Indian People’s Science Movement. The KSSP
saw the literacy campaign as a prelude to a much larger development movement. So in 1989
itself, the KSSP organised a massive development jatha touching more than 1,600 centres,
covering almost all the panchayats and municipalities in Kerala. A number of books and
booklets on decentralisation were published and disseminated through this Jatha. Some of
them were: Power to the People; Panchayati Raj in Karnataka and West Bengal; Panchayat
and Decentralisation of Powers; New Paths of Development; Panchayati Raj: Theory and
Practice; Planning in Kerala; Development Perspective of Kerala.
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In the notes for speakers at the jatha, it was written:
People’s participation in development activities can best be ensured at the panchayat level. For
this, a new type of joint action of the people, panchayat and bureaucracy is required. The
government should devolve financial and administrative powers to the people. Further,
panchayats should be provided with guidance and technical help to carry out these
responsibilities. The panchayats should enhance their self-confidence and scientific-technical
capability, using their new powers. And the people should come forward in large numbers to
participate in plan formulation and implementation.
(This was exactly the way the People’s Plan Campaign was implemented later.)
This was a tall order. People themselves had to learn about their natural resources, human
resources and development problems. It was not sufficient that bureaucrats alone studied
them. And they were to be understood scientifically – quantitatively, as well as from the
angle of their inter-relationships. The Panchayat-Level Resource Mapping which was
conceived and executed later had this objective in view. It brought a wide cross-section of
citizens and scientists from research establishments onto one platform. Panchayats with a
population of 20-30 thousand are very large. Even one ward in such panchayats would be as
large as an average north Indian panchayat. The type of gram sabha envisaged in the
Constitutional Amendment is not feasible in Kerala. It would be too big, having about 10002000 members. Further, Kerala does not have the socially integrated form of village
structures as elsewhere in India. The concept of ‘neighbourhood’ was, therefore, put forward
to consciously build a new type of collective. The development jatha addressed only a small
range of the wider objectives given below:
1
To popularise the concepts of development, decentralised planning and panchayati raj
among the people and to help them understand these in a scientific manner, to identify
the major development issues of the panchayat and to seek their solutions.
2
To organise demonstrations and other agitations to force the government to implement
effective decentralisation of powers, to increase the people’s participation in plan
formulation and implementation, to adopt proper development strategies and methods.
3
To strengthen the scientific and technological abilities of the panchayat leadership and
development administrators so as to ensure that the panchayat-level projects are
formulated effectively and democratically.
This was, as mentioned earlier, in 1989. Earlier, i.e. after the 1987 general election itself, the
agenda of decentralisation had once again become alive. The state government had once
again sought the help of SB Sen, then the Economic Advisor to the West Bengal government,
to accelerate this process. The then Planning Secretary, V Ramachandran, was entrusted with
the responsibility of drawing up the practical administrative measures required for this. Sen
gave his preliminary suggestions in August 1987. The decision to give ‘untied funds’ to
panchayats was a result of his suggestions. Ramachandran submitted his report in 1988. The
stage for massive decentralisation was, thus, fully set.
It was then that the cat came out of the bag. A number of state ministers and department
heads did not want to part with their powers. Though the 8th Plan document had suggested
that 30 percent of the total Plan fund be given to the panchayats, officials did not take any
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initiative to prepare the rules and guidelines for implementing this. Neither did the ministers
insist on it. It was only towards the end of 1989 that the first election to the district councils
could be held. The councils were dissolved in 1991, even before they could take roots.
Through the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments, panchayats and nagarpalikas had
become constitutional entities. The separation of municipalities and corporations from the
district had been creating a number of problems. In 1994, the Kerala Assembly adopted the
Kerala Panchayat and Municipalities Bills. These Bills were retrograde in character, negating
the very spirit of decentralisation. Further, rules and statutes necessary for the implementation
of the Act were not made. Thus, when in 1995, new panchayat committees came to power
after the elections, they were not in a position to do anything radically new. Only after the
1996 Assembly elections and the installation of a new ministry, did things start move again.
Literacy to Development
On February 4, 1990, Ernakulam was declared the first totally literate district in India. The
objectives of the KSSP for the project were achieved to a great extent. Nearly 23,000
volunteers were mobilised. Almost all of them continued for one year. An unprecedented
level of rapport between the citizens and the bureaucracy was established. Thousands of
government officials worked as activists. The people internalised the programme as their
own. On the same day, February 4, the Kerala Total Literacy Campaign was inaugurated, and
on April 18, 1991, Kerala was declared totally literate. In the process, nearly 300,000
volunteers were mobilised. The National Literacy Mission requested the help of the KSSP and
other PSMs to initiate a countrywide literacy campaign. A gigantic programme called Bharat
Gyan Vigyan Jatha was planned and executed in 1990. A new organisation called Bharat
Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS) was formed for this. The term Gyan-Vigyan points out the
necessity of using knowledge with wisdom. The BGVS, in the course of the coming few years,
was to become a major force in the literacy field. In 1990 itself, total literacy campaigns were
initiated in the districts of Dakshin Kannada and Bijapur of Karnataka, Durg of Madhya
Pradesh and Midnapore of West Bengal as well as in the state of Pondichery. Within five-six
years, TLCs were initiated in about 400 districts of India enrolling nearly 120 million learners
and enlisting more than 10 million volunteers.
This was, easily, the biggest mass movement that ever took place in India – even bigger than
the freedom movement. The people of India demonstrated once again that they could and
were ready to embark on great enterprises, that they were ready, and they wished, to wash off
the stigma of being citizens of a country having the largest number of illiterates, poor and
starving people, disease and dirt, and that they wanted to and were ready to recapture their
lost glory, their Nalandas, Taxilas, Vikramshilas (ancient centres of learning). The TLC was a
great display of the moral strength of the people of India. They just required a leadership in
which they could repose faith and which could give them proper guidance. People today feel
very much the absence of a leadership which is loyal to them. At the same time, they still do
not realise that each one of them has a leader’s role to play in a participative people’s
democracy. It was this mass upsurge, demonstrated by the Total Literacy Campaign, that
gave courage and confidence to the initiators of the People’s Plan Campaign to launch such a
massive and risky project. Still, the jump from literacy to people’s planning was too big and
required some intermediate steps. Group Approach to Locally Adapted and Sustainable
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Agriculture (GALASA) and Participatory Resource Mapping were these two steps.
GALASA
is the acronym for Group Approach to Locally Adapted and Sustainable
Agriculture.22 This was an unconventional enquiry into ways and means of rejuvenating
agriculture in Kerala. Land reforms had, on the one hand, put an end to feudal landlordism,
but on the other hand made the erstwhile tenants, many of whom had ceased to be cultivators
for long, the new owners of land. The landless tillers got very little. The new owners of land
soon became a new type of petty-bourgeois landlords. Over a generation, landholdings got
divided into ludicrously small sizes. For the majority of the new landowners, the major
source of livelihood was something other than agriculture. Thus land reform, instead of
releasing the latent energies of peasants and, thereby, increasing productivity and production,
resulted in the dampening of people’s interest in agriculture. It was neither possible nor
desirable to reverse the process of the fragmentation of ownership. But, it is desirable that
land belongs to those who want to work on it and not to ‘Sunday farmers.’ These people, who
are otherwise engaged in other occupations, cultivated their fields solely with wage labour as
and when it was convenient for them. The ‘traditional agricultural season’ got extended
beyond recognition. Irrigation and pest management became almost an impossibility. Unless
some minimum level of collectiveness was brought about in agricultural operations, no form
of scientific or even traditional agriculture could be carried out. Compulsory collectivisation
was not possible. In Wealth of Kerala (1976), the KSSP had suggested some form of voluntary
collectivisation, at least in specified agricultural operations such as land preparation, seed
selection and breeding, water, pest and weed management, harvesting and threshing, etc. This
could be carried out by collectives of non-farming and farmer owners and agricultural
workers specially formed for this purpose. In 1988, the state government embarked on an
experiment called ‘Group Farming’ on somewhat similar lines. This was an experiment
mainly for rice cultivation and was confined to land preparation, irrigation and pesticide
spraying. There was some improvement but it was not exciting or large enough to attract
others. Agricultural labour was not involved in it.
GALASA
GALASA,
conceived by the KSSP, was an experiment much more comprehensive than group
farming. Two major elements were added to it – local adaptability and sustainability. Only
basic studies could be carried out during the initial phase (1989-91). Actual field experiments
could be attempted only much later, in 1997-98 in Palakkad district under the initiative of the
Kerala Agricultural University.
The objectives of GALASA can be summarised thus:
1
Double the productivity and production of paddy in three to five years, ensure
sustainability and strive to realise the full potential of the land.
2
Integrate the existing ingredients of production, namely, land, water and labour power
for maximum benefits.
3
Replace step by step costly chemical fertilisers and pesticides with cheaper and safer
bio-fertilisers and bio-pesticides.
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4
Develop local capabilities and leadership to implement this programme.
5
Integrate, functionally, the institutions under rural development and agriculture
departments.
The major concepts underlying the project were:
1
Spatial approach: A well-defined paddy field or watershed will form the basic unit.
There will be short-term and long-term programmes.
2
Limelight on information: Popularise relevant and reliable information on weather,
water and water management structures, soil, vegetative cover, animals, land
availability, possibilities of bio-recycling, economic and cultural obstacles and so on.
3
Socialisation instead of departmentalism: Bring agriculture, irrigation, soil
conservation, rural development, Command Area Development, bank finance – all
under one umbrella.
4
Internalise external factors: Ensure that seeds, fertiliser, pesticides and labour – are all
available locally and not to be brought from far-off places.
5
Attitudinal change towards manual labour: Through intervention in school education
and cultural activities.
6
Sustainability: The ‘green revolution’ of the 60s and 70s increased production of
foodgrain. But it was short-lived. In the long run, the soil and hydrology have degraded
and productivity has come down. Reverse this process and prevent it from happening
elsewhere.
7
Collective will: Break the hard cover of cynicism, bring out the latent optimism.
The major activities planned were:
1
Collection of basic data.
2
Comprehensive water management.
3
Biological recycling.
4
Production of high quality seeds.
5
Assurance of timely availability of machines, finance, seeds etc.
6
Collective agricultural operations like land preparation, planting, irrigation, de-weeding,
pesticide spraying, harvesting, threshing and even storing and marketing.
7
Research support.
An elaborate institutional set-up to carry out these activities was conceived. But it was too
early to take all these ideas to the society. Before that the first activity, collection of basic
data, was to be carried out. And this was to be done in a new way, involving the actual
would-be GALASA participants. The idea of Panchayat (Participatory) Resource Mapping
(PRM) emanated from this experience.
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Resource Mapping
There were certain preconditions to make extensive people’s participation in diverse
developmental activities a reality. First and foremost, the very concept of ‘development’
required drastic changes. Roads, community halls, shopping complexes, cemeteries, play
grounds ... there were a number of centrally-sponsored schemes. People understood these to
denote ‘development.’ That was not so. Real development meant enhanced production and
stable employment opportunities helping production. This realisation had to reach the inner
consciousness of the people. Development was considered the responsibility of various
departments – agriculture, irrigation, industry, electricity board, Public Works Department
(PWD), etc. Ordinary citizens did not find any role for themselves in it. This understanding
had to change. Citizens should be capable of and willing to take the responsibility of total
development, of increase in production, and of equitable distribution. This would not take
place automatically. Citizens should have thorough knowledge of the local physical
resources, their usage pattern, deficiencies, potential, threats. Before modern science gained
supremacy, such knowledge resided with local peasants, fisherfolk, shepherds, carpenters,
locksmiths, healers, priests. With the advent of western science, the language of science –
both literal language and paradigms of development – was alienated from them. It was no
longer possible to negate modern science and go back to ancient knowledge systems. There
were many who vociferously rejected modern science. They were hypocritical and were
bound to fail. Modern science should become organic with the common people. It should be,
and it was, possible to link it with traditional knowledge and wisdom. This was one of the
first objectives of the KSSP. The rural science fora were the institutional instruments for this.
But they could not take root in the 70s and 80s. Under changed circumstances, the attempt
could be repeated. The Panchayat Resource Mapping was one effort in this direction. The
practical activities envisaged were the following:
1
Prepare an atlas having a number of maps, indicating land form, landuse, soil type,
hydrology, human-made assets, etc. These maps were to be scientifically and rigorously
prepared by trained local volunteers. Based on these, integrated long-term development
plans for each panchayat could be prepared, again by local teams.
2
Through this process, and to help the process, form a Technical Support Group in each
panchayat consisting of experts available locally.
In the pamphlet Development Perspective of Kerala23 it was noted:
If the development planning of the panchayat is to become really effective, citizens should have
clear knowledge about the resources of the panchayat, its distribution, its nature and extent,
present use, future possibilities, etc. The panchayat resource maps envisaged a holistic
presentation of these information. They are to be prepared with the direct participation of the
people of the panchayat and under the leadership of the Panchayat Board, with help from the
R&D institutions in the State. Participation will enable the people to internalise the information
and work out possibilities. Preparatory work for this has been initiated.
The Technical Support Group envisages a collective of locally available school and college
teachers, engineers, doctors, agricultural scientists, etc. who are willing to keep apart a certain
fraction of their time for socially useful voluntary work. The panchayats can make use of their
services.
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A project to prepare the resource atlases of 25 panchayats was undertaken by the IRTC of the
KSSP, together with the Centre for Earth Science Studies. The experience was exciting. After
the resource atlases were made, elaborate socio-economic surveys were conducted, again by
local volunteers. They themselves consolidated and analysed the results. Attempts to prepare
panchayat-level perspective development plans revealed further lacunae in information.
Gradually, a rhythm of continuous studies and analyses got established, resulting in the
preparation of a number of status reports on education, health, natural resources and so on.
This experience, and the resource persons and volunteers generated through this activity,
were to later become the backbone of the People’s Plan Campaign. Similar activities, albeit at
a pilot level, were taken up in the states of Bihar, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West
Bengal under the guidance of experts from the KSSP. It came to the understanding that there
are three basic tasks before a people’s science movement:
1
Work for realising creative and participatory democracy. For this purpose, encourage
the cause of decentralisation and local-level development planning.
2
Build up resistance groups against neo-imperialism at village and habitat levels.
3
Fascism grows on the one hand through destabilising activities using violence, and on
the other hand through a decadent education which influences future generations. This
has to be countered. Violence cannot be dealt with counter-violence. New methods of
resistance have to be developed.
This was the theme of the 1993 annual cadre camp and the 1993 annual general council of the
KSSP. The slogan ‘fight for democracy based on decentralisation of powers, local-level
planning and participatory development’ was adopted and internalised.
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CHAPTER III
SELF-RELIANCE
The late-80s and early-90s witnessed tumultuous changes in the economy and politics of
India. Foreign and internal policies held aloft, though with difficulty, up to the end of the 70s,
were discarded one after another. The policy of nonalignment had been given up long ago.
The India-China war of 1962 and the economic weakening of the Soviet Union since the 70s,
together pushed India slowly into the capitalist camp. By the mid-80s India came under the
iron embrace of the General Agreement in Trade and Tariffs, the International Monetary
Fund and the World Bank. India was slowly falling into a debt trap. Still, up to the end of the
80s, there was a semblance of political resistance. But by 1990, India gave up all resistance
and capitulated to the capitalist camp. The socialist camp had, by this time, ceased to exist.
The unprecedented economic growth of the so-called ‘Asian Tigers’ – Singapore, Korea,
Taiwan, etc. – engendered similar illusions in the mind of experts in India, too. This was
strengthened by the declared adoption of ‘market-socialism’ by China.
Concepts like socialism, secularism, social justice, enshrined in the Constitution, were
ridiculed as being impractical anachronisms. The public sector was dislodged from the
‘commanding heights’ of the economy. Globalisation was pictured as a historical inevitability
and resistance to it was considered as foolishness by a section of Indian economists. ‘Keep
the doors wide open, welcome foreign capital, remove all obstacles, liberalise’ – this was the
policy they adopted.
The experience of Brazil and many other countries have shown that this is a dangerous, a
very dangerous, policy – argued the people’s science movements in India as well as a number
of left and progressive economists. But they could not influence the policies of the
Government of India. They could not place before the people a convincing counter-argument
to the TINA argument of the government experts. This was so, because all of them tried to find
alternatives within the limited framework of economics. A people’s alternative could be
developed only within an integrated and holistic framework of economics, politics and ethics.
The people’s science movements tried in their own limited way to develop such alternatives
through a national programme called ‘Our Country’ (Hamara Desh). But it could not make
any noticeable change in the course of national events. Most of the political parties failed to
understand the full implications of the new policies. Also, many of them did not have any
direct access to the people. Their policies were built to exploit the blind loyalty of the people
towards a leader, a caste, a religion or a language. Today, nobody is in a position to rally the
entire people for any one single cause, as it was done during the days of the freedom struggle.
It was under these circumstances that the KSSP made an attempt, though not with complete
optimism, to rally the entire population of Kerala, irrespective of their political affiliations,
into a newly-created platform called the Kerala Swashraya Samiti (Kerala Committee for
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Self-reliance). But this movement could not take root or grow. The reasons may have been:
1
The freedom struggle was against a visible and concrete external enemy. The enemy
today is invisible. Neither his army nor his armaments are to be seen. His ghost has
possessed many of our compatriots. It is difficult to see him. The mad, mad
consumerism visible amongst the middle class and the rich is, in fact, a symptom of this
ghost.
2
There are some political parties which realise that modern finance capitalism is the
enemy of the poor and of the third world countries. But they fail to draw up even the
outlines of an alternative. They are busy fighting amongst themselves.
They could not, thus, recognise the threat which could be faced only collectively. They were
looking at the world through outdated glasses. It was time to change them.
The KSSP became convinced that new paths needed to be cut, that new initiatives needed to be
taken. They were to be holistic and all-embracing. One of the decisions that the KSSP took
was to increase its involvement in the field of education. There was one immediate
provocation for this. The conference of the nine most populous countries in the world held at
Delhi in 1992 adopted a resolution ‘Education For All by 2000.’ However, this by itself could
not have been enough provocation for KSSP’s stand. There were several such declarations
earlier too, like the Alma Ata declaration of ‘Health for All by 2000.’ The real sting was the
formulation of the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) by the Government of India
and the increasing role played by the World Bank in influencing India’s educational system.
It was axiomatic that the World Bank’s interests lay with the developed countries, especially
with the US, and not with developing countries. The KSSP was genuinely afraid that World
Bank ‘experts’ would increasingly influence the academic programme of school education
and its content and values. That could shatter Indian unity and Indian culture. It would be
disastrous. Whatever might be the economic interests of the bureaucrats involved, the KSSP
decided that no space shall be given to the World Bank experts in curriculum making and
pedagogy. The KSSP organised a number of teachers’ groups, developed new teachinglearning modules – about a thousand pages in A4 size – and carried out scores of experiments
in the new pedagogy – all independent of the DPEP. Only in 1996, when a new Left
Democratic Front (LDF) government came to power could KSSP get formal access to the
mainstream of education. The result was the new curriculum, ironically known as the DPEP
curriculum, which it was not! This has been the subject of one of the most vicious campaigns
ever carried out in the field of education by a few who felt threatened that their special
advantages would be lost and also by a few who sought cheap political popularity. During the
past four years, the new curriculum has proved its superiority over the previous curriculum
and pedagogy. However, the new United Democratic Front (opponents of the LDF) which
came to power after the election of May 2001, succumbing to the demands of the minority
and without studying the quality of the new curriculum, announced that it would be discarded
and the old discredited system brought back. Those teachers who don’t love their students,
and those who don’t like teaching in schools but would prefer giving private tuitions
welcomed this.
Panchayat-level Development Planning
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Meanwhile, discussions were taking place between the Centre for Development Studies (CDS)
at Trivandrum and the Tinbergen Foundation of the Netherlands about possible areas of
collaboration in research related to the development of Kerala. There were innumerable
problems, both micro and macro. Many of them had no solution. Many of them were not
even being raised properly, because they were yet to be recognised. After about two years’
discussions, they came to an understanding that the two major areas of research could be
local-level development and education. The KSSP, too, contributed towards the development
of this understanding. Thus the Kerala Research Programme on Local-Level Development
(KRPLLD) was initiated. As far as the KSSP was concerned, the resource mapping programme
had to be taken to its logical conclusion of formulating holistic integrated and sustainable
development plans. By this time KSSP had become the most experienced institution in locallevel planning and participatory development efforts. Many scientists working in research
institutions like CDS, Centre for Earth Sciences Studies (CESS), Centre for Water Resources
Development and Management (CWRDM), Tropical Botanical Gardens and Research Institute
(TBGRI), Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) and so on were associated with the KSSP and
so it could mobilise a fairly large inter-disciplinary team. It was only natural that the CDS
expected substantial participation from the KSSP in the KRPLLD programme.
The IRTC, the R&D wing of the KSSP, formulated a two-year action research programme to
prepare comprehensive development plans for five panchayats with the active participation of
the people, and also to help those panchayats to implement the projects. This was known as
the Participatory and Sustainable Panchayat-level Development Planning or PLDP. This was
based on the KSSP’s experience of involving the people of Kalliasseri panchayat in a large
way in an attempt to prepare a perspective plan document for the panchayat.
Initially the idea was to take up all the panchayats where the first round of resource mapping
was done – 25 in number, plus a few others. However, after discussions it was scaled down to
five panchayats.
The Objective and the Vision
The explicit objectives of the PLDP project, as stated in the project document, were:
1
To evolve a set of models for participatory and sustainable developmental planning in
the various ecozones of Kerala.
2
To develop local-level expertise for preparation of developmental schemes and
comprehensive action plans – both short-term and long-term, based on optimal and
sustainable utilisation of available resources.
3
To generate a team of resource persons at the state level to initiate the programme in
other panchayats.
4
To generate a series of integrated implementation packages for productivity
enhancement and employment generation in the rural areas of the state and for
improving the quality of social infrastructure like education and health facilities.
As is evident from the genesis and evolution of the concept and praxis of decentralised
developmental studies in the KSSP, there is a very definite philosophy and vision underlying
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these objectives. Fundamentally, they represent the KSSP’s quest for an alternate development
paradigm. It seeks to widen the base of people’s participation in the democratic process. It
attempts to interpret development as empowerment through enhanced equity and social
justice. It envisages a strategy to make development sustainable by making it resource-based
and locally relevant. It promotes the quality of participation by transferring awareness, skills
and confidence to the local volunteers. It envisions greater self-reliance and self-respect
through people’s participation in resources assessment, planning and implementation. It also
dreams of evolving new vehicles of inter-personal and social relationships through the
nascent Neighbourhood Groups (NHGs) and new networks of economic activity through the
SHGs. It also reveals the realisation of the importance of civil society initiatives in achieving
decentralised democracy. The initiatives on the political front were sporadic and full of
repeated setbacks, possibly owing to the very nature of political polarisation and partnership
in the Kerala society. Only a high degree of societal consensus, transcending party affiliations
and rivalries, could force successive governments to provide a continuous forum for the local
initiatives. Thus micro-level structures like SHG, NHG, Ward Councils, Panchayat
Development Samiti, etc. which emerged from the ‘Kalliasseri Model’ were thought to be the
nuclei of such civil society alternatives, which could be more transcendental and enduring.
The objectives mentioned in the project proposal can be elaborated and re-worded as:
1
To drive home to the community that democracy, being a government by the people
demands citizens to take more responsibilities than to vote in periodic elections and to
engage in frequent protests and continuous supplication.
2
To deepen the understanding of participatory democracy by enlarging the realms and
levels of participation.
3
To consciously make use of participation as a way to ensure increasing levels of equity.
4
To address the perpetual question of inequity between men and women, to empower
women to wrest equity and justice.
5
To work out together with citizens conceptual models for development which are
‘sustainable’ in the concrete historical, socio-political and natural situation in the five
selected panchayats.
6
To create and strengthen citizens’ organisations for resistance to globalisation, wastage
and inequity.
7
To develop actually functioning local economies which are increasingly sustainable and
equitable.
Both the words ‘sustainable’ and ‘development’ mean different things to different people.
There is the dominant point of view that development means continuous increase in the level
of consumption of goods and services. The socialists add an element of equity to this.
Gandhians and ecologists maintain that continuous increase in material consumption is
neither necessary for human happiness nor is it possible, due to limited quantity of natural
resources and the limited ability of the ecosphere to absorb pollutants. Clearly, ‘exponential’
growth is not sustainable, but the ecological approach can be. Only can be and not will be.
Why? It depends on for how long. For a hundred years? A thousand years? Million years?
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The strategy and tactics to ensure a species longevity of a million years or a thousand years
will be different from that for 100 years. The implicit hope expressed by growth-based
developmentalists is that the human species is ingenious enough to solve all problems
generated by the present-day (ab)use of nature. Unfortunately, this hope is, we know today,
without foundation.
The KSSP is deeply aware of this developmental problem. So, ‘development’ has to be
sustainable in the long run and also ensure increasing, and not decreasing, levels of equity. So
far, all the development that has taken place in Kerala and India and elsewhere has been
unsustainable for long and has always increased inequity, just like it has increased entropy.
Participatory democracy will not automatically ensure this. Citizens have to become deeply
conscious about both sustainability and equity and should become capable of ensuring both.
All these thoughts were in our minds, perhaps not very concretely, when the project for
Participatory and Sustainable Panchayat-level Development Planning was conceived.
Planning had, so far, been done at the national and at the state levels. There were economists
who argued during a three-day workshop on ‘Panchayat Raj’ organised by the Centre for
Development Studies in 1993 that ‘local planning’ was, scientifically, an absurd concept.
Neither district- nor state-level planning had any meaning in such a centralised country as
India, they argued.24 This was true, if we accepted globalisation of the present type was
inescapable, and even desirable. But the KSSP and many others felt that ‘globalisation’ was
leading the world into a positive feedback, run-away situation and that this was not
acceptable. The stranglehold of the ‘global economy’ had to be broken. Local economies
were to be strengthened for this. Kerala panchayats, with a population of 25-30 thousand,
were just the type of ‘locale’ suited for this defence. They could not be cent percent selfsufficient – even this whole world was not! But instead of increasing dependency we could
think of, and act for, increasing self-reliance and self-sufficiency. In a globalised economy,
inequity increased as time passed. The fight for equity had a better chance to win in local
economies. Further change in world outlook, for example from ‘material development to
human development,’ could be better effected locally than globally. Thus, equity and
sustainability, both demanded strengthening of local economies.
This was the larger vision which underscored the explicit objectives of the PLDP project.
The Project Area
Earlier, Panchayat Resource Mapping had been done in 25 panchayats. Out of these, about 20
were selected for initial interaction and from among them five were selected for this project.
The PLDP project was not simply a study of what exists, but a process of transformation
through the conscious intervention of the KSSP and the project personnel and concurrent study
of the effects of intervention. The selected panchayats exhibited different political
correlations and belong to different agro-climatic zones. Table 1 gives a summary of the
relevant information regarding these panchayats.
Table 1: PLDP Project Panchayats
Parameter
Mayyil
Onchium
Madakkathara
Kumarakom
Mezhuveli
Area (sq. km)
33.08
9.1
25.0
51.67 (24
14.44
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waterspread)
Population
25,225
24,856
20,964
22,232
14,121
Popn density
762
2,761
837
800
978
Households
3,911
3,000
4,268
4,510
3,305
BPL families
52
31
37.2
68
27.4
SC/ST (%age)
5.4
1.5
8.4
5
21.5
BPL SC/ST
40
nil
76
20
36
Midland hilly
& river basin
50% coastal
Midland
Kuttanad
wetland
Midland &
river basin
(per sq. km)
(%age)
families (%age)
Agro-climatic
region
plain & hilly
terrain
Major
Water scarcity
Water scarcity
Water scarcity in
Seasonal floods
Leakage from
ecological
problems
in uplands and
in uplands and
uplands
Pamba
seasonal floods
in lowlands
salinity in
coastal plain
and salinity
intrusion
irrigation canal
and consequent
waterlogging in
some areas
Labour profile
(%age)
31 agriculture
20 fisheries
45 agriculture
28 agriculture
33 agriculture
Political status
Pro-Left
Pro-Left
UDF wrested
UDF wrested
Pro-Right
power in 2000
power in 2000
election (equal
strength)
election (equal
strength)
Inputs
The project implementation started with the formation of NHGs in the five gram panchayats.
Mezhuveli created NHGs as a sequel to the democratic social processes initiated by the KSSP
since 1990 through the literacy campaign. Mayyil and Onchiam resorted to an administered
formation style. They completed the ‘creation’ of NHGs in the span of just 14 days. The
CPI(M) in both these GPs decided to cooperate with the PLDP. The Party machinery worked
hand-in-hand with KSSP and formed the NHGs in this short time frame. A package floated by
the PLDP containing modules for activities such as land and water management and socioeconomic survey attracted the power centres in Onchiam. In Mayyil, it was the Gurukulam
project (continuing education programme) of the district panchayat that catalysed the process.
In Kumarakom and Madakkathara GPs, the formation phase passed through a difficult time.
There was a lot of opposition, political and social. It took almost a year for the organisation to
convince the suspicious groups. The debates, discussions and conflicts, provided people
enough room for learning a lot about NHGs and hence, even though the formation was slow, it
gave birth to NHGs with a deeprooted democratic base unlike in Mayyil and Onchiam.
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The PLDP strategy during the initial phase was to provide activities to the GP and administer
their implementation through PDS-NHG network. It was thought that such a facilitation would
be essential to help NHGs stabilise themselves and acquire an institutional character. Hence,
the PLDP initiated massive capacity-building exercise. The package included three different
types of activities:
1
Training.
2
Data generation.
3
Data processing and planning.
The facilitators at panchayat and ward levels were given training in the following areas/
disciplines:
1
Drainage mapping and watershed delineation.
2
Power line mapping.
3
Socio-economic data generation and documentation.
4
Preparation of education status report and formation of education complexes.
5
Healthcare against monsoon diseases and preparation of health status reports.
6
Building of organisational structures.
7
Data processing.
8
Development planning.
A total of 33 different training courses were conducted at the state levels covering 81 training
days and 1,430 participants (Table 2). This was followed by panchayat-level training for
activists and volunteers chosen from NHGs (Table 3). Altogether, 90 training programmes,
covering 701 activity days, were conducted in five panchayats. A total of 5,359 persons,
including, 2,357 (44 percent) women, participated in these programmes.
Table 2: State-level Training Courses
Activity
Training
Training
courses
days
Participants
Faculty
Female
%
Total
members
1
Land & Water
6
16
21
6
366
54
2
Data Generation
4
9
18
10
174
38
3
Education
5
10
20
12
169
29
4
Health
3
5
16
15
105
19
5
MLO building
6
29
140
48
289
74
6
PPC Related
9
12
45
14
327
63
Total
33
81
260
18
1430
277
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Table 3: Participation in Panchayat-level Trainings
Panchayat
Training
Training
Faculty
courses
days
attended
Participa
nts
Activity
days
Female
%
Total
1
Mayyil
20
21
56
423
38
1122
148
2
Onchiam
16
16
44
475
42
1142
182
3
Madakkathara
17
19
40
389
42
931
130
4
Kumarakom
19
20
89
654
56
1166
108
5
Mezhuveli
18
19
49
416
42
998
133
90
95
278
2357
44
5359
701
Total
The total activity days included in Table 3 refers to the total number of days the trainees had
to work in the field to complete the activity/task. The ward-level preparatory workshops for
the fieldwork were part of this exercise. After the workshops, the activists mobilised
volunteers at the NHG-level for the field activities.
One of the major components of the training package was human resource development
through outreach programmes. NHGs were to be used as effective fora to interact with people
and thereby enhance people’s capacity to participate. One of the topics of training was ‘NHG:
How? And Why?’ based on which a cascading training series was planned and implemented
to reach the NHG organisers (convenors and representatives).
Modules for data-generation included natural resources appraisal reports; status reports on
education, on health and on women; socio-economic survey reports; consolidated secondary
data-collection; and watershed development proposals. When the People’s Plan Campaign
was launched in August 1996, a series of special training programmes were introduced by the
PLDP to equip the facilitators to take up the new challenge of planning and implementation of
tasks suggested by the State Planning Board such as preparation of development reports, 9th
Five-Year Plan (1997-2002) for GP, Annual Plan for GP, etc. Participation of people through
NHG was not mentioned by the Planning Board. The constitutional forum was the gram sabha
(GS). Along with this certain other mandatory structures such as task forces, VTCs, etc. were
also prescribed. The PLDP capacity-building package, therefore, was only partially dictated by
the agenda of the PPC. A total number of 17 trainings at the panchayat level were organised;
2,045 persons including 687 women, benefited from them.
Panchayat Development Society
The Panchayat Development Society (PDS) was envisaged as an institution that would evolve
from the NHGs. What actually happened was a reverse process. PDSs were formed first in
Kalliasseri panchayat, and later in all the five PLDP panchayats and in many other panchayats
too. Everywhere the KSSP played a facilitating role. By and large, all of them had a common
structure, with the panchayat president as chairperson, representatives from neighbourhood
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groups, ward convenors and ward members as members of the general council and an
intermediary level of Ward Development Society, and a fairly large executive committee.
Since the PPC imposed an unexpected load on the panchayat bodies, for which most of them
were not equipped, almost in all cases the PDS was forced to share a good part of this load
with the elected panchayat body. Hence most of them functioned as broad extensions of the
panchayat. The symbiosis between the PDS and the panchayat was nowhere as pronounced as
it was in Kumarakom. Here, the PDS acted as a consultant, a source of technical advice, an
implementer, as well as communicator and mobiliser. Together with this, it had to assume the
role of the agitator, too. In other panchayats also, the PDS played complementary roles to the
panchayat.
The formation of the PDS triggered a lot of conflicts and controversies in these panchayats as
well as elsewhere. They were rooted basically in the apprehension of political parties
regarding the power relations among the PDS, the panchayat governing body and the political
party bosses. Already, the relationship between the last two were strained in a number of
places. Many feared the ‘sovereignty of individual citizens’ as an anarchist concept, NHGs
and PDS as parallel power centres. Persistent interactions and the credibility of the KSSP could
iron out some of the early misgivings but not fully. In all cases, the PDS secretaries were
elected unanimously in open fora. Those elected were, mostly, senior KSSP activists
belonging to the panchayat. They played an important role in dispelling the apprehension of
political parties and making them understand PDS as a wider democratic support centre for the
panchayat board.
Technical Support Group
One of the objectives of the PLDP project was ‘to develop local-level expertise for the
preparation of development schemes and comprehensive action plans based on optimal and
sustainable utilisation of available resources,’ an objective which gave rise to the formation
of Technical Support Groups or TSG. This was before the PPC which made it all the more
imperative.
The TSG referred to a group of persons residing within the panchayat who were interested in
and responsible for its development, and who had expertise – either theoretical or practical or
both – which could be used to enhance the quality of life of the residents. They could be
engineers, doctors, agricultural scientists, teachers, craftsmen, agriculturists, lawyers,
administrators – there was a role for everyone. Within any Kerala panchayat, with an average
population of 25,000, there were dozens of such persons, either working or retired. The TSG
was a platform which helped the panchayat to draw on their expertise, to enhance their
expertise, to facilitate the development of a holistic outlook in them, to help them in interdisciplinary thinking and learning. Thus, the TSG was not simply an assemblage of a number
of persons qualified in some field or other. It was conceived as an organic and living body. It
was the ‘brain trust’ of the panchayat. It was the ‘panchayat planning board.’ Such were the
dreams about and expectations from the TSG. The reality fell far too short. There were several
reasons: almost all of these experts belong to the ‘middle class,’ the most cynical segment of
the society. To mobilise them, to enthuse them, to persuade them to participate, is a
Herculean task. The local facilitators, mostly KSSP activists, proved to be too inadequate for
this task. Nor did the panchayat put its weight and authority to persuade them. So, besides the
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few who were already converts as activists of the KSSP or other organisations, the TSG in all
the panchayats consisted, predominantly, of enthusiastic and committed activists, with little
or no technical expertise. Because of the complicated geography of local relationships and
prejudices, it was difficult for the state-level KSSP activists to intervene.
For the TSGs to be able to function, to discharge their responsibilities which were different
from that of the PDS, they had to learn, had to acquire some expertise. So, a major TSG
training programme was envisaged. In each panchayat, about 30 people were given intensive
training for six days. Later, selected groups from all panchayats were given training in
education, energy, watershed development, healthcare and so on. However, the exigency of
timely plan preparation and approval led the Planning Board to form block- and district-level
Experts Committees, which had much more expertise and authority within them than the TSG.
Further, each panchayat had to constitute a number of Task Forces to help it to prepare
development plans. A good section of the officials and retired experts available within the
panchayat were drafted into these task forces. However, within one or two years, most of
them became disillusioned and drifted away. By that time, the panchayat board had already
learnt the trick – how to ‘manufacture projects.’ They did not want the service of experts,
whether from the Task Forces or from the TSG. So, the TSG still remained a concept. For it to
be effective, its composition would have to be changed. Experts would have to be drawn into
it. They would have to be enthused. Instead of facing the panchayat, they might prefer to
address the people directly. They could interact at the NHG and gram sabha levels. Over a
period of time, they could help the people to conceive and build up a perspective
development plan from bottom up. This attempt is yet to be made.
Women’s Core Group
Despite functional variations, the NHGs, as micro-level structures, got well ingrained in the
mainstream system. Women in particular found in them a convenient platform to meet,
discuss and exchange ideas. Slowly but steadily, their visibility as well as creativity
improved. More and more women began to participate in development activities. In the
beginning their involvement was mostly confined to women component programmes and that
too, under the patronage of the male-dominated power structures. A deliberate attempt was,
therefore, made during PLDP Phase II for women empowerment and gender sensitisation.
The first step was to organise a convention of 100-125 women activists in each GP. The
women members of the TSG prepared ward-level lists of 10-15 women who were active in
NHGs. A one-day convention was held at the panchayat level in which women decided to take
maximum advantage of the opportunities available to them in the PPC in order to improve
their status. An action plan to improve the quality of women participation in the NHG and the
gram sabha was drawn up. The convention identified from among themselves a team of 3035 core activists to work as facilitators. They organised a series of self-learning and aidedlearning programmes and equipped themselves as effective facilitators. The Women’s Core
Group underwent three-day orientation camps, twice in the span of three months. PRA
(participatory rural appraisal) tools and techniques were used in these camps for shaping
attitudes and developing various skills. At the end of the camp, the core group also identified
a coordinator from among themselves to coordinate panchayat-level women activities. The
core group discussed topics such as women and law, patriarchy and women’s status, rights
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and responsibilities of women, the essence of gender issue, etc. in the orientation camps and
consulted experts both from inside and outside Kerala.
The training prompted the women to analyse systematically the economic and non-economic
issues that affected their life. The income that each woman generated and the accessibility to
that income was one key economic issue they took up. They evaluated the role of SHGs in this
context. The necessity to formulate, implement and monitor ‘real women projects’ was
clearly understood by them through studies and discussions. They learnt the scope of microenterprises and the need for job-oriented training, especially for promoting women
entrepreneurs. Several ideas were pooled through brainstorming to formulate action plans and
fight gender discrimination. The publication of women’s newsletter, celebration of Women’s
Day at the panchayat level, formation of panchayat-level open forum for women to discuss,
study, debate, and plan activities, establishment of a Women’s development Samiti at the GP
level to function as implementing agency for women’s development projects, were some of
the programmes the core groups formulated and implemented.
The women’s core group decided to utilise the SHG system as an entry point to mobilise
women at the NHG level. Although a few SHGs existed in these GPs already, they were part of
government-sponsored welfare schemes. Hence the women’s core group along with their
ward-level counterparts launched a campaign to promote SHGs. As part of this campaign, they
mobilised women at the NHG level and trained them to form SHGs in the right perspectives of
women’s empowerment.
A total of 347 SHGs were formed in the PLDP panchayats during the period 1997-2000. About
6,000 women were associated with these activities, out of which 1,050 were SHG officebearers. The savings of these SHGs so far amount to Rs4 million. About 15 percent of the
SHGs had members both from Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL)
families. SHGs were heterogeneous. During their meetings, in addition to thrift-related
matters, women also discussed matters related to current events, social issues, including local
ones, personal problems and also the opportunities available for them. They gradually learnt
to distil social and gender issues out of their own problems and began to fight against them as
a team. Keeping money in bank accounts in their own name and enjoying the freedom to
spend that money as they wished were, in fact, new experiences for many of them. Some
women started income-generating activities, individually and in groups, often availing loan
facilities from funding agencies and grant support from schemes. NHGs helped the women
entrepreneurs in marketing their products. Group identity cohesion and solidarity in SHGs
were remarkable.
As women gained control over their earnings, they had more freedom in domestic decisionmaking, gained confidence in asking their husbands to cut down wasteful expenses and
enjoyed better status in family and social circles. The women’s core group, with the support
of the PLDP, organised training programmes intended for personality and skill development.
Office-bearers of NHGs and SHGs were given trainings at regional levels. For ordinary
members, training was offered at the NHG level. The training curriculum included activities
for improving leadership qualities, developing public speaking abilities, conducting formal
meetings, skills for audit and book-keeping, minutes and report writings, legal awareness and
human resource management. Entrepreneurship training focused on income-generating areas
such as coir-making, rabbitry, soft toy-making, fruit preservation, poultry farming, soap15/04/2005 14:44:00; 106728475
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making, mushroom cultivation and agricultural nursery. The training sessions also exposed
women to the various opportunities available for them.
The women associated with the NHGs and the SHGs in the PLDP panchayats became relatively
more self-reliant in the management of their activities, especially in decision-making,
accounting and book-keeping, conflict resolution and, to a certain extent, in the management
of micro-enterprises.
Several instances of group solidarity and problem resolution were reported from PLDP
panchayats. Majority of them were centred around cases of quarrel between husband and
wife, reflecting a male-dominated social system. An interesting trend noticed was that women
as a group intervened in these issues, although they were family issues, and through persistent
efforts solved most of the disputes. Such spontaneous expressions of group solidarity
enhanced their bargaining power considerably. In the local body elections held during
September 2000, more than half of the women candidates who contested the elections from
the PLDP panchayats were active in the NHG-SHG women’s core group network.
Attempts were made to formulate a long-term development perspective for women. A series
of creative dreaming sessions and brainstorming sessions were conducted. The major
elements of women’s development perceived in these sessions were:

An egalitarian society free of gender discriminations.

Equality of women and men in social and economic domain.

Ensuring the rights of women as independent individuals.

Ensuring women’s participation in every phase of development.

Ensuring equal wage for equal work for men and women.

Recognition of invisible work done by women.

Sensitisation of men regarding the double burden of women.

Functioning of neighbourhood group banks for women.

Women’s status study.

Equal rights to property ownership.

Ensuring employment for all women to promote self-reliance.

Women-friendly family planning and compulsory nutrition and prenatal care for
pregnant women.

Ensuring security and freedom of movement.

Abolition of the dowry system.

Reinterpretation of religious customs, social customs and usages in language to ensure
gender justice.
Several programmes were chalked out in relation to the above objectives. For the purpose of
institutionalising the activities related to project formation, implementation and monitoring,
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the women’s group of Madakkathara constituted a panchayat-level Women’s Development
Society and registered it under the Societies Act. The society was recognised as the
implementing agency for women component programmes. The quality of projects and the
effectiveness of implementation were considerably improved as a result of the involvement of
the Women’s Development Society.
The women’s core group in Madakkathara conducted a women’s status study through
questionnaire-based group discussions in neighbourhood groups, in self-help groups and in
economic enterprises. The study revealed a broadening and deepening of the understanding
of gender issues, enhancement in self-confidence and increased sense of optimism among
women.
Land and Water Management
Mezhuveli, Madakkathara and Mayyil offered great potential for watershed-based land and
water management. In 1996 itself, in these panchayats and in Onchiam panchayat, which
hosted the state-level training programme, drainage maps were prepared and microwatersheds delineated. Outlines of watershed development projects were prepared for each
panchayat and were submitted to the Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural
Technology (CAPART) for project funding. CAPART sent its evaluation team to two
panchayats, Onchiam and Mezhuveli, in 2001, but refused to release funds to the PDS, of
which the ex-officio chairman was the gram panchayat president. Meanwhile, as part of the
PPC, several small and scattered interventions were made in these panchayats. But because of
pressure from the PPC and the involvement of the PLDP team in it, watershed-based master
plans for development remained a concept.
In Mayyil, the Kaivayal watershed attracted all the attention. It had an area of 619ha, of
which 200ha were paddy fields and the rest garden land. The three major problems of this
watershed – flooding during monsoon, shortage of water in December-January and salinity
intrusion from December onwards – were identified and detailed studies initiated.
Katchithode watershed was the major intervention area in Madakkathara. A dam built by the
Minor Irrigation Department two decades ago had already created a 5-ha reservoir. The
leakage through the base of the dam was plugged in 2001. A proper spillway was constructed
and the overall height was increased by about one metre. A substantial portion of the
reservoir area had been encroached upon. Tapioca cultivation and similar activities had
caused substantial silting of the reservoir. These problems are being addressed. A large
number of percolation pits and trenches have been dug to increase groundwater recharge,
resulting perceptible improvement. A number of existing VCBs have been repaired, a few new
ones built. Rigorous cost-benefit analysis has not been done for any of these interventions
before or after implementation. Besides Katchithode, the rest of the area come under four
distinct watersheds, each of which extend beyond the boundaries of the panchayat. Other than
delineating them, very little further planning has been done.
Mezhuveli is a panchayat of hills and valleys, demanding and responsive to watershed
development activities. However, being a comparatively middle class village with substantial
foreign remittance, its agricultural interests are limited to rubber. The major problem
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experienced and recognised is of waterlogging due to seepage from irrigation (Pampa
Irrigation Project) canals (1.5km-length) resulting in as much as 50ha of paddy fields
becoming totally unsuitable for agriculture. Converting this land for pisciculture, developing
into a tourist centre, duck farming, etc. are some of the solutions suggested. No detailed
projects have been drawn up yet.
Meanwhile, with the help of a local NGO, Pazhakulam Social Service Society (PASS), a
programme to preserve and develop five out of the 23 natural springs within the panchayat
was taken up and completed. This attracted substantial participation from the people, 55
percent of the work being done voluntarily.
Preparation of Master Plans for total watershed-based development demanded much larger
human and financial resources than what was possible through the PLDP project. They were to
be proper projects of the panchayats. None of these panchayats had made provisions for such
a project in their plans. Mundathicode panchayat did exactly this.
Basic Studies
As mentioned earlier, a major objective of the PLDP was to prove the viability of self-reliance
and sustainable development of the panchayats and to determine the level of self-sufficiency
to which these panchayats could be raised. The starting point for such a programme,
obviously, was a thorough understanding of the natural and human-made resources of the
area, the way they are utilised now and then enquire into ways of improving efficiency,
productivity, sustainability and, also, equity. And so, naturally, data/information-collection
and analysis become an essential and integral part of sustainable development planning. Most
of the studies were prepared by local volunteers trained by the PLDP staff.
The primary data collected and the analytical reports prepared from them are kept in the
panchayat itself. However, even after the massive People’s Plan Campaign, neither the
elected representatives nor the bureaucratic administration have shown enough respect for
these or, for that matter, for any information. So it is doubtful whether these data can be
retrieved at any panchayat. In all these panchayats, massive data collection was initiated at
the time of the Total Literacy Campaign (1989-90) and carried through the PRM, the PLDP and
the PPC. They relate to both natural resources and social resources.
Table 4: Maps and Reports
Natural Resources
Social Resources
a) Updated thematic maps
a) Socio-economic survey (partial)
b) Simplified thematic maps
b) Education Status Reports
c) Drainage maps with watersheds
delineated
c) Health Status (partial)
d) Natural Resource Appraisal Report
e) Biodiversity
d) Panchayat Development Reports
e) Perspective Five Year Plan
Documents
Completed Reports
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1. Natural Resources Appraisal
– 5 panchayats
2. Educational Status
– 5 panchayats
3. Panchayat Development Reports
– 5 panchayats
4. Perspective (Comprehensive Plan)
– 3 panchayats
5. Participatory Process Evaluation Manual
6. Technical Support Group Training Manual
7. Citizen’s Education Programme Training Manual
What we have discussed till now is only a bare summary of a massive programme involving
about 60-80 person years of ‘external’ activist input and even larger local activists’
participation. The impact of these inputs on the life of the people, especially on their
economic life, has not been anything dramatic. However, it has impacted upon the sociocultural and political life of the people and has left some marks. In this section, we will try to
place before you what we have learnt from this action research programme, why certain
things happened and why others did not happen. These inferences are not based simply on
numerical data but extracted from the diaries of field coordinators, discussions with local
activists, political leaders and ordinary citizens. Again, it is not based on any formatted
survey of a fixed duration, but on the day-to-day conversations and experience for over five
years. The findings are neither totally new nor unexpected, but what was general and abstract
has now become particular and concrete. For each observation there are names of people and
places which cannot be made public. This ‘action research programme’ is of a different type.
Its importance lies in ‘action’ and not on ‘research.’ It is imperative that the research shall not
jeopardise further action, the actors remaining unchanged.
The Socio-Political Scenario
Kerala is a highly politicised state, since long polarised into two opposing camps – those
supporting the Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
and those supporting the United Democratic Front (UDF) led by the Indian National Congress
(Indira). For the sake of convenience, one can say that roughly 40 percent of the population
persistently support one front and another 40 percent the other, while the remaining 20
percent oscillate between the two. Each front consists of several political parties. What is
more important is that these political parties are highly territory or constituency conscious
and try to maintain their hold on the citizens. Even within the same front – the LDF or the UDF
– different political parties compete with one another, often antagonistic to one another.
Further, even within the same political party, there are factions (local factions or part of statelevel-factions) as well as individuals whose prime concern is self-interest. Since almost all
political parties participate in electoral politics and consider ‘capture of power’ as one of their
major political tasks, within each party one finds (a) an organisational wing and (b) a
parliamentary wing. Theoretically, in every party, the parliamentary wing is supposed to be
under the organisation. However, they wield actual power, either as MLAs and MPs (member
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of legislative assembly or parliament respectively), or as ministers. With the advent of
panchayati raj, the cleavage between the two wings came down to the ward level and became
widespread.
There is also, besides power, functional contradictions between the two wings. The
organisational wing is built upon a process of fight or struggle. The parliamentary wing, on
the other hand, is built upon the ‘platform of development’ or constructive work. EMS
Namboodiripad once coined the phrase ‘Struggle and Governance.’ But most ask ‘Struggle or
Governance?’ It was Gandhi who conceived the idea of ‘Constructive Work as Struggle.’
The KSSP is not a political party. ‘Power’ is outside its internal agenda. But it is interested in
impacting on the power structure. Being avowedly partisan to the majority who are getting
continuously impoverished or face the threat of impoverishment whenever their interests are
in conflict with those of the minority, KSSP seeks to change the existing power relations, to
invert the power pyramid so to speak, to empower the citizens to gain their supreme
sovereignty. Its interest in participatory democracy emanates from the conviction that it is the
best way to invert the power pyramid. It also knows that such an inversion process will be
opposed tooth and nail by the present power holders. They will not give up without a fight.
And hence, the KSSP has to be, and is, a fighting organisation, a movement for struggle. It is
based upon the platform of struggle. But its methods and tools for struggle are different from
those of the political parties. It not only exposes and opposes but also proposes and
counterposes; it not only criticises and demands but also conceives and constructs. It accepts
constructive work as a higher form of struggle, because what it constructs empowers the poor
and weakens the rich. In this aspect, its ideas are different from those of Gandhi.
The PLDP was conceived and designed to empower the ordinary citizen both economically
and politically. Put in the language of political parties, the PLDP was designed to play a
‘critical organisational role through development action.’ For this, the PLDP did not find it
necessary to be, and has never been, subservient to the organisational wing of any political
party or itself become one. It conceived its own organisational structure: the neighbourhood
group – ayalkoottam as it is called in Malayalam. Since it is critiquing through action, it
created the twin structures of Technical Support Group and Panchayat Development Samitis.
The PDS was intended, also, to demonstrate the possibility of further broad-basing democracy.
In matters of developmental action often it has to collaborate with the ‘local government,’ i.e.
the parliamentary wings of the political parties. The gram sabha was to be the battleground
royale for transforming developmental work into social struggle. Such was the mandate and
structure of the PLDP.
The state election held in May 1996 brought the Left Democratic Front to power. As we have
seen earlier, the LDF has always been furthering the cause of decentralisation. The newlyformed State Planning Board, consisting of activists and supporters of the KSSP, took a
historic decision to go all out on decentralisation leading to the now well-known People’s
Plan Campaign. The PPC was designed, by and large, as a development programme relying on
the parliamentary wings of all political parties. It hoped that the top leadership of the political
parties would ensure the much desired unity between the two wings at all levels. But in actual
practice, this did not happen with most of the parties. Even at the top levels this contradiction
existed. The parliamentary wing leadership at the state level (the MLAs and the ministers) too
considered themselves as ‘victims of decentralisation.’ Much of their resources were
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transferred to the lower levels of the state – from district to gram panchayat. So, they had
their own axe to grind against the parliamentary leadership of the panchayats. But credit must
be given to at least three leaders – the ministers for local bodies, rural development and
harijan welfare – who were exceptions to the rule. Almost all the other ministers, in the depth
of their hearts, were at best sceptical of and at worst inimical to decentralisation.
As far as the organisational wings of political parties are concerned, they were, from top to
bottom, sceptical about the PPC because of the fear of parliamentary illusion. Since the PPC
was designed almost exclusively on the foundations of the parliamentary wings of parties, the
odds against it were very large. In the first year, the PPC sought to overcome this weakness by
consciously relying on the support of the organisational wings and the civil society. This
alienated the line department officials, with whom resided much of the technical knowhow.
The civil society formations lacked expertise and experience or could not muster the support
of those who had both. Further, the organisational wings of the political parties often felt
threatened at the active involvement of civil society groupings. All of them were extremely
possessive of their influence constituencies. This led, at least in one case, the district
leadership of one party to send a circular to all its local units advising them not to participate
or encourage civil society initiatives like the PLDP. They could not publicly disown the PPC,
though they had ideological reservations against it.
The PPC was initiated within six months of the PLDP and hence could be considered as coterminus. Both are, outwardly, involved in panchayat-level development planning. The PLDP
had, of course broader and deeper objectives. The PPC was solely development-oriented. But
it has been godfathered by a group – the KSSP – which is the progenitor of the PLDP too. The
PPC was a much more massive exercise demanding every ounce of capability available in the
society. There was absolutely no possibility of running the PLDP separated from the PPC. The
PLDP project team was bound to work in close collaboration with the panchayats. Effectively
it became a collaborator of the ‘state.’ It could not build NHG, PDS, TSG, etc. as pure civil
society initiatives. This was difficult even otherwise, even in the absence of the PPC, because
of the suspicions and fears of political parties.
Conceptually, the NHGs were to be formed through the initiative of a local activist, whose
personal credibility is more important than political authority. The NHG was to select from
among itself two convenors through open discussion and on consensus. The political parties
were not expected to decide things in advance sitting in their offices and then making them
‘decisions of the people.’ Only after more than 80 percent of the households were brought
under NHGs, a meeting of the convenors was to be called and the PDS constituted. But in
practice, none of this took place. Even in the very first panchayat where the first NHGs were
formed – the Kalliasseri panchayat – the leading political party, the CPI(M), was in command.
It decided the grouping of households into NHGs and the convenors for each NHG. True, they
were very generous to offer convenorship to persons belonging to other political parties even
in their own strongholds. Yes, ‘offer.’ They offered what was not theirs. The political parties
decided. The citizens were not encouraged or allowed to think and act freely. In an era when
politics has degenerated into politicking, this is bound to make citizens docile. The NHGs
could not have any life of their own. They became yet another tool in the hands of political
parties and not civil society formations.
By the time it came to the
PLDP
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PPC
and of the necessity to submit
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watershed development proposals for funding persuaded the local activists to form and
register Panchayat Development Societies with a handful of promoters. The PDS later went
out, forming NHGs. Thus, instead of building upwards, it became a top-to-bottom process.
Instead of the NHGs, the PDS became powerful, more sovereign. The NHGs never became
lively, except in some very exceptional places.
The plight of the Technical Support Groups too was not different. There is a hilarious
anecdote from the Kerala Legislative Assembly where one member, half asleep, on hearing a
discussion going on about some ‘two’ stood up and shouted reflexively: ‘One of them should
be a Catholic.’ The discussion was actually on the import of giraffes for the zoo! Sharing
should be based on religion, caste or party! To say that in the formation of the TSGs too, such
considerations played a role may be an exaggeration, but not totally so. The spirit or purpose
of the TSG was not appreciated by the PDS or the local leaders of PLDP/PPC. The PPC, during its
first year, had alienated the professionals from line departments. True, the various ‘task
forces’ formed under the PPC tried to draw them in, but without much success. In all the
panchayats where TSGs were formed, it was a mixture of school teachers, KSSP activists,
social and political activists with a sprinkling of professionals. The TSGs were supposed to
help formulate long-term and short-term development plans, enhancing sustainability and
equity. But this task proved to be too much for them. The PLDP senior project staff had to help
them in all panchayats. Even that was difficult, because of a deeply ingrained scepticism of
long-term planning.
How Things Went and Why
The citizens in general viewed the PLDP and its personnel as additional governmental input,
as part of the panchayat and not as their own. So, they expected the PLDP to ‘deliver,’ rather
than doing things for themselves. This attitude, limiting their responsibility to voting and then
expecting everything else to be done by the government, was deeply ingrained. The political
leaders too encouraged this attitude. The overall situation was and is complex. We have:
1
The parliamentary wing of the ruling coalition.
2
The organisational wing of the ruling coalition.
3
The opposition coalition.
4
Individual vested interests having good relation with both coalitions.
5
Civil society formations like the
and other institutions.
6
Mass organisations of students, youth and women.
NHG, SHG, THG, PDS,
etc.; organisations like the
KSSP;
The relationships among them have been complex and often conflicting. In one panchayat,
the organisational wing was all-powerful and decided everything, giving little room for others
to innovate. It was extremely sceptical about ‘independent’ civil society organisations, even if
they were ideologically friendly. That panchayat had minimum participation of women, no
independent self-help groups. Even the PDS played a puppet role. The party dominated the
NHG. Practically no new cadre grew up in that panchayat. In another panchayat, there was not
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much of a conflict between the parliamentary and organisational wings. Effective leadership
for both was common. They also made use of the PLDP inputs for strengthening the PPC.
However, when the PLDP began promoting the SHG and Samatha (Women’s Group), problems
began to crop up. The PLDP could attract through the SHG and other activities large numbers
of women, much larger than what the women’s wings of political parties could. Capable
women leadership began to emerge independent of them. This could not be tolerated. The
upcoming leadership was snubbed. They were not powerful enough and it was not considered
tactically wise to go against traditional leadership. Whatever roots that began to sprout burnt
out. But the potential for re-rooting exists.
In yet another panchayat, the parliamentary wing of the leading party became as popular as
the organisational wing and commanded broader public support. However, the personal
ambitions of, and rivalry between, leaders was fierce. This cost them the panchayat during
the elections. There were also a few ‘capable’ freelancers – they conveniently donned various
cloaks – of political parties, of civil society organisations, etc. They at times even sabotaged
development projects. In another panchayat there was much better understanding amongst all
the three players. The NHGs were innovative and functioned almost autonomously. They were
active in many areas. The PDS played a very effective role in formulating and implementing
development projects. It was true that the ruling front lost in the subsequent elections
reportedly because of internal squabbles within the political parties. In the last mentioned
panchayat, things were fluid all the time. The civil society groups, basically products of
literacy campaigns, were very active. But, even within them, activists showed loyalty to
different political parties/factions. This affected the development of the NHGs and the PDS.
The panchayat governance alternated between fronts and factions. This too had its adverse
impact on the PLDP. A PLDP-PPC activist described one of his party colleagues as an ‘antineighbourhood group – class struggle fundamentalist, people’s democratic revolutionary.’
For him, the PPC and the PLDP were reformist activities at best, likely to dampen the
revolutionary zeal of class-conscious workers!
To put briefly the achievements and shortfalls of the efforts to build micro-level organisations
for participation and inversion of power structure:
1
These concepts and organisational forms have become well-known and attained varying
levels of acceptance.
2
It cannot be taken that they have taken deep roots, capable of drawing sustenance from
self and surrounding society; they still require ‘external’ support.
3
They have not yet become effective in combating globalisation and other factors
restraining people’s participation. But it is unwise to write them off.
4
Neighbourhood Group (NHG), Panchayat Development Society (PDS) Ward
Development Society (WDS), Women’s Core Group (WCG), Technical Support Group
(TSG) and Self-Help Group (SHG) are the organisational forms promoted to realise this
aim. Of these, the NHG, the SHG, the PDS and the TSG have been accepted as useful tools
in all the panchayats. All over Kerala, more than 20,000 NHGs had been formed. But
most of them now exist in name only. The SHGs are promoted by various groups and
also the government – Samatha, Kudumbashree, Sthreeshakti, etc. Tens of thousands
have been formed, but not yet stabilised.
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Plight of the Perspective Plan
The PLDP Project envisaged not only building up of micro-level organisations as participatory
structures, but also preparation of concrete development plans, both short-term and longterm, for each panchayat – in fact, developing ‘actually functioning local economies which
are increasingly sustainable and equitable.’
As indicated earlier, the project ran concurrently with the People’s Plan Campaign and
perforce was compelled to fall in with its rhythm and to help panchayats preparing ‘projects’
in various sectors for implementation in each year. Since most of the members of the
panchayat were not full-timers – they had their own livelihood occupations – even this annual
plan preparation and implementation became an unbearable load on them. It was next to
impossible to bring them into a state of mind to conceive a long-term perspective plan for
‘just and sustainable development.’ It took more than a year-and-half (what was initially
expected to be over in one-and-half months) to persuade one panchayat to go through a
detailed exercise of conceiving a long-term perspective, through a process of collective
dreaming and group planning. Obviously no detailed action plan (DAP), involving specific
projects, their costs and technical aspects and time schedule could be made for any
panchayat. There is one more reason: long-term plan for any area should take into account
both public and private activities. Public or state action is limited, at present, by the resources
it can provide, which comes to only 2-3 percent of GNP of the panchayat or 10-12 percent of
the total investible surplus within the panchayat. Private or individual actors do play, still, a
much larger role in the economy of the panchayat. There is no political state power to direct
these activities, to direct their investments into socially necessary areas. Today, a substantial
percentage of private investment goes for building construction and most of the rest into
financial institutions. Private sector investment in productive areas demands a marked change
in the bureaucratic procedures of the government and also in the work culture.
Yet, in three panchayats, collective dreaming exercises were carried out to prepare a popular
basis for formulating long-term development plans. In one of them, Madakkathara, about
3,000 people participated. The single word equivalent for development was ‘employment.’
So, eradication of unemployment became the focus. The status of unemployment in the
panchayat was assessed through social mapping at NHG levels. Aspirations were for whitecollar, secure, pensionable government jobs. But they also knew in their heart of hearts that
this was not possible. Through a series of discussions, they came round to the idea that at
present, the best bet is the primary sector. Detailed plans were worked out to, at least, double
agricultural production – basically coconut, rice, tapioca, banana and nurseries – in the
coming 5-10 years, and to reorganise the character of labour from daily wages to monthly
salaries with all the benefits of factory workers including Employees’ State Insurance,
Provident Fund, maternity leave and so on, through projects like Kera Soubhagya, Ksheera
Soubhagya, etc. It was estimated that about 1,200-1,300 permanent jobs with long-term
security providing an annual income of about Rs20,000 could be created in the primary sector
alone. This emphasis on the primary sector had two objectives: to provide additional income
selectively for the poorest lot who were ready to do manual work – requiring comparatively
smaller capital input – and to improve local food availability and sustainability.
Agricultural labour was, thus, to become akin to industrial labour. Several ‘enterprises’ were
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to be formed. But nothing happened. The universal response was: ‘What we have prepared is
excellent on paper but will not succeed in practice.’ Scepticism was near-universal. Hundreds
of examples were quoted to defend this sceptism. Every year, tens of thousands of microenterprises were being started, but not even a dozen survive for more than one year. From
their own panchayat they quoted the example of the ignominious failure of the group dairy
enterprise, without bothering to identify the basic defects in selecting beneficiaries and also
of ad-hocism.
Yet another major obstacle for local development was the attitude and actions of line
departments and quasi-government organisations. For example, the Education Department,
especially the Office of the Director of Public Instruction, has been persistently thwarting the
efforts of the panchayats to improve the quality of education. The teachers were virtually
prevented from participating in the training programmes organised by the district and gram
panchayats. The teachers, too, found this convenient. Neither they nor any other departmental
official welcomed the idea of being responsible to the panchayat. The Kerala Water
Authority, the Public Works Department, the Agricultural Department ... every one of them
fought the statutory authority bestowed on the panchayats. The ministers supported ‘their’
officials against the panchayats. The organisational wings of political parties advised their
parliamentary wings – presidents, standing committee chairpersons and so on – against
confronting the departments. They too found it convenient to ‘get along’ with department
officials.
The air of Kerala is saturated with an anti-entrepreneurial spirit. The government, the service
providers – banks, electricity board, etc. – and the trade union movements subconsciously
conspire against entrepreneurs. By far the biggest culprit has been the government and its
departments. In spite of all the tall claims about creating a congenial environment for
investment, the government is still inimical to local small-scale investors, perhaps, because of
non-developmental reasons. The Kerala State Electricity Board is the next great killer of
enterprises, not so much because of the high price of electricity, which is still lower than in
other states, but because of its poor quality of service, irregularity and arrogance.
The attitude towards agriculture is even worse. The people of Kerala have ‘written off’
agriculture. That a few people are still engaged in it is no indication that they like it. Most of
them do agriculture because of lack of alternatives. Extreme fragmentation of landholdings
has aggravated the situation. More than 80 percent of the land belongs to people for whom
agriculture provides only a negligible share of their total income. This is true for the PLDP
panchayats as well as for the rest of Kerala.
Expansion of distorted education, which gives them little knowledge, no skills and wrong
values, has compounded the problems. The youth want ‘secure government jobs,’ or cushy IT
jobs! For the past three decades, they have been systematically alienated from land and
physical labour. Our soil is there, water is there, sunshine is there and labour power, too. If
only we could join the labour power with the other three elements, wonders could happen at
practically zero social cost. One has to fight four obstacles for this:
1
Absurd and inimical government policies.
2
Arrogant and corrupt service providers.
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3
Anti-labour trade union leadership.
4
Distorted education system.
The new curriculum, including the new pedagogy introduced in the primary schools, was a
bold attempt to tackle the skill and attitude issues of education. Within two years
improvements were visible. But it has been systematically destroyed by enemies of the
people who presented themselves as ‘educational experts’ and ‘patriots.’ In spite of
decentralisation, in effect the system continues to be highly centralised. The ‘power of the
people’ is still an empty shell, because that is something ‘given to them’ and not ‘won by
them.’ The present form of political fight does not give power to the people, but only to the
political leadership. New forms of political struggle have to be created.
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CHAPTER VI
PEOPLE’S PLAN CAMPAIGN
Introduction
In the previous chapter, the thrust of the presentation has been on the Panchayat-Level
Development Plan as a project undertaken with the author as the Principal Investigator. Now,
let us look at its development and its present plight, with the subsequent emergence of the
People’s Plan Campaign in the state.
Kerala was one of the first states to establish a State Planning Board (SPB). That was in 1967,
during the first Left Democratic Front Ministry under the leadership of the late EMS
Namboodiripad. As noted earlier, EMS was firmly wedded to decentralisation. Under the
auspices of the State Planning Board, an important seminar was held on the ‘Approach to the
Fourth Five-Year Plan.’ That was a major contribution to the theory and methodology of
planning in India. Since then, the SPB has been alternately active and inactive, depending on
the attitude of the political leadership of the state and the bureaucratic leadership of the
Planning Board. However, even on occasions when it was active and creative, the SPB had
very little control over the actual implementation of the plan. Even in the formulation of
plans, its hands were severely tied. Major departments made their own plans strongly backed
by their ministers; and issues became political. All the ministries since 1967 have been
coalitions; it was not possible to make any major changes in the historical allocations as it
could lead to the break-up of the coalition. The Planning Board had no other option but to
follow the ‘political line,’ however unscientific that might be. Thus, plans were merely paper
exercises. They did not help use the state’s resources in the optimum possible way. The State
Planning Board was, in fact, only a lesser version of the central Planning Commission.
The various strands which together later led to the concept of decentralised and participatory
planning were mostly still in the heads and hearts of a few activists and a few political
leaders. It had not gripped the imagination of the people, not even distantly. For generations
they had been trained as supplicants, not as sovereign citizens. Casting a vote was the
maximum democratic responsibility they were willing to undertake. The government was
then expected to give them ‘development.’ They were and are a long distance away from
democratic citizenship. Not only attitudinally. Their knowledge base is different, skills are
different.
The action research project Participatory and Sustainable Panchayat-level Development
Planning was conceived by the KSSP, as mentioned earlier, by the middle of 1995 as a sequel
to the Panchayat Resource Mapping and Kalliasseri experience and as a contribution towards
building new knowledge bases and developing new skills. The PLDP concept was campaigned
across the state by its chief architect, Thomas Isaac, together with veteran economist-planners
KN Raj and IS Gulati. The project was formally initiated in April 1996.
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As noted earlier, it was in 1981 that the SPB took the initiative to think about decentralised
planning and people’s participation. This led to the concept of District Plans and District
Planning Offices. However, this did not lead to any degree of decentralisation or increase in
people’s participation. The real serious effort was that of the 1987-90 period. During this
period, District Councils were formed. Districts and panchayats were provided with some
‘untied’ funds. There was an attempt to increase participation. However, even that ministry
did not dare to devolve substantial quantity of resources to panchayats and district councils.
That took place only in 1996. There were objective and subjective conditions which led to
this:
1
The adoption of the 73rd and 74th Constitution Amendment in 1992, making panchayats
statutory and persuading state governments to part with a large share of their powers in
favour of panchayats.
2
The high expectation built on panchayats and decentralisation as a result of widespread
discussions on the Panchayati Raj and Nagarpalika Bills.
3
The comparatively high level of preparedness for decentralisation in Kerala, thanks to the
two decades of efforts of the KSSP.
4
The constitution of a planning board consisting of activists and sympathisers of the KSSP
fully committed to decentralisation and audacious enough to take daredevil decisions.
The general elections in May 1996 brought a Left Democratic Front government to power in
the state. IS Gulati, who was vice-chairman of the State Planning Board from 1987 to 1991,
was again requested to take up the responsibility. He inducted Isaac, B Ekbal, Shyama
Sundaran Nair and the late EM Sreedharan – all activists/sympathisers of both the KSSP and
the concept of participatory democracy – into the Planning Board. The idea of preparing the
imminent Ninth Five-Year Plan (1997-2002) for the state in a radically different manner, with
people’s participation, was first mooted by Isaac in June-July 1996. The idea was accepted by
the government and the People’s Plan Campaign was formally inaugurated on the Kerala
New Year Day of 1171 (17 August 1996) under the guidance of a high-level committee with
EMS Namboodiripad as chairman. The Chief Minister, former chief ministers, leaders of the
Opposition, the leaders of all political parties, members of Parliament and Legislative
Assembly, representatives of mass organisations and experts in various fields – in all, more
than 400 people – were members of this High-Level Guidance Committee. There was also an
Executive Committee with the Chief Minister as Chairman.
At that time, neither the bureaucracy nor the citizenry took it seriously, especially because of
the sweeping, almost impracticable, nature of the programme. What followed was a period of
‘possessed’ action. The decentralised planning cell at the State Planning Board was
restructured, and strengthened with activists of the KSSP, mostly voluntary. The working time
of this cell was round the clock literally, as it was for the Total Literacy Campaign Control
Room, and not from 10-to-5 as in normal government offices.
Objectives
1
To make panchayats effective local self-governments. For this:
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2
3
(a)
identify those development activities which can be most effectively implemented
at each level of the government – from the gram panchayat to the state – and to
make corresponding changes in the panchayat/municipal acts, other acts, statutes
and guidelines necessary for its implementation;
(b)
make available material resources necessary to carry out these identified activities
directly to the panchayats, and not through the line departments; and
(c)
develop within the panchayats themselves the capabilities necessary to conceive
details, convert them into proper action plans, implement those plans and evaluate
them.
Reverse the historical tendency of increasing centralisation by initiating a process of
massive decentralisation. For this:
(a)
make available increasing amounts of resources for decentralised development
activities, reduce centralised activities, integrate centrally sponsored programmes
at the panchayat level;
(b)
limit the hierarchical authority of block, district panchayats and state and Central
governments over village panchayats; and
(c)
within the village panchayat, decentralise activities at gram sabha and
neighbourhood levels and increase the participation of ordinary citizens, thereby
making democracy truer.
To build up countless resistance centres in a variety of fields against the tsunami of
economic and cultural imperialism. For this:
(a)
increase the self-confidence and self-respect of individuals and small
communities;
(b)
make each level of the community – gram panchayat, block or district panchayats
– increasingly more self-sufficient and thus self-reliant; and
(c)
without negating the role of exchange and the market, try to build up new forms of
social control and collectivity and thus contribute to the build up of a postcapitalist society.
Obviously, these objectives could not be realised in one stroke or in Kerala alone. There were
national and even global implications. But when the initial set of activities were planned, all
these thoughts, though not in a very concrete form, were nevertheless present in the
subconscious. A crash programme of action had to be formulated. The Ninth Plan was to be
prepared in a very short time. It was decided that the State Planning Board would prepare
projects only for about 60 percent of the total plan allotment. For the remaining 40 percent,
the panchayats would be asked to prepare their own projects. This ratio of 60:40 was only a
beginning. Later, as the panchayats gained experience, this could become 50:50, or even
40:60. Similarly, the non-plan budget (salaries and other benefits of employees) too could be
transferred to local self-governments. Further, the share of the direct revenue of the LSGs
would have to be increased. All these were to be done in the coming years. To realise all
these, a strategy consisting of the following elements was formulated:
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1
Making necessary changes in the financial and legal powers of the local selfgovernment – a Committee on Decentralisation (the Sen Committee) was appointed for
this.
2
Earmarking financial resources – lobbying with government and political leaders.
3
Empowering the citizens to take responsibilities through massive training programmes
and propaganda.
4
Phasing out activities in a sequential manner.
The choice of Sen was not accidental. As a young economist, Sen had worked with the first
Kerala government in 1957, together with Ashok Rudra, under EMS Namboodiripad. Later,
he was associated with the decentralisation efforts of Kerala in 1981 and in 1987. His faith in
democracy and in the people was deep and unshakable. By 1996, he had become a muchexperienced person and Kerala was lucky to benefit from his services. The terms of reference
and the constitution of the committee are given here.
1
To study the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 and the Kerala Municipality Act, 1994
and other related Acts and Rules and to propose, in the light of practical experience,
necessary amendments to the above Statutes and Rules in order to achieve the objective
of decentralisation of power to local self-government institutions.
2
To suggest necessary amendments to the above Acts and Rules so that power could be
delegated effectively to the lowest levels of administration, and to enable local selfgovernment institutions to enjoy full autonomy in the exercise of such power.
3
To define the administrative and financial powers to be delegated to local selfgovernment institutions and to suggest procedures in critical areas such as financial
powers, and to propose appropriate modifications to existing Acts and Rules.
4
To suggest appropriate structural changes in order to make the functioning of district
panchayats effective.
5
To suggest necessary modifications relating to the officers and the staff who could be
brought under the charge of panchayats and municipalities.
6
To study the factors that stood in the way of making available full autonomy to local
self-government institutions and to make necessary suggestions so that these objectives
could be achieved.
7
To make suggestions to enable local self-government institutions to contribute
effectively to the development process, particularly in the creation of assets, and to
ensure public participation and transparency in local administration.
The committee had its first sitting on 25 July 1996 and gave its interim report on 14 August.
The unexpected death of Sen in October was a terrific blow to the committee. Now, without
the pressure of the Chairman to hasten the work and most of the members having other
pressing duties, the committee could submit the first part of its report only in January 1998. It
took another year to finalise the recommendations on staff deployment. However, the first
initial report had enunciated in it all the guiding principles of decentralisation. So, the
government could issue specific orders in accordance with its spirit without waiting for an
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amendment in the Panchayat Act which was eventually done in 1999.
Changes in Law
The Sen Committee gave its first interim report in three weeks. Pending the final report, the
state government issued a number of executive orders and directives to enable the local
bodies to function as self-governments. In the course of the six years of the campaign, several
hundred such orders became necessary to remove anomalies, to clarify and to modify, and to
execute. The final recommendations of the committee was later more or less fully
incorporated into the thoroughly revised Panchayat and Municipal Acts of the state
government.
General Principles
The interim report highlighted some of the basic principles that should govern the transfer of
powers to local self-governments. The salient ones among them are listed here:
1
Autonomy: As far as possible, the local self-government institutions (LSGIs) should be
left to function freely and independently. Government supervision should be limited to
the obligatory and regulatory functions of the LSGs. In development matters, only the
national and state priorities and general guidelines need be indicated to the panchayat so
as to help them take their own decisions. Of course, autonomy does not mean
sovereignty. A multi-level exercise of developmental functions implied existence of a
sphere of independent action at each level, a sphere of cooperative and coordinated
action, a sphere of delegated agency function, and a sphere of guidance from above in a
descending order of magnitude.
Autonomy as conceived by the committee had three basic aspects: (a) functional
autonomy; (b) financial autonomy; and (c) administrative autonomy.
2
Subsidiarity: This meant what could be done best at a particular level should not be
pushed up to a higher level for execution. If this principle was applied, the process of
transferring functions and powers should start from the level of the gram sabhas and
ward committees and go up to the Central government. Only residual functions needed
to be allotted to the higher level.
3
Role clarity: Decentralised development implied unity of vision and diversity of means.
This called for a clear perception by the various levels of their respective roles in the
development process, so that the subsystems could support each other and did not work
at cross-purposes. This called for clarity at the conceptual and operational levels about
what each tier of local self-government could do in each area of development. Of
course, neat divisions were not possible; nor were they desirable. Yet, there should be
functional clarity. Only this could facilitate proper devolution of powers, their creative
exercise and a meaningful monitoring of the whole process.
4
People’s participation: It was necessary to involve the people fully, particularly those
sections hitherto excluded from the development process. And participation should not
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be limited to mere information giving or consultation or contribution or even seeking
prior concurrence. It should reach the level of empowering the people to take their own
decisions after analysing the situation. Genuine participation was not the same as
mobilisation.
5
Principle of financial decentralisation: The resources required for carrying out the
functions and responsibilities transferred to the LSGIs had to be made available to them.
This would include flow of credit.
6
Accountability: The LSGIs were accountable to the people within their jurisdiction, and,
in certain respects, to the whole nation. The accountability to the people was not to be
left to the elections alone to be settled. There had to be provision for continuing social
audit of the performance of the LSGIs in the gram sabhas and ward committees as well
as by special groups. The accountability to the nation would be ensured through
objective audit both concurrent and post facto.
7
Transparency: Every decision taken was based on some norms or criteria evolved on
the basis of social consensus and the rationale behind each decision had to be made
public. There should be freedom to the people to know every detail of how money was
going to be spent, before a scheme is taken up; and how it was spent, after its
completion. The procedures and the language of the administration need to be
demystified and made ‘people friendly.’
Possibilities
There were some very exciting possibilities that could be brought about by local selfgovernments such as:
1
To make development sustainable by harnessing the efforts of the people by involving
them fully in the development process, from the pre-planning stage up to the evaluation
stage. Better understanding of local problems and needs, better supervision of
programmes and local contributions can give the push so much needed by the Kerala
economy. Such participatory action should keep in view the goals of improving
productivity, working towards greater self-reliance and achieving better standards of
living.
2
To eke out scarce resources not only through local contributions but also by reducing
corruption by vigilant supervision of works and schemes by gram sabhas and ward
committees, people’s groups and socially active individuals and organisations.
3
To improve the quality of the delivery system. Perhaps the most visible, felt and
immediate change which LSGIs could bring about was a qualitative improvement in the
rendering of government services through a process of popular demand-induced
responsiveness in the bureaucracy. Also by getting over departmentalism, the functional
fragmentation of development interventions could be avoided. By seeing a problem or
assessing a need in its totality, the LSGI was in a better position to pool all its resources,
financial and human, in its intervention. This convergence of services and resources
could increase the productivity of development investments significantly. The LSGIs
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should use the services of officials considering them as an important resource.
4
To act as a people-friendly institution, serving as an information centre for the ordinary
man.
The committee attempted, also, to provide a framework for assigning appropriate roles to
each level of the panchayat. Such a broad role definition, it was perceived, would be required
to facilitate complementarity. While transferring institutions/responsibilities the following
factors couldt be taken into consideration:
1
Service area: Institutions or schemes which service a gram panchayat only should be
under that panchayat and likewise for the higher tiers and municipal bodies.
2
Technical complexity: Simple schemes could be handled by lower-level LSGIs and
technically sophisticated schemes require handling by larger institutions with the
required manpower.
3
Management complexity: For example, running of a seed farm intended to supply seeds
to a region could be managed at the district level if the management needed were not all
that complex. Similar logic would work in assigning high schools, technical institutions,
etc. to the district panchayat.
4
Physical size: In the case of roads, for example, the type of road could be the relevant
factor to decide the level of ownership.
5
Financial size: Financial limits could be set for approval and running of certain
projects.
6
Nature of a scheme: It was always better that a pioneering or pilot project with largescale replication possibilities was run by a higher level body.
The committee went through the Acts of 1994 clause by clause and suggested amendments/
additions/deletions wherever required to comply with the spirit of true panchayati Raj.
Almost all of its recommendations, except a few which were not very significant, were
accepted by the government and incorporated into the new Panchayat Act and Municipality
Act of 1998. Some important features of these Acts were:
1
The concept of neighbourhoods consisting of approximately 30-50 families was
recognised and mentioned, though not instituted as a statutory body, as recommended
by the Sen Committee.
2
It was made extremely difficult for the state government to interfere with the day-to-day
functioning of local self-government institutions. Further, state government would
require the permission and recommendation of an independent body like an
‘Ombudsman’ for such intervention. The institution of district-level Appellate Tribunals
was yet another welcome addition.
3
The new Acts went into the powers, functions and responsibilities of gram sabhas/ward
committees in detail. Also, gram sabha meetings have become a statutory obligation. A
ward member might lose his membership if he fails to call gram sabhas at least once in
six months.
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4
The Act also provided for delimitation of panchayats subject to certain principles –
limiting the population size to about 30,000, ward size to about 1,000 voters, increasing
the maximum number of wards from 15 to 25, etc.
5
Recognition of the right to know, and incorporation of concrete modalities for the
implementation of this right was yet another feature.
The Kerala Panchayat and Municipality Act of 1998 is one of the most radical pieces of
legislation since the state’s Land Reforms Act. The special and redeeming feature of the state
is the presence of an alert civil society which does not allow these provisions to remain dead
letters. Of course, willingness and desire alone does not suffice. The civil society, the citizens
should have knowledge and skills to make use of these provisions, to participate in the
development process creatively, to become true citizens in a true democracy. A massive
Citizen Education Programme will have to be organised. This cannot be formal education
taking place within the four walls of classroom. It will have to be based on active
participation in the day-to-day management of the society. The government, the political
parties, the mass movements, citizen’s organisations – all should become active partners in
this movement of ‘Education for Democracy.’ The hundreds upon hundreds of training
programmes organised by the State Planning Board are a major input into this. They are to be
supplemented by citizen education programme of political parties, trade unions, kisan sabhas,
women, youth and student organisations, cultural organisations, etc.
As mentioned earlier, the KSSP was convinced since long, in fact, for more than two decades,
that participatory democracy would have to be an essential element in building a postcapitalist society, wedded to equity and sustainability. The Panchayat-level Development
Planning project was taken up by it for the purpose of learning and model-building, as an
experiment in empowering through knowledge and skills, through dreaming, thinking,
planning and doing. In the following pages we will examine the potential for local-level
development and the concrete experience of the People’s Plan Campaign and the PanchayatLevel Development Planning project. Based on them, we will attempt to delineate a strategy
to build a New Kerala.
Financial Resources
There were two sources of finance for the local self-governments (LSGs).
1
Increased devolution of state and Central grants/soft loans.
2
Additional resources collected through additional taxation, etc. by the LSGs.
The state and the local budgets had two broad components:
1
Regular, already committed and hence non-negotiable expenses like salaries, rents,
office expenses, maintenance – generally known as revenue or non-plan expenditure.
2
Development or plan expenditure for new projects and activities.
The ratio between the two components is usually around 4:1. For the year 1999-2000, this
was about Rs11,500 crore (US$2.4 billion) and Rs3,000 crore (US$600 million). Since there
was little flexibility in the non-plan expenditure – at least it was so conceived – the local
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bodies could creatively contribute very little to it and the responsibility for that part of the
budget continued to remain with the state government and its departments. Only the plan
budget was considered for decentralisation and devolution. During the five-year period 19962001, this was about Rs1,000 crore ($200 million) per year. This plan expenditure involved
large irrigation and hydroelectric schemes, factories, main roads, electricity production and
distribution, etc. which were far beyond the range of any single local body. The 73rd and
74th Amendments to the Constitution and the Panchayat and Municipal Acts of the Kerala
government had explicitly transferred the management of nearly 30 departments at the local
level. These included Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Housing. (See appendix for full list). A
detailed examination of the previous plans gives the level of development expenditure
allotted for works/projects which could be more effectively conceived and executed at the
local level. When added together, this comes to about 40 percent of the total plan budget. It
was, therefore, decided that about 40 percent of the plan budget would be transferred to the
three tiers of local governments as a lumpsum with certain minimum guidelines. For
example:
1
Not more than 30 percent for civil construction work like roads, culverts, shopping
complex, etc.
2
Not less than 40 percent for productive sector.
3
About 30 percent for social sector.
It was to be kept in mind that at least 10 percent of the budget should be set apart for
schemes/projects oriented towards welfare and empowerment of women and 10 percent for
the uplift of Scheduled Castes and Tribes (the most marginalised sections of the population).
Within these guidelines, the local citizens/panchayats could decide upon any development
activity which they deemed fit. During the first year, the designers of the PPC as well as the
KSSP, did not have any idea of how the existing line departments and the officers – both
technical and non-technical – fit into the whole campaign. There was an innate fear that either
they would not cooperate or they might play disruptive roles. So, initially, they were
neglected. However, development plan preparation and, later, execution were technical jobs.
Neither the elected representatives nor the social activists were up to it. From this came the
idea of forming ‘Voluntary Technical Corps’ at block and district levels. About this we will
have more to say at a later stage.
One thing was clear at the outset: the people’s representatives, the social and political
activists – all had much to learn. Everything was new to them, perhaps not only to them but
to everybody. There were not many experiences to rely upon regarding ‘integrated local-level
planning for sustainable development.’ Everything was problematic. What is the essence of
integration? Mere forward-backward linkages or anything more? How do we define a ‘local
area’ – as per the arbitrary panchayat ward boundaries? On the lines of village boundaries
with practically none of the old village institutions existing? Or in accordance with watershed
boundaries? The first was the political administrative unit. The last was the physical unit if
we considered land and water important in the economy. Equally important were the terms
‘sustainable’ and ‘development.’ Sustainable for how long? A few decades, centuries,
millions of years? ... At what levels – static, dynamic, with present differentiation and
inequities? Development means what? Simple increase in consumption of goods and
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services? What about ethical, cultural and spiritual (non-material) aspects? What about equity
and differential rates of development? Exponential or asymptotic? It was obvious that a lot of
learning and training would be required. Participatory democracy was no simple project, nor
a fast food item. An initial strategy for learning, teaching, doing and relearning was
formulated.
Strategy
From the day of the formal announcement of the launching of the PPC to the preparation and
submission of the Ninth Five-Year Plan, there were only a few months. The State Planning
Board had already initiated the preparation of the plan with the help of steering committees,
task forces and line departments as usual. How could this now be decentralised? How could
local bodies participate in it? Many argued that the idea of decentralised planning might be
good, but it was to be attempted only for the next plan, five years thence. We would then
have five years to learn and prepare. But having foreseen the opposition that could emerge
towards decentralisation and devolution of powers, many of us felt that it had to be now nor
never. Speed and massiveness should be used to overcome the limitations of time. The
experience of Total Literacy Campaign could be made use of for this. Soon a ‘crack force’ of
about 15-20 people assembled in Thiruvananthapuram and the ‘operation’ was launched. A
six-stage programme of action was conceived. For each stage, a series of orientation and
training programmes, too, were conceived.
Stage I: Gram Sabhas
This was one among a series of activities leading to the preparation of a draft ‘Panchayat
Development Report’ and placing it before village assemblies (gram sabha). The gram sabha
was the smallest legally recognised unit of democracy. A gram sabha would have a
membership of about 500-1,000 citizens (voters) and a population of 1,500-2,000. The Kerala
Panchayat Act of 2000 has given much importance to this tier of democracy.
Participation of citizens in the gram sabha was the first step towards genuine people’s
participation. This would not take place automatically. There was no experience of such
meetings. A massive propaganda was mounted through radio talks, newspaper articles,
television sports, kalajatha, street-corner meetings, house-to-house visits and so on to attract
citizens to the first gram sabha. Conventions of representatives of political parties were held.
In a number of panchayats, all-party committees were formed. Separate meetings of women’s
organisations, anganwadi teachers, dalit groups, etc. were organised. Public health centres
(PHCs), ration-shops, government offices exhibited posters. Schools and schoolchildren were
effectively used to take the message home.
The Panchayat Development Report (PDR) was a major and serious document. An average
report would be roughly 80-120 thousand words long. It could give a brief physical
geography and history of the area, the status and problems of different economic activities,
etc. Its preparation was an elaborate process. The sources of information were the revenue
map, land-use and land form details as obtained from transect and cross-transect walks,
secondary data obtained from numerous registers kept in various government offices, oral
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history as narrated by village elders, social mapping conducted during the gram sabha, and
many other things.
The initial rounds of training were given in three stages: three state-level camps (in all, about
350 people), 81 district-level camps (over 10,000 people) and one-day orientation stage at the
village level for about 100,000 people. This took place in about six weeks and the first round
of gram sabhas were held in October 1996. The gram sabha itself was a month’s affair. In all,
about two million citizens participated in it. On an average, the participation was about 160
people per assembly, sometimes going up to 600-700. To make the participation creative,
each assembly was conducted in three sessions: a short plenary, a set of two- to three-hourlong group discussions – 10 to 12 subject groups of 15-20 citizens – and a final plenary
session. Each group was given a set of questions (see samples in appendix) to deliberate upon
and come up with a three to four-page note on the problems, causes and solutions related to
the area – agriculture or irrigation, transport or electricity, health services, education, drinking
water or sanitation – and prospects for a better tomorrow. Thus, from each village assembly,
a ‘people’s report’ of 30-50 pages handwritten was expected, from each panchayat, about 12
such reports or in all 400-500 pages. The information gathered from the people, the
information available as secondary data, those gleaned from elders and finally those gathered
directly through transect walks, together formed the raw material for the PDR. The panchayats
entrusted to a team of editors the work of assimilating all this information and preparing a
coherent report. Though structurally identical, each PDR revealed the individuality of the main
editor and the creativity of her/his team. In all, 1,048 panchayat and municipal development
reports were prepared and another 152 block and 14 district development reports. These
printed materials, in 1,214 volumes in all, are available at the State Planning Board office and
at the Integrated Rural Technology Centre of the KSSP which was its single biggest partner.
This was also one of the largest desktop publishing projects: about 100,000 pages of A4 size
Malayalam matter with sketches, photographs and tables in about three months! The People’s
Plan Campaign had a thumping entry.
The figure gives a summary of various stages of the plan preparation. This is, of course, to be
followed by another set of activities leading to implementation, evaluation and reformulation.
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Table 5: Six Stages of Programme of Action
Stage I
Sep-Oct 1996
Gram sabha or village
assemblies
Detailing development issues through group
discussion
Stage II
Development seminars
Presenting the PDR draft, group discussion and
finalisation, formation of task forces
Projects
Task forces prepare development projects as per
Oct-Nov 1996
Stage III
decision of the development seminars
Nov 96-Mar 97
Stage IV
Local development plan
Panchayat adopts Annual Development Plan
Stage V
Block- & district-level
Block, district and state Plans finalised
Mar-Jun 97
seminars
Stage VI
Volunteer Technical
Individual projects subjected to further scrutiny
May-Oct 97
Corps
by experts and modified
Mar-Apr 97
Stage II: The Development Seminar
After the PDRs were printed, and only after that, each panchayat organised a major
development seminar. Representatives from the gram sabha, mostly those who led the group
discussions, participated in these seminars. Attendance varied from about 200 to 500.
Discussions were based on the printed PDR. The major outputs of the development seminars
were:
1
Enrichment of the PDR.
2
Prioritisation of development projects.
3
Formation of sectoral task forces.
The task forces were small groups of 5-10 people, including department officers concerned
and also knowledgeable non-governmental individuals. Their job was to prepare development
projects in specific formats – a shelf of projects from which spatial and temporal
prioritisation would be made. The members of these task forces, including majority of the
officials were preparing development projects for the first time. So they were provided with a
detailed handbook. (300-page A4 size) which contained a number of specimen projects. The
standard format suggested the following sections for any project.
(i) introduction; (ii) objectives; (iii) beneficiaries; (iv) activities; (v) financial analysis; (vi)
organisation; (vii) expected benefits; and (viii) monitoring.
Later, it was found that most of the projects prepared by these task forces – in all, about
170,000 – had a number of technical deficiencies. So a group of senior and experienced
experts were deployed to discuss each and every project with those who prepared it and make
necessary modifications to make it maximally effective. They organised a large number of
so-called ‘project clinics.’ This was the ‘sixth stage’ reported earlier. This was not in the
original plan of action.
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Other stages in the process were a special meeting of the Panchayat Board to formally
approve the plan, which is also equivalent to providing administrative sanction. Many
engineering/medicine-related projects demanded formal technical scrutiny and had to be
given the technical sanction. This could be done by an informal voluntary technical corps
(VTC). An officially approved body had to give the technical sanctions ( TS). For this, blockand district-level expert committees were formed through government orders. Each such
committee had about 100-150 members in about 15-20 subcommittees. The members were
recruited from technical line department officials, non-official experts and activists, roughly
one-third each. These committees were authorised to give TS to individual projects. The final
approval was to be given by the District Planning Council. The block panchayats and the
district panchayats made their own plans, complementing the village panchayat and
municipal plans. However, they often repeated the same programmes – for example, housing,
sanitation, drinking water. Because of the historic preoccupation of the initiative of the PPC
with village (rural) development, much less attention was given to towns and cities. Blocklevel and district-level planning, too, were not given sufficient attention in the initial years.
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CHAPTER V
NEIGHBOURHOOD DEMOCRACY
Kerala has attracted international attention on several occasions. No less an economist than
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has written about Kerala as a model for development without
cancerous growth. Others have retaliated that Kerala has no growth at all, let alone cancerous,
in production, that Kerala’s economic base is stagnant and tottering, that the present
achievements in education, health and other development indicators are under threat and that
the ongoing rurbanisation and ‘middle classification,’ with attendant explosive consumerism
can lead to a catastrophic collapse of all that is desirable in the ‘Kerala Model.’ Both
Amartya Sen and the critics are correct. Nearly a quarter century ago, KSSP had come to these
conclusions. The monograph Wealth of Kerala published in 1976, put forward the draft
outline of a development perspective for Kerala as follows:
The labour power available should be considered as the basic wealth. Its special features –
high level of education and technical skills – are of great importance. We have many times
more agricultural labour in Kerala than is required for our agricultural land. However, there
still exists the possibility, and necessity, of increasing labour input into agriculture by a factor
of three to four. This can be done only by converting wage labour into family labour, by
converting the agricultural worker into a peasant. Even with fragmented ownership, we have
to plan for collectivised agricultural operations. Only in a decentralised system of
administration with more freedom to take initiatives at the local level, can the problems of the
country be solved. Decentralisation is essential for the unity of the country.
In the booklet Rural Development published in 1984 the KSSP argued:
Development means economic and cultural progress of the majority. It is not merely the
growth of wealth, but also its equitable distribution. Today, there is development only for a
few, and depredation for many. Everything is measured in terms of private profit. This should
change. Further, the development perspective should be closely linked to the protection of the
environment. It should cater to the interests of the majority and also of future generations.
It is necessary to overcome the present stagnation in the agricultural sector. Land should
belong to the tiller and they should form collectives. Industrial backwardness should be
removed. Traditional industries will have to be modernised and collectivised .…
During the past two to three decades, several studies had been conducted on different sectors
of the Kerala economy. Hundreds of papers and dozens of books have been published based
on these studies. The most massive among them will be the Development Reports published
at the beginning of the Ninth Five-Year Plan – 1997-98. There are about 1,200 of them, with
a total of more than 150,000 pages. Unfortunately, many of the arguments and conclusions in
them are not supported by adequately rigorous academic work. Still, they reflect the
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collective knowledge and wisdom of hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens. Based on
these reports as well as monographs like Wealth of Kerala, Kerala: Land and the People
(1986)25, Introduction to Discussion on the Eighth Plan (1988)26 and also on the three
decade-long experience of the KSSP, we can arrive at some very general conclusions.
1
As Eric Hobsbaum correctly pointed out, today humanity is at a dead end. Crisis is
omnipresent. Though the 70-year-old socialist system in the Soviet Union and
elsewhere has collapsed, people subconsciously know that the victory of capitalism is
illusory.
2
This crisis has economic, cultural (spiritual), political and ecological components. We
have to learn from history, from our past mistakes and cut out new paths for
development. If we do not, the future of humankind will be dark.
3
The path of ‘developed countries’ is not available to India. The path of the so-called
‘Asian Tigers’ is beset with traps. It also accelerates the impoverishment of the majority
in the respective countries.
4
Institutions like the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade
Organisation are controlled by developed countries, especially the US. Intellectual
Property Rights, Multilateral Agreements on Investments, etc. are all weapons of
imperialism, to bring the entire Third World and all its natural resources under their
control.
5
The New Economic Policy introduced stealthily from the early-80s and openly from
1990 onwards is enslaving India economically, politically and culturally. There is no
effective resistance movement against it.
6
Though the left and radical parties pointed out from the very beginning the dangers of
this policy, even they could not place before the people a viable alternative. The
pseudo-patriotism of the rightist movements has been unmasked, since long.
7
It is necessary to build a people’s resistance movement. It should be a movement of the
entire people and not of a few leaders only. The ‘power of attorney’ given by the
Constitution to the Central government in Delhi to mortgage or even sell the entire
nation has to be revoked.
8
If we can build hundreds of thousands of resistance centres all over Third World
countries, the foundation of neo-imperialism can be shaken. The platform for resistance
is economics. Its crux is to develop local self-reliance and self-sufficiency. This is not
to deny all relationship with developed countries. That is neither possible nor desirable.
The development of science and technology is converting the entire world into one
village. Exchange of goods and services will still take place, but at much reduced levels
and that too on the basis of equality and genuine mutual advantage and not of servility
or bondage.
9
The Constitutional Amendments of 1992, and the Panchayat and Nagarpalika Acts,
provide for decentralisation of powers, at least within states. This opportunity should be
made use of to establish a decentralised, creative and participatory democracy. For this
to be really successful, much of the powers still held by the Central government,
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without any justification, will have to be taken away and transferred to states and
panchayats. A panchayati raj with real powers vested with the citizens – a 21st century
version of Gandhi’s dream about gram swaraj – can be and should be brought about.
10
The experiment of decentralisation and people’s planning is an experiment in building
such a model of panchayati raj. The initiative of the State Planning Board, the
determination of the state government and the two decade-long preparation of the KSSP
are all factors which made it a success. But none of them has been an active component.
The active element in democracy is the responsible participation of the people in
increasing numbers. For this, their technical knowledge and organisational ability will
have to be strengthened.
11
In effect, the State Planning Board will always be subservient to the state government.
Political changes in the government will affect the Planning Board also. This has
always been the case. If the bitter experience of the literacy campaign is not to be
repeated in the decentralisation experiment, the initiative has to change hands – from
the government to the people. The village, block and district panchayats are all local
self-governments, and as such a part of the state. There are independent people’s
institutions like cooperative societies, mass organisations, cultural organisations, etc.
But, by and large, none of them has included ‘development’ in their agenda. If
democracy is to become a real government by the people, it has to be brought further
down from the panchayat to the level of gram sabhas and neighbourhoods. The
neighbourhoods are, as mentioned earlier, a collective of individuals, young and old,
men and women, living in 40-50 houses in close proximity.
12
Everyone who believes in real democracy, in real participation of citizens, has a
bounden duty to set up neighbourhood groups and strengthen them. This can be done
only through live experience in actual development activities. It is a slow process for
citizens to take responsibilities.
Neighbourhoods
Villages outside Kerala have well-defined socio-economic features – long-standing interests,
loyalties and feuds. Kerala does not have any such village structures, except in coastal and
hill areas. There are no village committees. The gram sabha or village assembly in Kerala is
just an administrative contrivance. A ward is declared as a village and all the voters in the
ward as members of the gram sabha. The numbers involved are too large – anywhere between
1,000-2,000 voters and nearly double that number of people. In most of the wards, it is not
possible to find a hall which can accommodate half as many people. Even a few hundred
make for a crowd and not a responsible citizens’ group. Therefore, in Kerala, the gram sabha
requires a sub-structure and the neighbourhoods are conceived for this. The idea of a
neighbourhood was first proposed by Pankajaksha Kurup of Kanjippadam, Alleppey district,
several decades ago. It was modified and applied to democracy by the KSSP, first in the
Kalliassery panchayat.
The premises on which the
are:
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1
Participation has to be both in the economic and political spheres.
2
In the economic sphere, participation can be strengthened by:
3
(a)
giving primacy to the primary sector, fragmentation of ownership and
collectivisation of operations;
(b)
relying on small-scale, but efficient industries, rather than on mega enterprises;
(c)
making small not only beautiful but also powerful; and thus
(d)
making local economies strong enough to withstand the onslaught of global
economies.
In the political sphere, participation demands that every citizen take one or other social
responsibility. A strategy conceived for this is to entrust every citizen with one or other
formal responsibility. One possibility, as detailed later, is to divide the work within a
neighbourhood into a number of spheres, make committees for each of them and insist
that every citizen should become a member of one or more committees.
One can call this: ‘persuaded participation’ through ‘committification.’
Reorganising the system of representation
We also give here a scheme for reorganising the system of representation, because anywhere
except at NHG and village levels, direct democracy is impossible and a system of
representative democracy becomes imperative.
A neighbourhood group (NHG) is a collective of 30-40 families living close to and knowing
each other, which share some similar problems and similar aspirations. These
neighbourhoods can have important political, developmental and cultural roles to play. In a
system of democracy, where every elected member can be recalled by those who elected
him/her and where both election and recall can become almost zero-cost processes,
neighbourhoods can become the basic unit for expressing people’s will. One can conceive of
a process of indirect elections at all stages above the neighbourhood. In a meeting of the
neighbourhood council, made up of all the adult members of a neighbourhood, two
representatives – one woman and one man – can be elected by consensus or through open
voting. A ward will have 10-20 neighbourhoods and thus 20-40 neighbourhood
representatives. They will form the electorate for the election of the ward member. They shall
elect a pair of ward members, again one woman and one man, from among the resident voters
of the ward, but not from among themselves. A panchayat may have about 100-150
neighbourhoods. All these neighbourhood representatives together can form the electorate for
the election of the panchayat president. A pair of president-vice president (one of them a
woman) can be elected from among the residents of the panchayat, but not from among
themselves. Any time, the neighbourhood council members can recall their representatives
and elect somebody else.
This will be applicable at all levels. An average panchayat will have a population of 20-25
thousand and shall be one division for a block which can have 12-15 panchayats. The
neighbourhood representatives in a panchayat – 200 to 400 – can elect a pair of block
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panchayat members, from among the residents of the panchayat. There shall not be any
distinction between towns and villages for development. A town, too, shall form a part of the
development block – keeping the population limited to about 300-400 thousand. Big cities
can be divided into two or more development blocks.
The ward members within a block – about 200-300 – shall form the electorate for the
assembly. A development block can be made strictly coterminous with an assembly
constituency. The electorate consisting of ward members can elect (and recall) a pair of
members to the assembly from among the residents of the block. Two to three gram
panchayats can form a constituency for the district panchayat. The ward members of these
panchayats – 60-100 – can elect one pair of district panchayat members from among the
resident citizens. The block panchayat members in a district – which may be made
coterminous with a parliamentary constituency – can elect a pair of members to the
parliament.
This is one possibility of restructuring our system of representation which will facilitate very
low-cost elections and easy recalls. As the only place of direct election in this model, the
neighbourhood becomes a significant institution. Even if neighbourhoods do not become
statutory political units they can become important detachments in the development effort. In
more than 200 panchayats, neighbourhoods have been formed. They are yet to become fully
active in many panchayats. Even in panchayats like Kalliassery, Kumarakom and
Madakkathara, where neighbourhoods are active, they are yet to take up many of the possible
activities, listed here.
Total Cleanliness
The objective of this activity is to ensure cent percent cleanliness within the area of the
neighbourhood so as to prevent breeding of flies and mosquitoes and thereby prevent diseases
carried through them. Several activities are listed for this purpose.
1
Ensure that no garbage is thrown out into one’s own compound or on to the road or in
any other public place. There shall not be a single point with decaying organic matter or
non-degradable waste. Keep the roads scrupulously clean. Set up neighbourhood
monitoring squads to ensure the above requirements, to persuade non-cooperating,
errant citizens to clean up immediately any garbage seen on roads or public places, and
to organise solid waste sorting at site and their regular collection.
2
Each household to direct its waste water from the kitchen, bathroom, etc. into either the
street drain or to its own scientifically managed soak pit. Ensure that there are no
cesspools within its own compound. Organise spraying of bio-insecticides.
3
Close the vent pipes of soak pits/septic tanks latrines with wire-net.
4
Ensure that blockages in road drains and other public drains are removed immediately.
Ensure that the careless action of shopkeepers, householders, etc. or even that of
sweepers does not cause drain blocks. Remove the blockage as soon as it is noticed and
ensure quick drainage.
5
Set up common compost pits or other solid waste management units of desirable size
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wherever possible.
6
Build and operate through cooperative units, common latrines and bathrooms wherever
necessary.
Drinking Water
The objective is to ensure safe drinking water to each and every household and eradicate
water-borne diseases from the community. For this purpose:
1
Ensure that existing drinking water sources are not polluted, and are kept clean.
Organise periodic testing of sample sources.
2
Make boiling of drinking water – plain or with jeera, dry ginger, cardamom, coriander,
cinnamon, etc. – a habit.
3
Take care to see that not a drop of water is wasted. This planet has no water to waste.
4
In places with scarcity, ensure just distribution of drinking water.
5
Develop and operate local drinking water distribution systems.
Nutrition
Though the Infant Mortality Rate in Kerala is considerably lower than the all-India average,
the level of malnutrition remains quite high. Nearly 70-80 percent of the children suffer from
grade 1 and grade 2 malnutrition. This affects their later intellectual growth. The
neighbourhoods can play an important role in identifying malnourished children and
improving their nutritional levels. There are two major reasons for malnutrition: (a) poverty
and consequent shortage in food intake; and (b) ignorance and consequent imbalance in daily
diet. Because of the presence of to the second reason even among the affluent, one can find a
large percentage of malnourished children.
1
The neighbourhoods can help the panchayats to identify the really poor people, those
below the poverty line, and target the poverty alleviation programmes more accurately.
2
The neighbourhoods can have a child health surveillance programme, to report births
and deaths, to ensure the recording of weight at birth, to help identify malnourished
children, etc.
3
The neighbourhoods can help improve the midday meals programme in schools, the
functioning of the ICDS, child daycare centres, etc.
4
Experiment with the concept of community kitchen.
5
The nutrition level of children cannot be improved without improving the health of
pregnant mothers. Most women in Kerala are anaemic. The neighbourhoods can help in
conducting an anaemia survey among girls and women, in the age group of 12-45 years.
They can help impart health and nutrition education. A substantial reduction in anaemia
in women and consequently in malnutrition of children can be achieved by adopting
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traditional food habits, through the use of cheap and locally available food materials –
grains, leaves, roots and fruits. They can monitor the impact of health education.
Healthcare Delivery
The PHC, the rural dispensary, the CHC, etc. can become really functional only if the citizens
take genuine interest in improving them.
1
The neighbourhoods can help to maintain clean hospital premises, ensure the attendance
and service of doctors and other staff, help the panchayat/PHC in finding additional
resources for specific purposes, etc.
2
Ensure that each and every child within the neighbourhood obtains all the preventive
vaccinations and other care.
3
Report the incidence of contagious and infectious diseases quickly and help the
authorities in the measures they take to control them.
4
Help the para health workers in carrying out their routine duties.
Intellectual & Cultural Health
The intellectual and cultural well-being of a society are as important as the physical and
biological health of its members. The concept of lifelong education has emerged from this
understanding. As sequel to the total literacy campaign, the Central and state governments
have given shape to massive programmes for continuing education. This involves
strengthening of literacy, upgradation of skills, quality of life improvement education and
futuristic education. The neighbourhood groups can:
1
Organise reading clubs for members. One can think of weekly or bi-weekly gettogethers, where one of the members reads aloud to others or gives a summary account
of any one book read by her. The idea is to make the citizens aware of important
developments the world over in the horizon of human knowledge.
2
Help local libraries/reading rooms to regain their roles in the cultural-social life of the
community.
3
Help the continuing education centres to organise their programmes.
4
Organise consumer education classes/discussions to free themselves from the clutches
of advertisements, consumerism and misinformation, and to enable people to
distinguish needs from greed.
5
Build local ‘information walls’ which will carry news on important global
developments as well as on activities of the panchayat and ward.
6
Encourage to open up and develop talents latent within the members of the community
in music, poetry, painting, sculpting, writing, etc. Each neighbourhood can organise
music functions for both children and adults separately. Let there be one cultural
evening every month.
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7
The performance of a country with a population of more than 1,000 million in the world
arena of sports is extremely shameful. Let each neighbourhood take a conscious interest
and concrete steps to encourage children and youth in sports and athletics and also
provide advanced coaching for more talented children.
8
Once in a year, all the members in a neighbourhood community, children and elders
included, may organise a picnic, preferably with an overnight stay. The expenses for
this can be met by a fund specially formed for this purpose through weekly/monthly
contributions of member families.
Education
The grownups, the parents, live essentially for their children. If we analyse our own mental
preoccupations we can see that more than 80 percent of them are associated with our anxiety
about the future of our children. We want to give them a ‘bright future.’ We are anxious
about their health and education. Just as in the case of health, in the case of education, too,
the community effort can become much more effective than individual efforts.
1
Education is not a process confined to schools. We should understand that it starts at
home from very early childhood. How the parents behave at home between themselves
and with children is important. The neighbourhoods can organise adult parent guidance
classes – as part of continuing education.
2
Books on education, especially on the role of the community, are important. Each
household can have a collection of five, ten or more books (all different). Collectively,
they will form a health, education and general knowledge library. This can be enriched
every year and used for self-reading and collective reading. It shall have children’s
books so that they develop reading habits from early childhood. These can be circulated
within the neighbourhood.
3
For the sake of children who do not have a healthy learning environment at home and
even for others, one can organise ‘community retreats’ where children can get together
in the evenings for, say, two hours to read and study in peace.
4
The neighbourhood committee should ensure that all children under 14 attend schools,
that they achieve desired (not minimum) levels of learning, that no child should get
below 50 percent marks in any subject. Lagging children can be given special help.
Education of the children shall become the internally-felt responsibility of not only
individual parents but also of the entire community.
5
Ensure that each and every parent takes adequate interest in mother-teacher and parentteacher associations and in the panchayat/town education committees.
6
Offer help to the educational authorities in collecting micro-level information as and
when required.
7
Organise occasional meetings of teachers residing within or nearby neighbourhoods to
discuss educational issues, to study new trends, to plan experiments – in short to
convert teaching into a joyful experience for both the teacher and the taught.
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Children’s Fora – Balavedis
About 40 percent of the population within any neighbourhood is under 18. They form the
most creative and active section of the population. Their pace is much quicker than that of
adults. They should have space to move at their accelerated pace. For this:
1
Each neighbourhood can form junior balavedis for children in the age group of 8-12 and
senior balavedis for the age group 12-18. Many of them may be members of other
organisations like Eureka Balavedi, Balasangham, Balasakhyam, Study Circle, etc.
Here, every one of them shall be a member of the neighbourhood children’s group
either junior or senior with their own organisational structure, guided by one or two
elders.
2
The children’s fora will involve themselves both in curricular and extra-curricular
activities. They will learn that life itself is a long process of learning.
3
Guided educational tours to the museum, zoo, bus stand, post office, railway station,
market, hospital, paddy field, workshops, etc. will be one very important activity. At
each place, there is something to learn, each place is a live textbook. Children can be
taught to learn from life, from the environment. The field workers, the peasant, the
postman, the stationmaster, the foreman, the doctor, the merchant ... every one of them
has something to teach. This will help the curricular transaction too, by making it liferelated, environment-oriented and activity-based.
Energy
Energy and transport are two important infrastructure facilities. As far as transport is
concerned, Kerala is much better-off than other states. That is not the case with energy –
neither thermal nor electrical. Kerala is an energy-deficient area. The government alone will
not be able to solve the problem. There are many things which people can do to help
themselves and the society.
1
More than 80 percent of Kerala households depend upon firewood for cooking.
Replacing their traditional low-efficient stoves with high-efficiency, smokeless stoves,
they can save 40-50 percent firewood, save housewives from inhaling poisonous gases
like CO2 and benzopyrenes. A Hot Box will reduce the fuel demand still further. It is
possible to effect saving of more than 50 percent in firewood consumption – a monthly
saving of not less than Rs50-60. There are many panchayat/state programmes for this.
Each neighbourhood can organise a replacement festival.
2
The electricity position will be unsatisfactory for many more years to come – shortage
of energy, shortage of peak power from 6-10 pm, poor line maintenance and
consequent breakdowns, extremely low supply voltage, occasional high voltage surges,
etc. plague our system. There are certain measures which the consumers themselves can
take to ease the situation.
(a)
Let each household switch off their refrigerators and other power consuming units
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from 6-10 pm. Let them make sure that only rooms with occupants will be lighted,
that all lights and fans not in use are put off (this requires rigorous mental
discipline). No electric iron, electric stove, pumpset, grinder, etc. is to be used
during this time.
(b) Lamps which will have to be permanently used from 6-10 pm or so, usually 3-5 of
them in one household, can be converted into CFL. Organise Agency for Nonconventional Energy and Rural Technology (ANERT)/local body subsidies for
deserving cases.
3
It is often reported that of all the transmission and distribution losses in electricity
(about 20-25 percent) a major portion is really not a technical loss but only commercial
loss, due to faulty meters and outright malpractice. Each neighbourhood shall ensure
that nobody among them uses electricity without payment (the loss is not somebody
else’s, but ours) and that every meter is in proper working order.
4
‘Touchings’ from tree branches are considered to be a significant cause of technical
electricity loss. Neighbourhoods shall organise help to the electricity board officials in
clearing such touchings. It shall also help them in the relocation of transformers, if
necessary.
5
Ensure that every street light is functional, take initiative to get defects rectified, to get
new lights installed wherever necessary.
Transport
1
Ensure that the roads within the neighbourhoods are kept spotlessly clean (as part of
total cleanliness campaign). Organise cleanliness squads for continuous surveillance.
2
Ensure that damaged surfaces are repaired immediately – take initiative to see that the
officials concerned take prompt action.
3
Ensure the health of roadside drains. Ensure that they are never blocked. Obtain the
cooperation of householders/shopkeepers on the street to maintain their section of the
drains block free.
4
When new roads are being laid and new bridges constructed, help the implementing
team to ensure quality of construction, adherence to specifications, etc.
Poverty Alleviation Programme
These are specifically targeted towards the weakest, the poorest of the community. Any
benefit enjoyed by a non-eligible household is tantamount to denial to an eligible household
somewhere else. The neighbourhoods should help the gram sabha to identify the most eligible
households for various programmes like widow pension, agriculture labour pension, invalid
pension, IRDP, etc.
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Women’s Development
There are more women than men in Kerala. They are not far behind men in education, too.
But their presence is very weak in public life. In private life, their plight is as bad or worse
than that of women in the so-called backward states. The neighbourhoods should recognise
this. They should also recognise that wherever women suffer inequality and indignity, men
degrade themselves, the family decays and the future generations – children – are at risk. So:
1
The neighbourhoods shall encourage the formation of women’s platforms on par with
samata vedis in other states.
2
In these groups special problems relating to women – connected with menstruation and
menopause, malnutrition and anaemia, kitchen-generated diseases, sexual assault,
indecent posters, etc. could be and should be discussed.
3
Many a skill has been traditionally forbidden to women; taboos in some cases are
dissolving but not all. As part of the continuing education programme, the
neighbourhood women’s groups can take initiative to learn such skills as bus and lorry
driving, auto repair, carpentry, plumbing, wiring, masonry, etc.
4
Form savings and self-help groups.
5
Set up income generating enterprises after proper market surveys and networking.
Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes
Even after 50 years of independence and with special provisions to help them, the plight of
the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes remains sorrowful. They still remain the most
economically backward and socially oppressed section of society. It is clear that something
new has to be attempted to help them. There is no use in continuing along the old path. The
neighbourhoods, ward committees and panchayats should act together to help them.
1
Ensure that the SC/ST components and tribal sub-plans of the five-year plan are
conceived realistically, taking the actual requirements into account. Reject useless
projects and demand more useful ones instead. Ensure that ‘middlemen’ do not siphon
off the resources.
2
Ensure that children from SC/ST households, many of them first-generation learners, are
given special attention at the neighbourhood level. The target of enabling every child to
achieve a minimum of 50 percent marks in every subject should be achieved, without
fail, in their case also.
3
In the long run – but not too long – they should be able to get admission and
employment on the basis of merit itself, without any special reservation.
The suggestions given here are only indicative of the potential of neighbourhood groups. The
total number of members in 8+ age group in a neighbourhood of 30-60 families could be 100300. One can have 10-12 sub-committees, one for each of the above-mentioned activities, so
that every individual child and adult is a member of one or more sub-committees – junior and
senior balavedis for children and the rest for adults. For each sub-committee there could be
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two convenors – one woman and one man. The neighbourhood can also elect one woman and
one man to represent them in the gram sabha, meaning thereby that they should attend all
gram sabhas without fail. Other citizens, too, have the constitutional right to attend gram
sabhas and these two members should see that as many citizens as possible from their
neighbourhood attend the gram sabha meetings. The convenors together form the
neighbourhood committee. The convenors of any one subject, say health or drinking water,
energy or education – of all neighbourhoods in one ward will become the ward-level subcommittee for that subject. They can co-opt four or five other knowledgeable persons into
their committee and also elect two ward-level convenors – one woman and one man. All the
ward-level convenors together with four to six co-opted experts can be the panchayat-level
sub-committee for the subject concerned. The subject division and nomenclature are, as
mentioned, only indicative.
The central idea is that each and every citizen can and has to contribute something to the
running of the society. Their responsibility as a citizen of a democratic country does not end
with casting a vote to X or Y candidate in an election. Besides family responsibilities, each
citizen has to undertake some community responsibilities, too. In the long run, more and
more people should take a larger and larger share of such responsibilities.
Before the advent of People’s Plan Campaign, NHGs were formed only in six or seven gram
panchayats as part of the PLDP. The incorporation of NHG in the new Acts promoted them
widely. Besides general purpose geographical NHGs special purpose NHGs, for savings (selfhelp groups), drinking water programmes, etc. as well as NHGs formed by voluntary
organisations and churches, too, began to emerge. By the end of 2000, more than 20,000
NHGs had been formed in about 150-200 panchayats. Most of them are yet to become really
active. No NHG has formed 12-15 sub-committees encompassing all the members. The
maximum is about four – health, drinking water, women and education. The potential of NHG
as a new form of social capital is now phenomenal.
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CHAPTER VI
TOWARDS A HOLISTIC PLAN
Food, clothing, shelter, health, education, recreation and rest – defining ‘basic need’ level of
education and recreation – these are the basic needs of every human being. The ultimate
objective of all planning is to ensure all these to more and more people. In the early days of
human history, all the requirements were met locally, very locally. Over millennia and
centuries division of work became more and more fine. Each group, each locality began to
produce those commodities for which that group or locality had the ‘maximum economic
advantage.’ This developed ultimately into the present global division of labour. Apart from
the distributive injustice resulting from such a division of labour, it has caused everincreasing transportation of raw materials, finished products and human beings. It has
resulted in the cancerous growth of cities and its inhuman slums. It has caused the decimation
of the countryside, the destruction of forests and biodiversity. All these are undesirable. They
become inevitable due to advancement of technology of a particular kind which demand very
large scales of production. This is leading to global tensions, threats of mutual destruction
and irreversible environmental changes. If we can reverse the present extreme division of
labour to some extent, if we can produce the basic necessities of life locally (size of ‘local’
decreasing continuously) many problems can be solved. Use of locally available solar energy
and raw materials, and development of technologies which will make small not only beautiful
but also powerful, small-scale production economically more attractive – all these can go a
long way to arrest the march of humanity towards self-destruction
Panchayats, blocks or districts have no cultural or physiographical basis in Kerala. The state
has a cultural identity. Physiographically, it is part of the West Coast of India extending up to
Goa. There is a lot of similarity in the natural resource base of this entire stretch. The KeralaKarnataka-Tamil Nadu boundaries are only cultural. While the coastal land, midland,
highland topography is common to the entire stretch from Kanyakumari to Goa, it can be
divided into a number of mutually exclusive river basins and watersheds. For a large number
of economic activities watershed becomes a natural unit. Each river basin can be divided into
a number of constituent smaller order watersheds each one of which can be taken up as a unit
for economic activity. Thus culture, topography and hydrology become decisive factors in
selecting areas for micro-planning.
There are, however, certain areas where the entire country has to become one single unit of
planning: defence, telecommunications, currency, etc. are examples for this.
Integrated local area planning demands proper assessment of:
1
The natural resources of the area, as well as an idea of human resources.
2
The demand for various goods and services in the area under consideration and
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proximate localities.
3
The extent of export possible and desirable to far-off areas within and outside the
country.
4
The likelihood and necessity of imports and local competition.
5
Nature of goods and services requiring enhanced production.
6
Extent of existing market that can be displaced by new production, which are being
displaced and possible local expansion of market due to increased consumption.
7
Gaps in existing skills which are to be bridged.
Integrated development planning presumes integration of natural resources taking into
account sustainability, human resources including skills, and organisational resources so as to
set in motion the entire labour power, increase continuously the production of goods and
services and ensure equitable distribution through altered control over resources and
organisation of production. New institutional structures like totally worker-owned enterprises
may have to be tried out. Limitations of state ownership are obvious from experience of both
socialist countries and of India. Social ownership of the means of production cannot be
guaranteed by state ownership. One may think of contract ownership – for a definite period,
say five, 10 or 20 years, without right of inheritance to anybody. One may also think of
ceiling for such ownership. Within such ceilings and conditions, competition on more level
grounds could be realised.
Integration also means new and holistic concepts of ‘capital.’ Capital is required to procure
land, to construct buildings, to purchase machinery, to maintain inventories of raw materials
and finished products, to pay salaries, electricity and other bills, etc. Usually this is required
in the form of rupees or dollars, the shortage of which prevents the assembly of the above
factors. But rupees and dollars are mere ‘promissory notes.’ It is the credibility of the
government or the bank which issues these ‘promissory notes’ that makes them ‘legal’ or
accepted tender. One uniqueness of this ‘promissory note’ is that it does not carry any
interest. Nobody demands or can demand interest from the Reserve Bank of India, for
keeping its promissory note for any length of time. In personal promissory notes, interests are
usually mentioned or at least implied. It is not difficult to imagine ‘local legal tenders’ where
the promissory notes are signed by the participants in the venture. There are several
experiments on local or alternative currency the world over. One can also think of a mix of
local or limited currency and state currency. It can be tried in a collective of two or three
thousand persons consisting of peasants, agricultural labourers, construction workers,
doctors, nurses, panchayat and government employees, advocates, bank and insurance
employees, carpenters, masons, electricians, plumbers, traders, fisherfolk, persons employed
in diary, poultry, piggery, etc. – a collective offering within themselves a vast array of goods
and services. The larger the number and the greater the diversity, larger will be the
percentages of goods and services that can be exchanged within the collective using local
currency. This can be further strengthened by constantly enlarging the local production and
reducing the necessity of exchange outside the collective, say the panchayat.
This is not such a wild idea. In fact, something of this sort is already being practised in
Kerala. The one-, two- and five-rupee notes, which were in circulation in Kerala for a long
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time were so soiled, mutilated and glued up that they would not be accepted anywhere else in
India. It was not because it had the signature of the Reserve Bank Governor that people
accept them. In fact, even the Reserve Bank now does not accept them for exchange with new
notes. They were in circulation because each one is confident that it will be accepted by
others in the society that they can exchange them for goods and services. True, everybody is
confident that if necessary at the end, the Reserve Bank Governor will honour it, though
nobody is testing it. In the villages of Kerala, especially in the north there was yet another
form of social tender (not legal tender) circulating in the form of exchange customs like
Payattu, Kuries, etc. So, limited local currency is not at all a wild idea.
Quite some years ago there was a proposal to float a new currency, the ‘Industrial Rupee’ –
which was to have only a limited circulation within the state and Central government
undertakings like Bharat Heavy Electricals, Steel Authority of India Limited, Coal India,
National Thermal Power Corporation, Oil and Natural Gas Commission, State Electricity
Boards, etc. This was to be used only for exchange of materials and services within
themselves. The national currency requirement can be limited to wages of employees and a
limited quantity of materials and services obtained from outside the group. This system was
not appreciated or accepted, perhaps, because it will make ‘kickbacks’ and other ‘operations’
difficult. The state governments and even local governments can institute such local currency
systems which are, in fact, only book adjustments. The trillion dollars-per-day global finance
capital business is, in fact, an extreme case of this. Neither dollars, nor shares, nor goods are
physically moved. Only computer entries change!
In Kerala, if the state government decides to buy from and sell to essentially internal
enterprises – both public and private – and departments like the Public Works, the Water
Authority, the Health, the Education, the Electricity Board, etc. using a Kerala Industrial
Rupee one can solve, to some extent, the problem of capital.
There are several arguments against such a concept. First, that it is difficult, almost
impossible to produce locally most of the goods required, even agricultural products. Second,
a protected local market will lead to continuous depression in quality, in their attempt to
increase profit. But the fact is that most of the goods required can be, actually, manufactured
locally. Further, the quality of packaged and foreign goods is largely an illusion created by
high-pressure advertisements. People can be sensitised towards local goods and local
economy. Many goods such as soaps, detergents, toothpastes, perfumes, herbal medicines,
etc. can be really manufactured locally, besides vegetables, fruits, cattle-feed, jams, pickles,
etc.
A group of KSSP activists from Thiruvananthapuram district recently carried out a survey of
the consumer goods sold in the local village shops and nearby towns. They identified 277
items of which 156 were products of transnational corporations. Table 6 gives some details.
The fact is that for almost every item produced by transnationals, there is a counterpart local
product, the quality of which can be improved wherever necessary.
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Table 6: Consumer Products Survey*
Product Group
Total
TNC Products
Local Product
Soap
76
43
33
Detergents/Washing soap
28
13
15
Toothpaste/ powder
33
20
13
Toothbrush
15
10
5
Shaving cream
13
9
4
Aftershave cream
12
10
2
Shaving blade
14
8
6
Powder/Airfreshner
13
11
2
Cosmetics
81
54
27
Tea/Coffee
38
22
16
Energy-giving
36
19
17
Babyfood
20
11
9
Milk products
12
5
7
Toffee sweets
31
28
3
Edible oils
9
4
5
Salt, Rice, Flour
31
14
17
Cold drinks
26
17
9
Mosquito repellent
8
4
4
277
156
88
Total
*Friend’s Circle – A Handbook for Women Activists, KSSP3, Trivandrum, 2002
Booklets would be prepared on each category of product explaining the way in which
transnationals and a few local ones advertise their products on television and exposing the
untruths and outright lies in them. A massive citizen’s awareness and education campaign
through live art performances, house-visits, group dialogues, street-corner meetings, etc.
could be carried out using these booklets so that they would increasingly buy local products.
The ultimate objective of all these was to put into productive use larger and larger share of
the available socially zero-cost local labour. This would lead to increased production as well
as increased purchasing power. Besides individual or collective private enterprises one could
think of locally incorporated joint stock companies with shares restricted to local inhabitants,
local self-government initiated enterprises, etc. These would require a number of new
procedures.
1.
Ensure transparency, exchange of information, inform people about well-managed
enterprises, protect the basic rights of consumers, etc.
2.
Publish yearly quantitative and analytical status reports on the panchayat, indicating
income and expenditure, economic progress, etc. Ensure that these are fully truthful.
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One can make use of 50-100 indicators arrived at through public debate to measure
progress.
3.
At block and district levels, set up one or two or more comparatively larger enterprises
to produce goods which cannot be produced in small enough scale to cater to the needs
of only one panchayat. The service area of some of them could be a block, a district, the
state or even the nation. They may, in a limited manner, take recourse to export also.
One has to consider the fact that the larger and farther the service area, the lesser is the
people’s control.
4.
Delinking or increased self-sufficiency does not mean total isolation or autarky. It only
means that value of labour power and deployment of labour will be decided internally
and not at the instance of international pressures. Exchange of commodities and
services will still take place though at a much reduced level and in the local society’s
own terms.
5.
Embark on a massive public education programme about the economics, politics and
ethics of such an attempt, to build a new society. Also educate them on such cardinal
concepts like environment and cleanliness, prevention of pollution, recycling of
resources, reliance on locally available raw materials, wisdom to differentiate greed
from needs, etc.
6.
Formation of local economy groups, as described earlier – the self-help groups, the
panchayat development society, etc. The panchayat itself may take initiative for this so
that the concepts can be widely debated in all the neighbourhood groups.
One can think of a number of such unconventional concepts. But they will not evolve and
mature spontaneously. They are to be consciously engendered and nurtured. And this cannot
happen at a conceptual level alone. Experimentation has to go with it. Theory and practice
should go hand in hand. Can we conceive a single-point agenda for Kerala’s development –
to provide productive employment for everybody? What are the implications of such an
agenda?
In a meeting of the community leaders of Madakkathara panchayat, a question was put to
them: ‘If you are asked to express the overarching single problem of your panchayat in one
word, what would that be?’ ‘Employment’ – the reply was instantaneous. In another
panchayat, Kunnummel in Kozhikkode district, when the same question was put the reply
was ‘security.’ This panchayat is sitting on a volcano of communal tensions. The former
panchayat was a predominantly agricultural one, with a large number educated unemployed
youth. Agriculture offers no long-term economic ‘security,’ they have known from bitter
experience. So in effect, both wanted ‘security.’
Humans are highly security-conscious. They are not satisfied with the immediate gratification
of basic needs like food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, education, recreation and rest. Even an
assurance that they can have all these all the time is not good enough for them. They want
such an assurance for their children and their grandchildren, too. In a society where each
individual has to take care of herself/himself, the only way one can secure one’s children’s
and grandchildren’s future is by amassing wealth. The poor and very poor are more
concerned about the present than the future, true. But the moment the present is taken care of,
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the future will surface. If a society can offer full security for its citizens, their children and
grandchildren, then there is no compulsion to amass wealth. The Soviet Union of the 60s was
such a society. There was total security. The people had faith in the society. Their physical
and spiritual quality of life were very high. But they were taught, both within and from
outside, that the way their basic needs are satisfied then was crude; that their objective has to
be ‘to catch up with the US.’ The slogan ‘to each according to his needs’ and the
continuously expanding needs put them on an Americanisation track. And they are on track,
now. In the process, they lost security. The United States is one of the most insecure
countries in the world. A minority can, now, afford to live like Americans. But even they are
not secure.
Any talk about security without attempting to differentiate need from greed is futile. A
greedy society can neither be secure nor is it sustainable. Both from the point of view of
security and sustainability we have to redefine development, in terms of human satisfaction
and joy. We have to reject the simple, consumption or choice-based definition of
development. We have to differentiate satisfaction of simple material-biological needs which
are limited and the spiritual-cultural needs which can be satisfied at ever-rising levels.
The question before us is this: how far does a local society, with myriads of direct and
indirect bondages with the larger nation and also the global community dominated by
imperialism, how far can such a society plan for social security and sustainable development?
Quite a lot depends on the nature of the society. If it accepts that a minority of 5-10 percent
have got the right to live like Europeans or Americans, with unlimited consumption, then
there is no scope for sustainability nor for security. Equity is a determining element. Not only
equity. What is the perspective of the local society about its own long-term development?
Consumerist or human? Does the society distinguish need from greed? Does the society have
an assessment of basic physical needs (food, clothing, shelter, healthcare and even education)
and also cultural needs – recreation and rest?
Total and long-term security can be guaranteed by the Kerala state as a whole. Even within a
panchayat, partial security can be offered. The most important matter is a change in the
mindset and an understanding that a cooperative and caring society can offer much longer
term and reliable security than amassed wealth or position of power in a suspicious,
competitive and individualistic society. If one builds on the belief that we are irrevocably tied
to the global society and that our freedom lies not in our hands but in the hands of the
national government and international bodies, that humans are essentially selfish, then what
we build would be a weak and insecure edifice. There are enough feasible technical solutions
to poverty, but without optimism and self-confidence they cannot be worked out. Without the
heart (will), the head and the hand are useless.
Eradication of Poverty – A Dream
Madakkathara is a suburban panchayat situated 9km east of Thrissur Corporation. The Kerala
Agricultural University is located in this panchayat which exhibits both agricultural and
suburban characteristics. It had been exposed to a number of development concepts like
GALASA and Panchayat Resource Mapping, Panchayat-Level Development Project and
People’s Plan Campaign. In 1999, in this panchayat, an unusual exercise was undertaken. It
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was called ‘Collective Dreaming.’ A people who dare not to dream have no future. As a
people, Kerala has lost this ability considerably. This was an experiment to induce the mass
of the people – not a few visionaries – to dream about a new society, a paradise around them,
not intimidated by ‘globalisation.’ More than 2,000 people participated in it. The single word
‘full employment’ catches the kernel of their dream. Subsequently, a social mapping was
carried out to identify the employed/under-employed and their preferences and prejudices. It
was agreed that the development strategy should ensure a higher growth rate for the
bottommost pentile than for the topmost one. The natural resources and financial resources
devolved from the state should be conjunctively used so as to generate more employment –
wage employment or self-employment – for the two bottommost pentiles. The panchayat has
4,218 families as per the 1991 census and a population of 20,984. The estimated numbers for
2001 were 4,900 families and 23,500. By 2011, this may increase to 26,000-27,000 and
finally by 2020 it may stabilise at about 29,000-30,000. Development planning is aimed at
increasing per capita income of the two bottommost pentiles at an annual rate of 10-12
percent whereas for the two topmost pentiles it may be as low as 1.5-2 percent.
Madakkathara is basically an agricultural panchayat. It has regions showing properties of all
three major agro-climatic zones of Kerala – lowland, midland and highland. Rainfall is 2,900
mm – close to the Kerala average of 3,000 mm per year. The major crops are coconut, rubber,
paddy, banana and arecanut. The area is specialised in agricultural nurseries. Yearly, several
thousand lorry-loads of plants worth Rs3.5-4 crore are exported from this panchayat. This is
similar to the concentration of printing and fire-crackers industry in Sivakasi or rice-mills in
Angamali. Table 7 gives the present land-use pattern, productivity and production of different
crops. The land is underutilised, less than 30 percent of the theoretical production potential
being realised now.
Extreme fragmentation of ownership makes owners dependent on other sources of livelihood.
Agriculture generally covers less than 10 percent of their income. At the same time, there are
agricultural labourers wanting stable employment. The school/college educated younger
generation aspire for white-collar jobs which are not available. At present, very few have
self-confidence to set up their own enterprises – whether production or service – as a fulltime
occupation. They want ‘secure’ salaried employment. The following strategies were
suggested:
1
Convert, and create anew, a large number of what is currently unpredictable and irregular
wage labour into regular salaried jobs with monthly salary, leave, retirement and
maternity benefits, healthcare, bonus, etc. through a variety of enterprises in agriculture,
in agro-processing, in dairy, in consumer goods production, and in services. Initially, the
management inputs will be separate from the manual labour input. In the long run, it is
expected that the same people will do both management and physical activities.
2
Full-time household production/service enterprises – single ownership.
The poverty line is not just simply a one-dimensional line but a grey band. We may put some
simple numerical targets: currently, there are about 1,500 households which are poor and
require help. By the time the population stabilises another 1,000 households will be added.
The question before us is this: how to provide gainful occupation for about 2,500 households
or roughly 4,000-5,000 people in the coming 10-15 years, and at least 1,500 in the coming
five years. It is customary to write-off the primary sector as a possible source of additional
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employment. It is argued that this sector is un-remunerative, that it is unacceptable to the new
generation, that progress means advancement of the secondary sector and even more the
tertiary sector.
No community has the right to consume more than what it produces. Much of the tertiary
sector comes under the category of consumption. No panchayat can increase employment in
the tertiary sector beyond a point. Our slogan used to be: ‘industrialise or perish.’ Today, we
chant another mantra: ‘IT-BT.’ Information Technology and Biotechnology. The first one is
only a tool. The boom in software, medical transcription, data entry and so on is temporary
and artificial. It is a soap bubble bound to burst sooner or later. Its value can be but only a
small percentage of the final value of the products. BT may offer some new possibilities.
The concept of resources should not be, and cannot be, limited to financial and human
resources. Unless they are coupled with natural resources, no production takes place. And our
natural resources are, basically, sunshine, soil and water. We have practically no mineral
resources. At least Madakkathara does not have any. So, the development of Madakkathara
will have to depend, essentially, on the primary sector. And the fact is that not even 30
percent of the potential is now being utilised. The primary sector includes, also the paraprimary sector consisting of animal husbandry, fisheries, poultry, etc. One had to enquire into
the possibility of expanding the ‘primary’ sector in the panchayat. We should also enquire
into the immediate possibilities of the secondary sector, especially agro-processing industries.
Low capital requirement, local raw materials, local market for products, are the main
considerations. A back of the envelop type of calculation regarding primary sector gives the
following figures:
Gross Domestic Product
Rs30-35 crore.
Share of primary sector in this
Rs15-18 crore.
Potential increase in primary sector Rs10-12 crore.
Share of labour in this (50 percent) Rs5-6 crore.
Employment creation @ Rs20,000 per year per person = 2,500
The entire amount would go to the bottom two pentiles and especially the bottommost pentile
(say, Rs3 crore at least). The present total annual income of the bottommost pentile is about
Rs2 crore. Their income could be more than doubled in 5-8 years.
These figures indicated that the primary sector should not be written off. So, the present state
of and the potential for primary sector in this panchayat was examined. The potential of the
secondary sector based on local raw material and local market was also looked into.
Table 7 gives the area under major crops, annual production and approximate value realised
by the producers. It could be seen that the most important crops are coconut, arecanut, paddy,
rubber and banana. Of these, arecanut and rubber are totally dependent on external, and now
international, markets. Coconut price too is controlled externally, but offers possibilities of
diversification into drinks, food, soaps, etc. A major primary sector activity of the panchayat
was agricultural nurseries. This does not figure in table 7. Yet, its share in the GDP is
substantial, about 10 percent or Rs3-4 crore.
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Table 7: Main Crops, Cropped Area, Annual Production and Value (PDR)
Crop
Cropped area
Annual production
Approximte value
(in hectare)
(tonnes)
(million Rs)
Paddy
280
1380
8.0
Coconut
608
4.4 million nuts
13.0
Rubber
280
200
6.0
Vegetables
80
720
3.5
Arecanut
112
270
8.0
Banana
72
1080
7.0
Tapioca
45
1100
2.0
Cashew
80
70
2.0
Pepper
42
15
1.0
Many crops, including pineapple, sesame, turmeric, sweet potato and vegetables, are summer
crops in paddy fields. The net cropping intensity of paddy field is 2P + 0.8 vegetables i.e.
about 2.8. This cannot be increased. In fact, some of the paddy fields have been lying fallow
for a number of years, because of irrigation/drainage problems or because of economic nonviability. It may safely be assumed that at least 30ha will be lost for any form of agriculture.
Out of remaining 250ha, 50ha may be spared for fodder grass cultivation to support an
increase of 400 heads of dairy cattle. Coconut plantations are grown in many places
unsuitable for it. The total area may be reduced to 450ha from 608ha. With proper care and
management, the annual production can still be doubled. Senile and unproductive palms have
to be removed. A substantial area reclaimed from coconut can go for tapioca on the one hand
and banana on the other – both increasing the production of food calories within the
panchayat. Around 200-300ha of forestland may be available for Participatory Forest
Management. They can be planted with a mix of grafted pickle-grade mango, good quality
jackfruit and grafted gooseberry together with other trees. Planting these trees will provide
employment. It will also provide products like mango, jackfruit, gooseberry, and other fruit
for direct consumption and for agro-processing units. In the case of other crops, the changes
in the area of cultivation and production will be small and so are not considered for the
present. The present, potential and planned productivity are given below.
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Table 8: Productivity: Present, Potential and Planned
Productivity per hectare
Crop
Present
Potential
Planned
Paddy (tonne)
2.4
12
5
Coconut (nuts)
,7200
30,000
20,000
750
2,000
1,200
Vegetable (tonne)
9
40
20
Banana (tonne)
10
50
25
Tapioca (tonne)
16
60
30
Pepper (kg)
350
1,000
500
Rubber (kg)
Table 9 gives the present and future (projected) area under cultivation, production, value of
increased production, approximate percentage share of labour in it, and share value of labour
for a few crops. The net increase in the value of products comes to about Rs58.6 million and
the share of labour in it, Rs23.5 million. If we assume Rs20,000 as the total annual income of
an agricultural labour, this is equivalent to 1,200 person years of employment.
Table 9: Projected Change in Cropping Pattern and Production
Crop
Area
Production
Increase in
Share of
Share of
(hectare)
(million tonne)
value
labour
labour
Present
Future
Present
Future
Rs million
% age
Rs million
Paddy
280
200
1,400
2,000
4.0
60
2.4
Coconut
608
450
4.4
9.0
11.5
30
3.4
Rubber
280
280
210t
330t
3.6
20
0.7
Vegetable
80
120
720
2,400
10.2
50
5.0
Banana
72
120
1,050
3,000
12.0
50
5.0
Tapioca
65
150
1,090
4,500
6.8
50
3.4
Pepper
42
50
15
50
2.5
60
1.1
Fodder
-
70
500t
5.0
70
2.5
Total
58.6
23.5
A registered society, for example an Agricultural-Contract Society with 1,200 members at the
panchayat level having ward-level brigades of 80-100 members and field groups of 8-12
workers can be thought of. If construction works like buildings and roads are taken up during
non-agricultural seasons, namely during December-May, the bulk of the same workforce can
be deployed for that too. So 250 days (21 days per month) annually can be guaranteed to
every worker with a monthly salary of Rs1,000. In addition Rs400 could be set apart for
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social security and leave salary. If two persons in a poor household can find such
employment the household will move above poverty line.
We shall indulge in a little more detailed potential analysis of two sectors: coconut and dairy.
Kera Soubhagya
A big dream conjured up by the people of the panchayat was related to coconut production
and utilisation. They called it Kera Soubhagya (soubhagya became, later a generic term to be
added to ksheera (milk), madhu (honey), maritha (vegetable), phala (fruit), etc. After a
preliminary analysis and long discussion, they came to the conclusion that it was an idea
worth pursuing and set apart a sum of Rs24,000 to prepare a detailed project report. The
massive mandari attack and the crash of prices shattered their dreams. However, we cannot
write-off ‘kera’ from Kerala. So, the idea is being re-worked with new prices. The elements
of the project are:

Comprehensive garden service to farmers (majority of them not being real farmers).
This includes annual (twice) opening of beds, applying manure, irrigation, plucking of
coconuts (8-10 times a year) cleaning of top, purchase of surplus nuts and also of
cudgeons, providing new plantation material, purchase, felling and removal of old trees,
removal of stubs and roots, etc. The Kera Soubhagya, which is a registered company of
workers, can enter into total or partial contracts with farmers based on prevailing rates.
As a thumb rule one can take that 40 percent of the total produce will be the share of the
company for the services it renders.
2
Felling and removing of 5-6 percent of the existing stock annually is about 8,000 to
10,000 trees a year.

 coconut wood working unit which can process 20-30 trees a day and produce
furniture grade timber, flooring and walling parquets, structural elements, door and
window frames, can be set up.

Conversion of 20-30 percent of plants into tender coconut varieties (Kerala Shree).

Raising quality planting material.

Production of coconut milk, coconut drink, coconut cream, coconut cream powder,
coconut toffees, sweets, etc.

Setting up coconut parlours.

Copra drying and oil extraction plant.

Cattle-feed mixing.

Soap-making.

Refining and packing oil for local consumption.

Treated roof thatching material.

Coconut shell based industries.
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
A gassifier unit based mainly on coconut wastes.

Fibre extraction, yarn making, pith composting.
Currently there are about 125,000 trees in 608ha. Many trees are planted as a midway for
conversion into garden land. Actually only about 450ha are suitable for coconut. The total
number of trees can be reduced to 100,000. The average net income from one tree today is
less than Rs30 (Rs7,000 per ha). Replanting with better varieties and providing proper care
can increase the annual yield per tree to Rs80-100 from the present value of Rs30-35. The
total production can go up to 8-9 million nuts in place of 4 million nuts – an increase of 5
million nuts. If 30 percent of this goes to the workers, they get 1.5 million nuts, valued at
about Rs3-4 million. The entire gamut of activities (gardening and plucking) will yield
permanent year-round employment (250 days) to 180 people.
Coconut timber:
8,000 trees per year to be felled
Felling
5,000 person days
Replanting
2,000 person days
Processing
20,000 person days
Total
30,000 person days ( 120 person years)
Thus 8,000 trees will yield a minimum of 20,000 cu. ft of processed and sized timber and
about 600 tonnes of firewood. At a net value of Rs500 per cu. ft for timber and Rs1,000/tonne
for firewood the total comes to Rs10.6 million. Of this the labour component is only Rs2.4
million. Owners can be given Rs500 per tree, which, if put in the bank, will yield Rs50 per
year, more than what they currently get per tree! Replantation is a viable proposition. The
Kera Soubhagya team can undertake the work on a package mode – cutting down, removing
stubs and replanting and still pay Rs500 per tree. Depending on the size and quality of the
tree this may vary from Rs300 to Rs700 a tree.
Out of the expected annual production of 9 million nuts, the home consumption will not be
more than 2.5 million nuts (350-400 nuts per family per year). If we keep 20 percent of the
plantation for tender coconut this will be another 1.8 million nuts, with 4.7 million nuts being
available for industrial conversion. The annual coconut oil requirement will be 300 tonnes for
food and soaps. This will demand about 2.7 million nuts. Around 1-2 million nuts can be
used for coconut drinks, coconut cream, coconut cream powder, desiccated/frozen coconut,
coconut sweets, etc. Detailed employment potential and capital requirement for these are to
be worked out. What can be said in a general way is that 70 to 80 percent of the 9 million
nuts produced annually will be consumed within the panchayat and only 20-30 percent
require an external market. The labour component of the new value addition in industry may,
roughly, be taken as Rs2-3 per coconut, or say Rs5 million or an equivalent of 250 person
years of employment. Thus, an integrated and bold approach to the coconut economy can add
to the GDP an additional amount of Rs30 million and generate about 500-600 person years of
additional employment. This is not daydreaming. Why, then, had the market forces not
actualised this, one might ask. There are several reasons: lack of imagination, lack of faith,
lack of organisation, lack of marketing facility, lack of everything and a surfeit of obstacles.
And yet to organise them what we require is only vision, knowledge and will. Capital
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requirements are so small – only Rs2-3 crore in all.
Ksheera Soubhagya
The panchayat would require about 2 million litres of milk per year by 2011. The present
production is only about 1 million litres per day. The Integrated Rural Development
Programme and group dairies have failed – because of different reasons. If one family can get
full livelihood – say Rs30-40 thousand per year – by engaging in dairy, they will be taking it
seriously. The suggestion is that each family based mini-dairy should have four cows, three
of them lactating and one dry. This can assure a fairly steady daily production. By proper
spacing, this can be maintained within plus or minus 15 percent. Jersey cows with an average
annual yield of 3,000 litres can be obtained at Rs15,000 per cow. The total investment, with
shed, vessels, etc, will come to Rs90,000. One neighbourhood of 50 households can easily
absorb 25 litres of milk from a dedicated family dairy. So, marketing need not be a problem.
The consumer will get 100 percent fresh and natural milk – not reconstituted milk. The net
profit – wages for labour – after interest and loan repayment instalment, will come to
Rs10,000 a cow. The family income will be Rs40,000. Father and mother with casual help
from children can run the dairy. Easily 100 households (200 person years) can earn a fairly
decent living from this.
The 400 hybrid cows and the existing cattle population (about 1,400) will require, in all,
about 5,000 tonnes of green fodder. Not even 10 percent of this amount is grown within the
panchayat today. The entire quantity can be grown in 50ha of diverted paddy land and 20ha
of inter-cropping. The current price is Rs1,000 per tonne of which more than 50 percent is
labour cost. Production of 5,000 tonnes of green fodder will have at least Rs2.5 million worth
of labour in it. This is equivalent to 125 person years of employment at Rs 20,000 per year.
Similar calculations show that Madakkathara can create, in all, full-time employment for
1,000-1,300 people in primary sector alone.
Other Possibilities
The second-largest sector for employment after agriculture is construction. The average
amount spent on construction in each panchayat is about Rs25 million (Rs20 million on
housing and Rs5 million on other structures and roads). The share of labour comes to about
20 percent or Rs 5 million. This will give full-time employment to 250 people.
In the secondary sector soaps, detergents and other cleaning agents can become viable for
local production. But a detailed analysis of the possibilities depending on a wholly internal
market and also on faraway external markets is yet to be made.
Direct marketing is one area which may be taken up immediately. The suggestion is to
organise one consumer society in each neighbourhood. On an average the monthly household
expenditure on vegetables, fruits, provisions, beverages, cosmetics, etc. come to Rs1,000. A
marketing society of women can be formed in each ward and they can home deliver all the
requirements either on a fixed schedule or over phone. Their three-wheeler is a mobile minisupermarket. Assuming that 300 families per ward join the programme, each with an average
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monthly purchase of Rs600 through the mobile market, the monthly turnover will be
Rs180,000. If the average margin is 10 percent, this comes to Rs18,000 per month. A team of
15 women with Rs1,200 a month can be retained in each ward. Around 120-150 women in
the panchayat can easily find livelihood through direct marketing.
Every household requires one or other form of maintenance and repair of gadgets. A
composite service group of about 40 people comprising plumbers, electricians, carpenters,
painters, blacksmiths, etc. (about 15-20 trades in all) can easily find a market for their skills
which will fetch each of them at least Rs2,000 a month.
Practically none of these will be affected by the vagaries of global markets or stock
exchanges. One need not have to wait for de-globalisation and de-liberalisation or a social
revolution to better the living conditions of the people of Madakkathara or elsewhere. Both
production and consumption are internal. What is required is ‘optimism,’ based on facts and
figures, the realisation that no government can save us unless we ourselves wish to do so, the
boldness to jump into the stream, the understanding that a total approach is required and that
partial efforts are likely to fail.
This is not to deny the limitation imposed by liberalisation and the World Trade
Organisation. What is implied here is that their impact on the livelihood activities at the
lowest end of the spectrum is comparatively weak provided we take recourse to strengthen
local economy.
Total Health
As part of the vision 2011 the people of Madakkathara have conceived a ‘total health plan.’
This includes programmes for physical health, mental health and cultural health. In the area
of physical health they have set before themselves certain targets in health indicators like
IMR, MMR, malnutrition, infant birth weight, morbidity, haemoglobin level among women in
the 12-45 age group, besides gross indicators like life-expectancy, crude death rate and birth
rate. The objectives set for 2011 are as below:
Death rate
6
Birth rate
12
Infant Mortality Rate
<10
Meternal Mortality Rate
<10
Fertility Rate
1.8
Life expectancy
76
Malnutrition all grades
<5%
Birth weight average
>3Kg
Haemoglobin level in 90 percent of women
>12%
Besides a good health delivery system, achievement of these objectives demand food
security, availability of drinking water, clean environment without flies and mosquitoes and
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good health habits. Obviously everybody should have access to food and water, rest and
recreation. Access to all these demand full employment which is the most important objective
they have.
Food Security
The most elementary requirement to achieve the above targets is food security. This means
that each and every citizen should have the wherewithal to obtain food that is available. It
also means that food is available. One exercise conducted by the people of Madakkathara was
to explore whether their panchayat can become self-sufficient in food. It was obvious from
the start that Madakkathara cannot become self-sufficient in its staple food – rice. The
question raised was this: can it become self-sufficient in calories, in proteins, in vitamins, can
it produce enough other calories which can be exchanged for rice calories? The requirements
for balanced food for a population of 30,000 was considered as a reasonable target. Table10
gives item-wise requirements for a balanced diet and the total annual requirement for the
panchayat to provide minimum of 2,500 calories per day.
Cereals: Rice is the only cereal cultivated here. At present the production is 1,000 tonnes
from 280ha. The cultivated area of paddy is expected to come down to 200ha. The
productivity can be increased to 8t of paddy per ha (two crops). Total rice available from two
crops will be 1,600t, the shortfall being about 2,400t. This has to be bridged by other crops, if
possible.
Table 10: Balanced Diet and Annual Requirements
Food Items
Grams per day
Total annual requirement (tonnes)
Cereals
375
4,100
Pulses
60
650
Leafy vegetables
40
450
Vegetables
60
650
Tubers
50
550
Fruits
75
820
Milk
220 ml
2 million litres
Oil
35
380
Sugar
30
330
Meat, Fish
60
650
Coconut
1 per family
2.5 million
Eggs
2 million
Tubers: The main tuber is tapioca. The present production is about 1,040 tonne from 65ha.
The area under tapioca can be increased to 150ha and productivity to 25t per ha giving a total
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yield of 3,750 tonne. Taking out 550t for direct consumption we have 3,200 tonne for
conversion into other forms like sago, macaroni, etc. to replace rice. Around 3,200 tonne of
tapioca is equivalent to about 1,500 tonne of rice. This reduces the deficit to be bridged to
900 tonne of rice requirement.
Banana: Banana could be the next major source of calories. Currently the total production is
1,050 tonne from 72ha. The area can be increased to 120ha and productivity to 20 tonne per
ha. The total production will go up to 2,400 tonne. Keeping aside 800 tonne to be consumed
as fruit and vegetable, it leaves 1,600 tonne for substitution or energy exchange. This is
equivalent to 500 tonne of rice in energy content. The gap has been further reduced to 400
tonne. If production of tapioca and banana could be increased respectively to 4,500 tonne and
3,000 tonne instead of 3,750 tonne and 2,400 tonne, this gap is bridged. It can be bridged also
by increase in production of other vegetables or simply by increase in consumption of
coconut from half a coconut per day per family to one coconut per family per day, which is
equivalent to an additional annual intake of 450 tonne of rice. Thus, increased production of
rice, tapioca, banana and increased consumption of coconut can in principle ensure food
security. The next question is whether this is economically attractive. Obviously increased
productivity is always attractive. Additional area for banana and tapioca is made available
through changeover from coconut in selected areas where productivity is poor and difficult to
improve and through inter-cropping. This is economically more attractive than the present
land-use.
Production of vegetables like bitter gourd, eggplant, ash gourd, snake gourd, pumpkin and
cucumber and fruits like pineapple and papaya can be increased. Mango and jackfruit are two
important fruits whose availability, too, can be increased particularly through participatory
forest management programme. The crop conversion and intensification can take place if it
proves to be economically attractive. An integrated plan for seed production, green manure
and compost availability, pest control and marketing has to be made. Actual cultivation can
be by individual farmers or in groups if the farmers so desire. This has to be done in the field
through interaction with participating farmers and labourers.
This entire discussion could have been done under the heading of agriculture too. It only
reinforces the necessity for a total or holistic approach.
Drinking Water
Majority of the families in Madakkathara – around 64 percent – depend on their own private
open dug wells for drinking water and other domestic use. The panchayat has about 2,500
wells, of which 950 go dry during summer. There are 19 public wells, eight tubewells, two
seasonal streams and 20 ponds. With an annual precipitation of 2,900 mm, the panchayat
should not face any drinking water shortage. At 70 litres per day, the total annual drinking
water requirement for 30,000 population comes to 730 million litres (2m litres a day). This
comes to an equivalent precipitation of 30 mm in the entire panchayat area of about 25 sq.
km, i.e. hardly 1 percent of annual precipitation. Still, there are areas in the panchayat which
face from moderate to acute drinking water shortage in the summer. Excessive runoff and
low local groundwater retention make these areas dry for long months. In some areas
available water is not potable. The solution sought were universal, across the entire area.
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Local availability was seldom taken into consideration. Water is conveyed in bulk from a
comparatively large source, far away, into the panchayat and distributed through pipes. This
was the philosophy so far adopted by the water authorities. The concept of local source – use
matching and local management has, however, taken roots.
Drinking water was always, perhaps the major source of complaint from the public. The
public distribution system has seldom worked to their satisfaction. So, extensive
consultations were made, social mapping done and ground truth checked before arriving at a
total drinking water plan for the panchayat. The outline of this plan is given in Table 11.
Table 11: Drinking Water Projects
Location
Kattilappovam-
No. of
households
70
VarikulamKachithode
Ponganumkadu
Solution
Dug a well in K.T.
Cost Rs lakh
30
District
panchayat
Reservoir, pump it
Varikulam and
distribute by pipes
40
Water conservation
measures in
neighbouring areas
Madakkathara, P.
180
Vellanikkara
Muttikkal
Augmentation of
On-going
existing Madakkathara
drinking water project
60
Check dam upstream
Anakkuzhingara Bridge
and pumping
Chettikkad
100
Completion of on-going
projects
Attilappara
63+PHC
Open well
4
completed
Pudu Nagar
43
Tube well
2.5
Completed
Ponganamkadu
Church Road
25
Public well and 5000
litre PVC tank
Completed
Kallayi
75
Tube well augmentation
Yet to be
started
Pananchakam
24
Pump from tube wells
One major problem in all the completed projects here, as elsewhere, is that of management.
Who owns the assets? Who pays for operation – electricity charges, maintenance, etc. On the
one hand, the existing assets belong to Kerala Water Authority (KWA), which they are ready
to hand over – to whom? And the employees – their salary? Their long-term service
conditions? Nobody seems to be anxious to find solutions to these issues. On the other hand
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citizens in general consider that the government should provide them with water, electricity
... everything. These problems exist in Madakkathara, too. The correct combination of
citizen’s attitudes, panchayat concern and governmental decision is yet to evolve. The KWA
has a major project here, initiated with LIC assistance (Rs220 lakh). This project was
approved in 1994. It is to provide drinking water for 20,966 persons living in an area of 21.6
sq. km. They have identified 2.24 Ar. in Varikulam, 16.5 Ar. in Kattchithode and 5.06 Ar. in
Ninnukuzhi for tank construction. But all of them are under forest administration and
clearance from them is yet to be obtained. The current cost of the project will be not less than
Rs700 lakh. If the earlier mentioned projects are completed with a total cost of about Rs50
lakh, this mega project becomes redundant.
The people of the panchayat are toying with a few other ideas – one of them is to separate the
drinking water lines from other purpose lines – a twin pipe system. Yet another one is to enter
into agreement with owners of private wells with high yield to supply water towards a
common pool with a mutually agreed rate of compensation.
Healthcare Facility
The panchayat has a chain of modern healthcare centres consisting of a PHC at Karuvankadu
and three sub-centres, served by one medical officer, two health inspectors, four junior health
nurses and three junior health inspectors – in all 10 persons. It has got an ayurvedic
dispensary and also a homeopathic dispensary. Proximity to the city of Thrissur with a
number of super speciality hospitals and private hospitals provides easy access to secondary
and tertiary healthcare. However, the primary healthcare available in the panchayat leaves
much to be desired.
The PHC at Karuvankadu is easily accessible. But the building of old type design is
unsuitable both in area and in design, not to speak of construction and upkeep. There is only
one single room for immunisation, injection, wound dressing and pharmacy. No seating space
for health inspector, and administrative staff. No privacy for women. One of the two
bathrooms is in a condition of disrepair since long. Inadequate furniture, hospital equipments,
laboratory facility.
The entire place has got a desolate look. It repels the patients except the poorest of the poor.
A new building for a 10-bed in-patient treatment is being built using MP fund. This can,
without much difficulty, be converted into the PHC proper with tolerably decent amenities.
An inpatient hospital is unviable in this panchayat. With a small investment of Rs1.5 lakh, the
present hospital building can be converted into satisfactory quarters for the doctor and this
will make available the services of a full-time doctor. There is no staff nurse. This vacancy
would have to be filled in.
The building for Ponganamkadu sub-centre is under construction, The one at Kattilappoovam
is unoccupied because of lack of water, electricity and furniture. Only the Madakkathara subcentre is functioning. Nowhere is there enough water or other facilities. Naturally, no Junior
Primary Health Nurse lives there. With two or three lakhs of rupees all the three sub-centres
can be made functional. But multiplicity of controls, rules and regulations on one hand, and
lack of willpower and determination on the part of the gram panchayat on the other have
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allowed things to drift, even after four years of people’s plan. The major input required is
‘political will.’
The homeopathic dispensary at Kallayi is not easily accessible. It can be shifted to
Thanikkudam and should have its own building. There is not enough furniture. For a new
building and necessary furniture we may require about Rs5 lakh.
The ayurvedic dispensary is situated in a rented building in Vellanikkara. The premise is too
small with no facilities for patients. This was originally a treatment centre for poisoning. The
structure for a 10-bed Ayurvedic Hospital is ready at Vellanikkara. It has got all the
disadvantages of old ‘type’ design. It is unlikely to be completed as a hospital with doctors,
nurses, etc. It can be conveniently converted into a dispensary. It is a popular centre with 2550 patients visiting it daily. The amount required for completion and furniture will be only
Rs5 lakh. Thus the total capital expenditure required for the PHC, the sub-centres, the
Homoeopathic and Ayurvedic hospitals is only about Rs15 lakh. This is a relatively small
amount.
Sanitation
This is the general term given for sanitary latrines, environmental cleanliness (solid waste
management and mosquito eradication) protection of drinking water sources and sanitary
habits like hand-washing. It also includes protecting women and children from kitchen
smoke. A detailed programme can be chalked out.

Providing two-pit type environmentally safe latrines to the needy. This will demand
construction of about 2,000 new latrines of which 1,500 will be for new buildings. 500
latrines will have to be constructed for existing households. Almost all of them would
require external help.

Environmental cleanliness: Most of the home waste can be disposed of in own
compounds through compost pits. Shops and small market waste is not large quantity.
The panchayat with a large number of nurseries have a number of private composting
units which can deal with it. The real problem is that of plastics. A massive awareness
campaign and, later, a persuading mechanism can reduce the use of plastics and totally
prevent plastic wastes in public places. An arrangement to collect every month plastics,
metals and bottles from households will be made.

Drainage: All cess pools, breeding centres for mosquitoes will be destroyed. A detailed
mosquito breeding centre map will be made with the help of schoolchildren, as part of
their school project work.

All public places, especially schools will be kept neat and tidy. Urinal and toilets will be
upgraded with glazed tiles. Running water will be provided for constant washing.
Cleanliness squads will be formed. Broken furniture will be repaired or disposed of.
Damaged floors and walls will be redone. Schools, hospitals, offices – all will have a
totally new look.

Increasing number of households will be shifting to LPG for cooking. Still more than
half of the households will be using firewood. As a first stage all conventional smoky
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stoves will be replaced by smokeless, high efficiency wood burning stoves. Later,
community wood gassifier systems may provide a more convenient form of fuel and
make use of agricultural waste too.
Immunisation & Health Education
Documents show that the immunisation coverage is 95 percent. Immunisation is provided
against TB, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio and measles. Though vaccines exist
for mumps and rubella, they are not generally given. Through neighbourhoods and with the
help of health staff it will be ensured that all children will be protected against preventable
diseases and all pregnant women will be given anti-tetanus injection.
A massive health education programme will be carried out, through dialogues, exhibitions,
festivals, books, posters, etc. with the objective of helping people to realise elements in their
own lifestyle – food and drink habits, smoking and drinking, lack of cleanliness and other
habits – which are inimical to health. Cleanliness festivals, ethnic food festivals, anti-alcohol
and narcotics melas ... a number of activities have been suggested. Neighbourhood health
clubs, etc. will be formed. A 40-50 person strong health promotion team will be formed and
trained to oversee these activities. The strategy of reaching the home through the children has
been envisaged. Teachers will be given training for this purpose. Only through such a multifronted programme can the desired objectives be achieved. There is a proverb in Malayalam
which can be roughly translated as ‘look at the boy, and you know the deprivation of the
village.’ Tomorrow, the same child should be able to reflect the health and happiness of the
society.
Intellectual Health
As mentioned in the beginning, people of Madakkathara understood ‘health’ in a holistic
manner. The society has to be healthy not only physically but also intellectually and
culturally. An intellectually healthy society is one which is learning continuously. The
fashionable phrase ‘continuing education,’ currently only a project head both for Central and
state governments, is for them much more. It is a way of life, it is lifelong education.
Everyone is acquiring knowledge, expanding the topics of literacy – from word literacy and
numeracy to land literacy, water literacy, environmental literacy, resource literacy,
development literacy and so on – and also going further from literacy to mastery and
application and graduating into wisdom. This process was consciously initiated with the Total
Literacy Campaign and continued through resource mapping, GALASA, socio-economic
survey and analysis, drainage mapping, consumption survey, unemployment survey,
women’s status study, health status study, discussions on gender issues, collective dreaming,
etc. A variety of ‘schools’ for continuing education has evolved: the neighbourhood group,
ward development society, panchayat development society, technical support group, self-help
group, panchayat women’s development society – all these are schools for citizens. One
major programme – called ‘The Millennium Dialogue’ and intended to bring together
scholars from universities, colleges and research institutions and experts from various line
departments on the one side and citizens at NHG/Ward level on the other – was attempted in
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2000, but did not materialise. But the idea is alive. In a way, the technical support group,
besides being an informal planning board for the panchayat, can also play the role of internal
‘faculty,’ at the NHG level on scores of subjects. It could even be hundreds. Over a number of
years it will keep the society continuously on the learning path. Bits of information obtained
from media, from the grapevine, from political speeches, etc. can then be synthesised into
‘knowledge’ by the citizens themselves. During the TLC campaign the activists of Nellore
district prepared a list of 80 topics, each one to be discussed in the literacy class as ‘today’s
good topic.’ One of them was the story of Sitamma whose life was made miserable by her
drunkard husband. It was the dialogues associated with this lesson which triggered the now
historic Nellore Women’s Anti-Arrack Movement.
People of Madakkathara realised, also that their capacity to learn is very low, that majority of
them are not ‘curious’ except in scandals and superstition. They traced this back to the type
of education they received in schools. The schools were slaughterhouses of children, of their
childhood, of their curiosity, of their ability to learn. They realised the enormous wastage that
is now taking place in the area of formal education. They were concerned. They welcomed
the new curriculum and the new pedagogy introduced by the state government with
enthusiasm. They have prepared a massive and long-term programme for transforming the
schools in the panchayat, for giving back the children their childhood, for nurturing their
sense of wonder and curiosity and ability to learn, for imparting skills to apply their
knowledge, for transforming them from isolated and selfish individuals afraid and suspicious
of everybody else into open and cheerful members of a collective each enjoying the company
of others – in short to make learning a joy for children and teaching a pleasure for teachers.
The people of the panchayat are realistic. They knew that the inertia, resistance to change, of
the education system is enormous and force will have to be applied on it continuously. They
are conscious of the fact that the intellectual health of the future society depend upon the
education we give to our children today.
Cultural Health
Culture is essentially a human attribute. It is an evolutionary product of human-nature
relationship and human-humane relationships and is understood in widely differing ways. A
wordmapping exercise on ‘culture’ can bring out an amazingly large number of images. It
can be arts, performing or participatory, sports, politics, reading rooms, per capita circulation
of newspapers, per capita attendance in cinema theatre or music festivals, behaviour towards
children, towards women, towards dalits, etc. It can mean so many things. It can be internal,
it can be external, it can be deeprooted, it can be transient. Through long discussions the
people of Madakkathara, especially the women, began to realise culture as an essential
element in the health of the ‘society.’ While biological-physical health is an attribute of the
individual, cultural health is an attribute of the society. So discussions were centred around
what is ‘healthy’ and what is ‘unhealthy’ in culture. It was generally understood that there is
very little absolute or eternal in culture. It is time and space dependent. In Madakkathara, and
Kerala, today what is healthy, what is unhealthy – this was what they enquired. They decided
first to understand the unhealthy aspects and start acting on it. The following main elements
were identified:

Attitude towards children.
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
Attitude towards women.

Atrocities towards women.

Consumption of tobacco, alcohol and narcotics.

Rampant consumerism.

Ethical degeneration of social and political life.

Insensitivity towards destruction of public property, corruption and hooliganism.

‘Not in my courtyard’ and ‘me in the bus, no more stop’ attitudes.
The list was longer. Further, they identified the following as culturally unhealthy in the
attitude towards children.:

Rejection of the ‘Rights of the Child,’ acceptance of the parents’ right to punish.

Pressurising the children to ‘achieve’ leading to psychological breakdown.
The frequent mother PTA dialogues held as part of the introduction of the new curriculum
particularly addressed these aspects.
It is the case of attitude towards women, that the bulk of the discussion took place. The
women understood that gender discrimination is older and deeper than class division, that
economic independence, though essential, is not sufficient to end this, that a series of cultural
shocks to the society are necessary and so on. They thought of women’s groups for coconuttree climbing and toddy-tapping, lorry and bus driving, mechanic shops, building
construction, etc. All these can provide economic independence to women. But more
important is the cultural shock it gives to the society. A survey involving about 1,000 women
showed that more than 70 percent of them are ready to participate in these professions, if they
were given proper training. If shock after shock were given a stage will come, when it was no
longer a shock. The society would learn to accept it as normal. And that was what was
desired.
The realisation made by a group of women in Madakkathara that the insistence on the
virginity of their daughters and ‘freedom’ they gave to their sons are mutually incompatible,
really gave a shock to themselves. Widespread discussion fora, study groups, opening up
exercises as well as festivals like International Women’s Day, Vignana Utsavam, etc. will
help the women, albeit very slowly, to come out of their historic blackhole.
Realisation of the cultural deficiencies is the first step. That has been taken. Formulation of a
programme to rectify them and implementation of the same are the next steps, yet to be taken.
The same cultural weaknesses impede the implementation of the various projects for
enhancing physical and intellectual health too.
EDUCATION FOR A NEW SOCIETY
As in most other panchayats in Kerala in Madakkathara too quality, and not quantity, is the
main problem in education. It has got sufficient number of schools. Being a suburban area
close to the city of Thrissur, many students, especially for high school go there. Their number
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is more than 2,000. In the panchayat enrolment is almost cent percent. No child is out of
school because of lack of schools. Dropout rate too is low. Unlike in many other panchayats
where a large number of schools are being closed down for want of children, here all the
schools have enough strength. It has two lower primary schools, one upper primary and two
high schools, one of which is run by the Kerala Agricultural University. The two lower
primary schools have more than 200 students each. The upper primary school and high
schools have more than 750 students. The total enrolment within the panchayat is about
2,800.
Though quantitatively sufficient, the locations are not the most desirable. The average
distance to be traversed by lower primary children is 1.25 km. Many have to walk up to 2km.
This is too much for small children. Upper primary schools are on an average 1.75 km away
and high schools 2.25 km. Many children have to travel 4 km to reach high school and many
on foot. Physically, most of the schools are in a dilapidated condition. Neither the premises
nor the classrooms are satisfactory – the only exception being the Kerala Agricultural
University High School. The government high school at Kattilappuvam, situated at a far
corner of the panchayat, has a new building, thanks to the efforts of the citizens and also
People’s Plan Campaign. But, it is, still, a jungle of old and new and unattractive. All the
schools have urinals, toilets, drinking water, staff rooms, etc. but mostly dysfunctional.
Urinals, toilets and classrooms’ premises are dirty. Furniture is old.
Academically, much remains desirable. Illiteracy persists even amongst upper primary school
children. The performance of the students from Kattilappuvam Government High School in
the SSLC examination has been erratic – below 50 percent in most of the years.
Facilities for early childhood care and education in the panchayat is relatively very poor.
The collective dreaming exercise converged on the following points:
1.
Reduce the average distance to be travelled by children by:
a) Dispersing/starting new LP/UP Schools in suitable locations.
b) Upgrading existing LP schools into UP and the Thannikkudam UP School into High
School.
c) Provide Anganwadis/ Balavadis for every child within a distance of 500-800 m.
Improve the facilities and appearance of all schools – a ‘New Look School’ programme
by:
2.
a) Improving structures.
b) Repairing and cleaning floors and walls.
c) Keeping the compound absolutely litter free
d) Repairing old furniture, buying new ones and disposing unusable ones.
e) Providing Library, Laboratory, Staff Room and Noon Meal Room – also safe drinking
water and clean toilets.
f) Building a compound wall.
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g) Forming school maintenance – New Look – committees consisting of students, teachers
and parents.
Improving the academic quality of the education – making learning a joy and teaching a
pleasure, giving attention to not only cognitive aspects of education but also to
psychomotor and affective aspects. Consciously make use of education to develop the
child to its maximum potential and to make her/him socially useful and responsible.
The following activities were planned for this purpose.
3.
a) Continuous teachers training and upgradation.
b) Research projects for teachers and children.
c) Peer evaluation.
d) Supplementary teaching by citizen-parents initiating the child to the economic activities
of the society.
4.
The schools will become the central point for the overall development of the child – not
only its intellectual development but also its physical-biological, cultural and spiritual
(i.e. non-material and not religious) development. The panchayat will see that all the
rights of children, included in the UN Declaration will be guaranteed.
INFRASTRUCTURE
A back of the envelop type calculation was made about the resources required for this. Only
four schools are initially taken into account – the KAU High School being unaided and
managed by the University. There are 69 teachers and about 2,100 children in these four
schools.
1.
Staff room facility for 70 teachers – 250 sq.m. (approx)
Rs. 12.5 lakh
2.
Toilet for 2000 children, 12 No. of 3 m x 10 m
Rs. 10.8 lakh
3.
Additional class rooms, middle walls
Rs. 90.0 lakh
4.
Anganawadi 10 @ Rs. 3 lakh
Rs. 30.0 lakh
5.
Anganawadi-cum-mother PTA Centre 12 x Rs. 4 lakh
Rs. 48.0 lakh
6.
Furniture and repairs – lumpsum
Rs. 30.0 lakh
Total
Rs.221.3 lakh
ACADEMIC
Within 15 years to come they expect the following scenario to emerge:
a)
All children will undergo minimum 10 years of education.
b)
At least 80 percent of the students appearing for SSLC to obtain 80 percent marks or A
grade.
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c)
High quality vocational training in a variety of trades to be made available to at least 20
percent of the SSLC and +2 graduates. The training would prepare young women to
enter directly into a profession.
d)
Apart from knowledge and skills, education would impart a new set of social values –
cooperation in place of competition, democracy, tolerance, respect for individual,
freedom of religious belief or disbelief, rejection of organised religion interfering in
social or political life, etc.
e)
The new pedagogy and curriculum developed by the state would be logically expanded
and deepened. The teaching-learning process will be participatory. It would be rather
activity-based than textbook mugging based. Definite orientation would be given to
societal life and the environment.
f)
Teachers will be given continuous in-service training. A high-quality academic cell
would be established for this purpose.
g)
Remedial teaching, living in science camps, extensive use of audio-visual devices such
as television, video, and multimedia kits, skill development exercises, projects, school
parliaments, etc. will become regular activities for the children in the panchayat.
TRAINING
Pre-Primary: The panchayat would require about 25-30 anganwadis or balwadis at the rate of
one per 1,000 population. To each anganwadi over and above the teacher and the helper two
or three voluntary grandmothers/grandfathers will be attached. This was expected to have a
great soothing impact on the children.
The annual training cost for all of them was estimated to be Rs20,000.
SSLC Achievement: Special attention has to be given from upper primary classes onwards to
slow learners. It was estimated that at least about 20-25 percent of all students would be slow
learners or non-achievers. Year-long help will be given to them. For this, a group of 15
facilitators, over and above teachers, from among local residents will be formed and trained.
The total cost for this was expected to be about Rs20,000. The continuous training
programme envisage at least two weeks of training in each year. About 70 teachers are to be
trained. The total cost of this training is estimated to be Rs120,000.
Specialist Teachers: There are many topics in arts, sports, skill development, where it will
be difficult to appoint one teacher for each subject for each school. A panel of 10 specialist
teachers who would work on a part-time basis in all the schools, would suffice. The total
annual cost for this is estimated as Rs240,000.
NOON-MEALS
All children were to be provided with noon meals. For small children in anganwadis balanced
food of 400 calories will be given. This will include rice, pulses, vegetables, fat, egg and
milk. A provision of Rs2.50 per child per day will suffice. The total number of children is
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about 300. The annual cost is worked to be about Rs 200,000 a year.
Out of the regular LP/UP students, at least 80 percent was to be covered under noon-meal
programme (other 20 percent may refuse to join it). The average cost per child is put at Rs5 a
day. For 2,000 children for 200 days the total works out to be Rs2 million.
Total Recurring Cost
Training
Rs 0.4 million
Noon Meal
Rs 2.0 million
This exercise was done in the third year of People’s Plan Campaign to be initiated in the
fourth annual plan. But it never took place partly because of shortage of funds, partly because
of change in the panchayat governing body (from the LDF to the UDF), partly due to apathy
of political leadership and finally due to resistance from school teachers. The exercise would
have to be repeated with the new set of people, perhaps not once but several times.
Post Script:
In the election held to the Kerala Legislative Assembly in May 2001, the then ruling Left
Democratic Front, the architects of PPC, was soundly defeated. Their traditional rival, the
United Democratic Front came to power. The UDF has all along been a strong critic of the
PPC. Their criticism was not directed against decentralisation per se but against alleged
misuse of powers by LDF towards political ends. They, and even some partners of the LDF
too were, also, strong critics of the new education curriculum – one of the best ever produced
in India – introduced under LDF rule. (Being the chief architect of that curriculum, it was the
KSSP that was their real target of attack). Did the people believe in them? Perhaps they did.
Decentralisation and open processes introduced an unprecedented level of transparency in the
activities of the panchayats. Corruption, nepotism, highhandedness, etc. of panchayatpolitical leaders though much less than what it used to be, became highly visible and the only
way for people to punish them was to defeat them in elections. Many of them lost elections to
panchayats held in 2000. The LDF did not learn from that and paid a higher price in 2001.
The major partner in the LDF, the CPI(M), had never fully internalised and owned the
People’s Plan Campaign. This was visible at all levels and people could sense it. Once the
LDF was defeated, as usual, the main preoccupation of the parties became criticising the
UDF. The disappointment of the failure coupled with the financial crisis in the government
and consequent delay in release of finance to the panchayats prompted most of the local
bodies to say goodbye to the PPC, at least in spirit. True, there are isolated instances of good
work going on, but the general mood is one of despondency. The civil society has lost its
vigour and enthusiasm. The PPC is not officially wound up. The government claims that it is
on, on a more sound footing. The panchayats got money, though at reduced levels, but
enough to work with. But the entire process became re-bureaucratised. Departmentalism is on
the ascendancy. But the panchayat members are not unduly worried about it. Apparently, they
seem to look relieved, from onerous responsibilities. Added to this is the fact that PPC was,
compared to the overall economy, too small an effort. It constituted less than 3 percent of the
GDP of the state, or of the panchayats. Hence, the PPC did not have any substantial impact
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on the material lives of the people, it did not attract the middle class and the upper class.
The overall result is that the micro-level institutions like the NHG, the PDS, the TSG, etc.
that were gradually emerging received a setback. They are to be nurtured again. The path
towards participatory democracy is neither smooth nor level.
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Chapter VII
IDEAS ABOUT A POST CAPITALIST SOCIETY
Another World is Possible
The present world is not acceptable; this neoliberal globalisation is not acceptable. A new
world order is necessary; Another World is Possible. This summarises the feelings of the
thousands of groups and movements that gathered in the World Social Forum held in Porto
Alegre in 2001, 2002 and 2003. That the present world, the neoliberal capitalist world, is in
crisis is no guarantee for the emergence of a new one, the New World. It has to be
consciously created. Herein comes the first dilemma. Conscious creation presupposes the
existence of a vision about the New World. But the vision could be different for different
people. For many the New World is, still, capitalism sans inequity or at least with less
inequity and more even development. To others, including this author, it implies a total
change. Capitalism is not sustainable, its spontaneous end will be either barbarism or total
extinction. So a vision and a conscious effort to achieve it is to be made. However, a very
large number of groups, movements and individuals are against any such vision. Once bitten,
twice shy. They cannot conceive of any vision different from the socialist experiments of the
20th century. That experiment had several weaknesses. That is why it failed. A vision about a
future, New World, does not mean enforced homogeneity. It can have and would have
heterogeneity, it could be a plural world. But it would not be a fragmented world. No
community or nation can remain totally isolated. They would have to be mutually related.
About the nature of these relations, between individuals, between communities, between
humans and nature – about all these we should have a unified understanding. Otherwise we
cannot relate. It is this understanding which I call the ‘Vision of the New World.’
Many of us are clear and convinced about what the New World would not be or should not
be, but not so clear about what it should be. What follows is a contribution towards the
evolution of such an understanding: what should be the nature of, human to human,
society/nation to society/nation and humans to nature relations. Until a sufficiently large
percentage of people and their movements converge towards a common understanding,
neoliberal capitalism will continue to lead humanity towards prospective barbarism and even
total extinction. Convergence means multiplicity of starting points and commonality of the
end point. One such starting point is the activities of the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad in the
tiny state of Kerala, India, described in the previous pages. What follows is one end-point
scenario and the argument leading to it. It is not a scenario which is given, but one which is to
be constructed by our actions – past, present and future.
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Capitalism cannot Endure
Capitalism in its present form or in any other form cannot endure long. That it has survived
so far is no proof of its immortality. We have not reached the ‘end of history.’ If humanity
does not change its trajectory, it may well reach the ‘beginning of history’ – a stage of
barbarism or even earlier – when there was still no homo sapiens. The present strength of
capitalism is derived from mad and ruthless exploitation of natural resources, euphemistically
termed ‘development of productive forces.’ Productive forces can develop only through
productive activities. The essence of capitalism is production and reproduction, an evercontinuous increase in the production and exchange of goods and services. This requires
continuous increase in the throughputs of materials leading to depletion of resources and
accretion of waste. Increasing demand on depleted resource base leads to increasing conflicts.
Though the second half of 20th century is referred to as the ‘post-war period,’ it was not a
warless or peaceful period. Scores and scores of declared wars – Korea, Vietnam, Faulkland,
Bosnia, Afghanistan, Palestine, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chile, IndiaPakistan-China, Sri Lanka and undeclared wars (conflicts, skirmishes), intervention, etc. have
taken place during this period. Behind and often in front of the majority of them are capitalist
countries, especially, the US. At any time during this half century, one or more wars/conflicts
have been taking place on this globe. There is every possibility that these never-ending
‘local’ wars/conflicts may coalesce into an all-destructive global warfare, where all are
enemies of all, where there will no winners, only losers. This is no exaggeration. The global
expansion of neoliberal/imperialistic capitalism is leading the world in this direction, towards
destruction of all civilisation and towards barbarism.
Capitalism is likely to lead humanity in this direction, further backwards – into the
destruction of the entire human species and many other species. Climate changes due to
greenhouse gases is no longer a subject for science fiction. It is a challenge to be faced
squarely today itself. Humans have to change their habits. The affluent nations have to
consume much less. Most of their consumption is waste. With less than 5 percent of their
consumption, a society can achieve comparable levels of physical and spiritual qualities of
life. But the very existence of capitalism, which they believe to be the highest form of social
organisation, is based on increasing wastage, on conversion of greed to need. Under
capitalism, it cannot be otherwise. George Bush senior was, perhaps, expressing this fact
when he declared ‘the American way of life is non-negotiable.’ It was one of the most
profoundly arrogant, and even foolish, statements. This non-negotiability based on mad
consumerism is leading to several other phenomena, both directly and indirectly –
widespread land, water and air pollution, soil degradation and erosion, deforestation and
consequent changes in hydraulic cycle and local climate, floods and draughts, desertification,
etc. Each one makes life harder and miserable.
Capitalism cannot endure, further, because it is founded on the fallacious notion of an
autonomous, self-regulating market. The fact is that market does not and cannot regulate
itself or anything else. Those who insist that the developing countries should remove all
restrictions on the market, themselves impose ever so many direct and indirect restrictions on
their own markets so as to keep others out of them.
All dreams about future will become meaningless if the US and other affluent nations do not
learn to renegotiate their economy and lifestyles and revise their value system. Who is going
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to teach them and how? Already, there exist in the US and other affluent countries thousands
and thousands of groups dissatisfied with the present way of living. There are many eminent
personalities amongst them. If all of them do really join together on the basis of a shared
broad and long-term perspective, it can become a formidable political force and also a
cultural force. Here we are making an attempt to outline the essential features of a ‘New
World Order,’ its economy, politics and culture and in what way they will be different from
not only capitalism but also from the socialist experiments of the 20th century, as a basis for
collective action.
Lessons from the Socialist Experiment
When Bush proclaimed about non-negotiability he was echoing the feelings of the majority
of the people in all the developed countries. However, human species has survived and
expanded through negotiations, both amongst themselves and with nature. The ability to
negotiate is a unique human quality. Loss of that ability will spell doom to the species. Over a
millennia, human society has negotiated and renegotiated human-nature and human-human
relationships several times. One of the most outstanding among the negotiations was the
socialist experiment initiated in 1917 with the ‘Great October Revolution.’ It lasted for seven
decades, but finally collapsed. Before that, it was able to show to the world that it is possible
to eradicate poverty and illiteracy, to provide everybody with food, shelter and clothing, to
ensure right to earn a livelihood to everybody, to progress by leaps and bounds in science,
technology, art and sports – in short to build, almost, a paradise on this earth. Basic needs of
everybody was satisfied. However, their own concept of paradise – the Communist society –
was different. The slogan ‘to each according to his needs’ was interpreted in such a way
which did not recognise any limit to needs, did not really differentiate need from greed. Such
a society could never be built. There are many who argue that what they had in the USSR
was ‘state capitalism’ or ‘capitalism without capitalists’ and not socialism. There are others
who argue that it was not capitalism but ‘state socialism.’ It is not necessary to accept either
of the arguments as such. The characteristic features of socialism are:
(a) There will not be a class which appropriates surplus value by virtue of their ownership of
the means of production. The entire means of production will belong to the people.
(b) This will be ensured by a state led by the working class. As far as the former exploiting
classes are concerned, this will be a ‘dictatorship of the proletariat,’ but for the majority, it
will be a broader and more basic democracy.
(c) Economic activities will be fully planned. Productive forces will grow at rates faster than
in capitalism.
(d) It will not be a slave to the anarchy of the market. Importance of ‘money’ in the day-today life of the people will become less and less. The differences in the standards of living
amongst the people too will be getting continuously reduced.
(e) In due course, productive forces and production will rise to such levels that everybody can
satisfy their needs. Classes will disappear. State, the oppressive organ for class rule, will
wither away.
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(f) ‘The proletariat will use its political supremacy to wrest, by degrees, all capital from the
bourgeoisie, to centralise all elements of production in the hands of the state, i.e. proletariat
organised as ruling class’ (Communist Manifesto).
The socialist experiment in the Soviet Union exhibited many of these characteristics, but not
all and a few opposite.
(i) In the Soviet Union, there was no private ownership of the means of production, there was
no capitalist and therefore, no capitalistic exploitation.
(ii) The economy was totally planned and it was not subjected to the vagaries of the market.
(iii) Productive forces and production grew at a faster rate than in capitalist countries, at least
up to 1975.
But,
(iv) The state, instead of becoming more and more democratic, had become more and more
centralised and dictatorial.
(v) The entire economy was centrally and bureaucratically planned. Mass of the working
class had no say either in the running of the individual enterprises or in the state economy.
The state had become so to speak a super capitalist.
(vi) From amongst the Party leadership and the state bureaucracy, including enterprise
executives, an elite, a new ruling class, had emerged – the new capitalists.
(vii) Neither the Party nor the ordinary people recognised the difference between their real
needs and the perceived pseudo-needs (greed) cultivated by capitalism.
(viii) It was not possible to satisfy everybody’s greed. Those in power, the new ruling class,
became greedier and greedier and were ready to take recourse to any means. There was no
democratic force to correct the growing corruption within. The gap between their life and the
life of the bulk of the citizens increased continuously.
(ix) This alienated citizens from the Communist Party and even from the ideology of
Marxism. The basic cultural change necessary to build up socialism did not take place. The
slogan ‘to each according to his needs,’ is achievable only if each and everybody became
wise enough to distinguish needs from greed. (Perhaps Mao realised this necessity of a new
culture and the Cultural Revolution might have been an attempt in that direction. However, in
the hands of an already corrupt leadership, it became a tool for revenge). To the discerning
observer, all these things were visible even in the early 60s! One can, thus, summarise the
causes of the failure of the socialist experiment as:
(1) Over-centralisation and lack of democracy.
(2) Non-differentiation of needs and greed.
And these were exactly the questions that were addressed by Gandhi in the early decades of
this century.
Gandhi & His ‘Followers’
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Reared in the tradition of India, for Gandhi economics and politics could not be separated
from ethics. He considered very large enterprises, both economic and political, as inherently
violent, violent against the poor. He argued for enterprises which were humane in scale,
which can be controlled by humans and not vice versa. He did not advocate a forceful
appropriation of the means of production from the existing so-called owners. Instead, he
advised them to consider these means of production not as their private property intended to
satisfy their personal needs, but as public property entrusted to them (Trusteeship Theory) to
be managed for the public good. He argued for cent percent utilisation of the labour power
available in India and argued against any machinery which will displace labour. He was not
against such machinery which reduced the drudgery of labour.
Regarding the economics and politics of the new society which he called Sarvodaya
Democracy Gandhi wrote:
‘In this structure composed of innumerable villages, there will be ever-widening,
never-ascending circles. Life will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the
bottom. But it will be an oceanic circle whose centre will be the individual always
ready to perish for the villages, till at last the whole life will become one life
composed of individuals never aggressive in their arrogance, but ever humble, sharing
the majesty of the oceanic circle of which they are integral units.
Therefore the outermost circumference will not wield power to crush the inner circle
but will give strength to all within and derive its own strength from it. I may be
taunted with the retort that this is all utopian and, therefore, not worth a single
thought. If Euclid points, though incapable of being drawn by human agency has an
imperishable value, my picture has its own for mankind to live.’
(Harijan, 28.7.1946)
It is interesting and potentially instructive to note that some observation and arguments of
Marx regarding this rupture in social metabolism, if extended logically, will lead to almost
identical ideas, even though in more explicit writings he was protagonist of larger and ever
larger scale, fully automated, industries and limitless expansion of productive forces. While
investigating agriculture and soil nutrient cycle he saw that valuable soil nutrients like
nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium are taken away from the soil, transported to the cities in
the form of food grains where they are consumed by humans and animals and later thrown
out in the form of excreta only to pollute the environment – soil, water and air and cause
untold health problems. He observes that large industrial cities are inimical to agriculture and
villages and that the only solution is to disperse industries within agricultural land. Use of
chemical fertilisers may give temporary respite, but in the long run that is not the solution –
Marx pointed out.
Since 1840s, the concept of metabolism has been used as a key category in the systems
theory approach to the interaction of organisms to their environment. It captures the complex
bio chemical processes of metabolic exchange through which an organism (organic cell)
draws upon material and energy from its environment and converts these by way of various
metabolic reactions into build blocks of growth. Marx employed the concept of a ‘rift’ in the
metabolic relation between human beings and the earth to capture the estrangement of human
beings, within the capitalist society, from the natural conditions. He uses this concept also to
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view the antagonistic relation btween town and country. In the third volume of Capital, he
wrote:
‘In London they can do nothing better with the excrement produced by 4 ½ million
people than pollute the Thames with it, at monstrous expense. Examining the Housing
Question Engels argued to re-establish an intimate connection between industrial and
agricultural production together with as uniform a distribution as possible of the
population over the whole country.’
Writing about large-scale Industry and Agriculture in Volume 1 of Capital Marx observed:
‘Capitalist production collects the population together in great centres and causes the
urban population to achieve an ever growing preponderance ... it disturbs the
metabolic interaction between man and the earth i.e. it prevents the return to the soil
of its constituent elements consumed by man in the form of food and clothing, hence
it hinders the operation of the eternal natural condition for the lasting fertility of the
soil...’
(A strong plea for organic farming?)
One of the first tasks of any revolution against capitalism, Marx and Engels have time and
again insisted, must be the abolition of the antagonistic division between town and country.
In Part two of the Communist Manifesto they insisted on the need to carry out ‘ a gradual
abolition of the distinction between town and country by a more equitable distribution of
population over the country,’ a possibility that could only be achieved through the
‘combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries.’
(Town and Village Industries as the backbone of economy?)
(These quotations are taken from John Bellamy Foster’s Book Marx’s Ecology (pages 136163), Monthly Review Foundation; 2000)
If one takes forward these arguments of Marx and Engels, one would invariably arrive at a
situation which cannot be essentially different from where we would have arrived if we had
carried forward Gandhi’s concepts to their logical conclusion. Maybe we can say, a new
synthesis – an ‘Ecological Marxism’ or a ‘Gandhian Socialism.’ In either case the concept of
abundance, so crucial for communism, will have to be reinterpreted on the basis of wisdom to
differentiate needs from greed.
Gandhi’s ideas were elaborated by J.C. Kumarappa (Economyof Permanence), E.F.
Schumacher (Small is Beautiful), Shriman Narayan (Towards The Gandhian Plan), etc.
Economy of Permanence was published in 1945. It has two parts. Part one deals with
conceptual aspects and part two deals with concrete economic organisation in the context of
India. The main aspects covered in the second part are need and naure of planning,
agriculture, village industries, national industries, education, democracy, exchange,
cooperative functions and government functions. The emphasis was on attaining increasing
levels of local self-sufficiency in the basic needs of life like food, clothing, shelter, etc. The
basic principle of planning adopted by Kumarappa is this: human being is the most wonderful
machine and capital. Any economic planning which renders this machine idle is no scientific
plan at all. As Gandhi too questioned the understanding – entertained by Nehru and many
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other contemporary leaders of politics and industry – that we can improve the economic
conditions of the people by introducing large centralised units of production with modern
machinery. If it is to be a plan for India, the plan must centre around the farmer first and then
grow out for the whole country, he argued. But, what ensued was a plan around ‘modern
temples,’ the large power-house, the steel mills, the fertiliser factories and the like.
Kumarappa had practically no influence on the post-independence economic development of
India.
Shriman Narayan, another great disciple of Gandhi, came out with the book ‘Towards the
Gandhian Plan’ in 1977 at the time of Janata party rule. India had passed through three
decades of post-independent planned development by that time. Shriman Narayan had been,
since long, disillusioned about the Congress party and its economic policies. He thought that
the Janata Party is firmly committed to Gandhian values of austerity, concern for the poorest
section and bold decentralisation of economic and political power. He quotes from Gandhi
about use of modern machinery in India’s economic development:
‘All that I desire is that every citizen in India who is willing to work should be
provided with employment to earn his livelihood. If electricity or even atomic energy
could be used without displacing human labour and creating unemployment, I will not
raise my little finger against it. I have, however, every doubt that this could be
achieved in India where the main problem is to offer work to idle hands.’
However, Shriman Narayan’s hope about the Janata Party was belied. ‘Right to Work’ was
never accepted as a fundamental right in the Constitution. Nobody at national or state levels
wanted to part with powers and decentralisation remained too a slogan and that quite a feeble
one.
For Gandhi work was not only a livelihood necessity but also a spiritual imperative. He wrote
in Harijan
‘Supposing a few millionaires from America came and offered to send us all our
foodstuffs and implored us not to work but to permit them to give vent to their
philanthropy, I would refuse point blank to accept their kind of offer... especially
because it strikes at the root of the fundamental law of our being.’
‘Right to Work’ and earn a livelihood was, to Gandhi, only an essential prerequisite for a
much higher level of freedom, freedom to decide ones own present and future. Once asked:
when would India be said to have attained complete independence Gandhi promptly replied:
‘When the masses feel that they can improve their lot by their own effort and can
shape their own destiny the way they like .’ He added ‘ Real Swaraj will come not by
acquisition of authority by a few but by the acquisition of the capacity by all to resist
authority when this is abused.’
Twelve days before his death Gandhi wrote , again in Harijan:
‘True democracy cannot be worked out by 20 men sitting at the Centre. It has to be
worked from below by the people of every village.’
The attempts of the KSSP to strengthen the gram sabha ( village assembly) through
neighbourhood groups (NHGs) and Citizen Education Programme were very much in tune
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with these visions of Gandhi. But that was nearly half a century later. Meanwhile, the socalled followers of Gandhi, including Nehru, embarked upon a grandoise scheme of
integrating western capitalism with Soviet socialism to build a new India, the result of which
are eminently visible since long. No major large scale attempt, even on an experimental
mode, to build a society based on Gandhi’s teachings, was made either in India or elsewhere.
His teachings were not cultivated upon. They were left fallow.
Schumacher’s book ‘Small is Beautiful’ is quite appealing, at least by its title. Several small
groups in the USA and Europe experimented with his ideas on and off. Many of the
contemporary experiments in local economy, people-to-people trade, local currency,
networking, etc., all have their source in his and Gandhi’s ideas. They are not dead. The are
kicking to come out.
However in India, the motherland of Gandhi ‘small’ was scoffed as ‘ugly.’ The large, the
very large was venerated, following the success of the Soviet Union. The modernisation
project of Nehru’s ‘Socialistic Pattern’ – a happy mixture of socialist rhetoric and capitalist
practice based on large and basic industries was welcomed by the upcoming Indian
bourgeoisie who required state support for infrastructure like energy, steel, roads, railways,
etc. With the collapse of Soviet Union and other socialist economies, the socialist rhetoric
was dropped. The starving millions of India and the billions world over were taught, with the
proverbial stick in hand, about the inevitability of ‘global integration,’ irreversibility of
‘historic progress.’ It is not possible, nor even desirable, to go back either to the Soviet model
or to a Gandhian model. We can go only forward. The direction and momentum of this leap
forward would be decided by culture – rather a drastic change in culture, a cultural
revolution.
SITUATION TODAY
Yes. Capitalism has made a triumphant comeback! It is proceeding with a vengeance to
wreck all institutions of equity and justice through out the world. Through its organs like the
WTO, the IMF, the World Bank, etc., it is twisting the arms of the governments of not only
developing countries but also developed countries. Monopoly capitalism has become ‘finance
capitalism.’ Capital is getting increasingly divorced from production, is becoming
increasingly autonomous and transnational. The daily flow of capital world over is currently,
of the order $ 3 trillion; about 30 to 40 times the value of the daily production of goods and
services. Even the United States, the ‘god’s own country’ of capitalism, is reeling under the
kicks of footloose capital (Michael Shuman: Going Local)(23)
World over, among academics and lay people, the predominant mood is characterised by the
TINA (There Is No Alternative) syndrome. But as we know, capitalism cannot go on like this
forever. Most of the warnings given by the Club of Rome Report (Meadows and Meadows:
Limits to Growth – 1965) are becoming true. Many natural resources are on the verge of
extinction, environmental pollution has begun to show global reactions like global warming
and ozone layer destruction, energy is becoming costlier and costlier; availability of drinking
water and food is shrinking. The rich and the powerful try to transfer these problems on to the
poor. The gap between the rich and poor nations and between the rich and the poor within
any nation is increasing rapidly. This is leading to increasing strife and tension. Human
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beings, group after group, are losing the behaviour patterns that helped the species to survive,
they are showing less and less ability to ‘renegotiate’ under changed circumstances, to
develop and enter into new forms of social contracts. The ‘post-capitalist society’ is a
tentative concept of a new social contract. This will be one built upon the experience of
human species till now world over. Its motive force will be neither ‘private profit’ nor ‘desire
for power.’ Instead, ‘social good’ shall be the motive force. It will be a new form of people’s
democracy – decentralised and participatory. Its production relations, individual, family and
social relations, international relations ... all will be different both from capitalism and from
socialism of the twentieth century. Nobody can work out, up to the last nuts and bolts, the
final design of such a world order. Neither it is desirable too.All that can be attempted is to
draw a tenttive outline. It is only natural to expect aspects of the teachings of Karl Marx and
Mahatma Gandhi and even more ancient sires getting reflected in this outline.
Though capitalism now appears victorious, the spectre of socialism and communism is still
haunting it. The contradiction between capitalism and socialism continues to be one of the
main contradictions in the world.
However, the contradiction between the developed,’northern’ imperialist countries and the
developing, ‘southern’ neo-colonised countries have assumed far more grave dimensions than
ever before. Now the colonisation is complete: economic, political and cultural. The gap
between the developed and developing countries is widening at an alarming rate.
Table 12: Increasing Gap Between Rich and Poor Nations: Per Capita Income in
Purchasing Power Parity Dollars
Country
1960
1997
Increse/Decrease
USA
9983
29010
2.91
Switzerland
9313
25240
2.71
Japan
2701
24070
8.91
Canada
7758
22480
2.90
France
5349
22030
4.11
CHHAD
785
970
1.23
Central AfricanRepublics
806
1330
1.65
Sudan
975
970
1.23
Madagascar
1013
930
0.92
Zambia
1172
960
0.82
In the ratio of the average incomes of the world’s richest 20 percent and poorest 20 percent
was 30. In 1997, it became 74.
In a longer term, the ratio of per capita incomes of the
world richest five countries and poorest five countries was only about 3 in 1820. This
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increased to about 12-13 in 1950 and to 35 in 1992.
Inequality has increased in the erstwhile socialist countries too – in Ukrain, Russia, Lithuania,
Hungary, Poland – everywhere.
The developing countries consisting of nearly 70 per cent of the world population are rapidly
being bled to death. They may succumb or resist victoriously. For victory, however, they
would require a new vision about the future society. Past achievements of the USSR or
present ‘progress’ of China are not sufficient to inspire them or to show them a new course of
action.
The contradiction between the labour and capital though inherent and cannot be wished away
is being subdued especially in the case of organised labour, through a process which can be
termed as ‘sharing the loot’ of natural resources, and also of exploiting sections of the
humanity. A substantial minority in the developing countries too has now become part of the
developed world.
Contradictions within the capitalist camp will be contained for quite some more time, so long
as there is enough to loot, though not for long. However, the present stage of capitalism is
afflicted with yet another contradiction between capital and production process resulting from
the near total divorce of finance capital from productive capital. The predominance of
speculative capital has already started playing havoc in the very same countries controlling
this capital. The classic cyclic crises of over production and recession is being replaced by
erratic and impredictable flights of foot loose capital and consequent immiserisation of local
communities.
A far more deep contradiction, pointed out by Engels a century and quarter ago, the humannature contradiction, the contradiction between exponentially increasing demand for natural
resources and the limited supply of the same, is now coming to the forefront. Brought to the
notice of the ‘modern world’ by Rachel Carson through the famous book ‘Silent Spring’ and
later by the Club of Rome reports, ‘Limits to Growth’ it took nearly three decades for the
scientific community to accept that there were real limits to natural resources and even more
stringent limits to the capability of earth to receive ‘wastes.’ Global warming and ozone layer
depletion are now accepted. The developed nations are the main culprits. But they have
categorically declared that there is no going back. The rather haughty statement by George
Bush (senior) during the 1992 Earth Summit is being proved to be not empty but serious. The
developed countries are not in a mood to limit and then reduce their consumption of natural
resources and release of green house gases, nuclear and chemical wastes and other hazardous
products. They accuse the developing countries, the large population therein, of releasing too
much wastes and consuming too much of resources. The people of the developing countries
are unnecessary and if possible should be reduced or eliminated! This is the intrinsic message
of the globalisation – privatise the globe for the benefit of the few.
Whether they succeed in this or not, it has serious implications. Long before the
contradictions between capitalism and socialism, between capital and labour, is resolved, any
of the following things can happen.
i) Techno-economically viable resources get absolutely exhausted.
ii) Even before this happens, competition among militarised nations for ever dwindling
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resources may lead to all devastating wars including deployment of nuclear weapons.
iii) Phenomenal increase in environmental pollution and resulting vagaries of weather may
lead to catastrophic calamities.
These are no longer phantasies, but objectively real threats. This, necessarily, leads us to a
very important concept of Communism, which has implications both for socialism and
capitalism: .’..from each according to his ability and to each according to his needs.’
Presently, these ‘needs’ are unqualified and are generally accepted to be continuously
increasing. This is an unsustainable proposition. Science and technology can lead to
phenomenal expansion of productive forces. In the present form, this will only accelerate the
process of resource depletion and waste accumulation. We have to recognise and accept the
fact that there are limits to ‘growth’ in material goods production and ‘needs’ of everybody
cannot be met, unless needs are qualified and restricted. This does not mean that there are
limits to development. We can have development without growth. Today it is just the reverse
– growth without development. Restriction demands institutions for enforcement, a state,
though different from the present oppressive one, a state any way.
One may argue that the developing contradiction of the present epoch is the one between
limited resources and unlimited needs. This cannot be resolved under capitalism because the
very existence of capitalism is based on the ever-increasing production, exchange and
consumption of goods and services, an unrestricted manufacture of ‘needs’ at rates larger
than the means to satisfy them. The twentieth century understanding of socialism, as an
interim stage leading to communism characterised by the slogan ‘to each according to his
needs’ too will have to be revised. The present levels of consumption of developed countries
are unsustainable, those of poor developing countries are too inadequate. An intermediate and
sustainable level has to be found. The contradiction between labour and capital will be
resolved only through a process of resolution of humans – nature contradiction. This, above
all, demands major changes, revolutions in culture and technology. The starting point is to be
culture. It generates the will to change . Knowledge and skills follow. In the three H – (Heart,
Head and Hand) process, heart is the initiator.
Politics of the New World
(a) The new society can be called either decentralised or participatory democracy (obviously
democracy automatically implies participation and participation demands decentralisation).
Here, every able-bodied citizen will undertake, besides activities necessary for self or family,
responsibilities, small or large in the day-to-day management of the community.
(b) Each citizen will have to acquire knowledge and capabilities to enable him/her to take up
such responsibilities. Besides literacy and numeracy, they should acquire enough knowledge
about local natural resources, science and technology, development planning and execution,
administration and finance, etc.
(c) Democracy is not simply to cast one’s vote in favour of one candidate or another, fielded
by one or another political party. Today, citizens do not have the elementary right to recall
their representatives who are functioning not according to their satisfaction. It is like giving
an irrevocable power of attorney for five years. The absolute sovereignty is, today, vested not
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with the people but their ‘representatives.’ (In reality even this is notional). This has to be
changed. Right to recall and easy procedures to enforce this right are to be incorporated into
the Constitution. Thus, it will be a new type of Participatory and Decentralised People’s
Democracy.
(d) If people are to participate actively in the day-to-day management of the society, they
should be aware of what is taking place, what is to be done, etc. Their right to know and
responsibility to learn, both should become fundamental.
(e) As Gandhi and many later social activists and leaders argued, human activities should be
carried out in human scales. The process of ‘giantisation,’ characteristic to both capitalism
(first world) and socialism (Second World) has to be reversed. The present types of very large
steel mills, chemical complexes, power stations, etc., ultimately are not controlled by human
beings. They have a dynamics of their own and humans have become increasingly their
slaves. Humans are to be liberated from this slavery.
(f) The present power structure has to be inverted. Citizens and their small groups –
neighbourhoods and village assemblies – should become sovereign. Only at that level, faceto-face democracy is possible. At larger levels of conglomeration of villages, block, district,
state and national levels – only representative democracy is possible. These levels should be,
in the ultimate sense, responsible to, citizens and their small groups, i.e. representative
democracy becoming subservient to face-to-face democracy. A new form of ‘Social
Contract,’ new Constitutions` will have to be worked out to manage the economics and
politics of the society at state, national and international levels.
(g) Each country (nation) can be compared to (as Gandhiji wrote) a set of concentric circles
with the neighbourhood and village at the centre encircled by various levels of
conglomeration. They all lie in a horizontal plane. Each circle has its functions. These will
change with time and place. The responsibilities and rights of different circles will be divided
on the basis of mutual agreement.
Economy
(a) Together with, and in many cases as prelude to, the aforesaid changes in social structure
and organisation fundamental changes have to take place in the economic sphere. The
economic order of the ‘post-capitalist society’ will have to be, necessarily, different from
those of the present capitalist world or the erstwhile socialist world. True, it will have much
more in common with the socialist world than with the capitalist world but not a repetition of
the old one.
(b) The ‘New World’ could be considered as a transitional phase. It will have market and
exchange. It will have small scale private enterprises. But even these will operate not for the
maximisation of private profit but of social good – as Mohammed Yunus of Bangladesh puts
it(27). They too will be under social control. Conscious attempt will be made to make social
good and private profit mutually compatible.
(c) In this society, the purpose of production will be, chiefly, consumption and not exchange
for the accrual of profit. The present dictatorship of the producer over the consumer (though
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advocates of capitalism take much pain to convince us that things are other way round, that,
the consumer is the king, etc.) will have to be defeated and reversed. The producers shall not
dicatate what the citizens should consume.
(d) Production enterprises should be economically, technically and ecologically, sound and
sustainable. Human species has achieved astounding success in transforming nature and
producing goods and services it requires, especially in the last century. But of late, we have
seen that private profit motivated application of science and technology is leading to very
grave consequences. It is also seen that technologies which are viable only on very largescale production, have been generally oppressive and exploitative. So, in the ‘New World,’
we shall strive to develop technologies which can make small-scale production economically
viable and ecologically safe, to make small not only beautiful but also powerful.
(e) The scientific and technical research and development during the past and even now, has
aimed at helping large-scale, very large-scale production, to make it more economic, to
strengthen concentration of economic and political power. It has not been ‘value free.’
Problems set before the S & T community have been the problems of those who have been
continuously enriching themselves at the expense of the majority. Naturally, the answers to
these questions helped strengthen the rich.
(f) The ‘new society’ will place before the S &T community a quite different set of problems:
how to ensure the basic necessities of life – food, clothing and shelter, health, education,
recreation and rest, for all; how to make small-scale-dispersed production more efficient than
large-scale production; how to make local communities more and more self-reliant and selfsufficient.
(g) Human habitats and locations of natural resources are not evenly distributed across the
globe. They do not mutually match, either. So, transporation of goods and sevices cannot be
avoided. However, the historical tendency has been to consciously aggravate these
mismatches and consequently increase the transportation of goods and services. This is
reaching a run-away situation now. Even the most ordinary items of our daily consumption
reach us from very far away places, even though most of them could be locally produced.
This leads to increased instabilities in production and distribution. Conscious efforts will be
made to make use of local resources for local needs so that the need for transportation of
humans and materials can be reduced.
(h) Of the three major sectors of economic activity, the primary sector reflects the basic needs
like food, clothing and shelter. There is some limitation to the growth of this sector. The case
with the secondary sector is different. It has no limits. It has grown exponentially. But the
majority of the products of the secondary sector industries are unnecessary for comfortable
living. But its limitless expansion is necessary for the survival of capitalism. The same can be
said about bulk of the tertiary sector activities. Local self-sufficiency in food and other
products of primary sector is one of the characteristics of the new society. Further, the
subjugation of the primary sector by secondary sector will be ended. Primary sector will
enjoy primacy in the economy of the society.
(i) Energy is an essential component of all production processes. One of the greatest
challenges of the 21st century is how to meet the increasing demands for energy.
Conventional sources like coal, oil and gas are limited and will soon be exhausted, all the
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more so, if the presently developing countries too increase their level of per capita
consumption to equal that of the developed countries. Nuclear energy, considered
inexhaustible and a saviour in the sixties and seventies has proved to be one of the greatest
banes to the society. It is becoming increasingly clear that the only permanent and benign
source of energy is the sun whose radiation can be converted to both thermal and electrical
forms.
(j) The scientists and technologis are today presented with two tasks, both by the rich
exploiting minority:
1. To strengthen and perfect weapons for human destruction ( tactical, strategic,
offensive and deterrent!) like nuclear bombs, missiles, chemical agents, biological
agents, etc. They are supported by the largest section of the secondary sector, the
Military Industrial Complex.
2. To expand indefinitely the already frightening array of consumer goods, most of
them having no welfare value, though may have exchange and even use values, to
redouble the exploitation of already dangerously dwindling store of non-renewable
natural resources.
(k) The exploited and impoverished majority, at whose expense the scientists carry out their
research and development activities have to and will stand up and say: no, this is not what
you should be doing, the society want you to do different things. So, should the scientists, as
responsible citizens, stand up and say: No. Our agenda is different. They shall concentrate
their R&D work predominantly in the following four subjects areas:
1. How to collect, concentrate and convert solar energy into more useful forms of
thermal and electrical energy and how to store it, in a decentralised and dispersed
manner at cost levels of an order of magnitude cheaper than what presently they are.
2. How to extract useful metals and other materials from highly diluted sources, like
ordinary soil and sea water – since the concentrated ores are fastly getting exhausted –
using only the solar energy.
3. How to convert the present and future wastes into harmless and preferably, useful
materials.
4. How to combat and reverse the globally deleterious effects of forest destruction and
atmospheric pollution.
Yes, the entire agenda for science and technology for the new world will be different from
those of the first, second or even third worlds!
All this may look utopian. Yes, it is. Utopian is not a dirty word. ‘Grand Dream’ is not a dirty
word. We should have the courage to dream about the ‘Alternative World.’ The present one
is not the only possible one. The present path – towards more or less certain destruction or at
least to barbarism of the species – is not the only path. We have to cut open new paths.
Presently, only the direction is clear – towards a New Socialist Society based on ‘Solar
Democracy.’ (Participatory and Decentralised People’s Democracy and New Socialist Solar
Democracy are both valid description of the new society.)
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Culture
Drastic changes in politics and economics cannot even be initiated unless these ideas grip the
imagination of a sizeable number of people, unless there is a cultural awakening. The
elements of a new culture, to be imbibed and enriched by the builders of the new world are
outlined below. They can be materially realised only with substantial changes in the
economics and politics of the society.
(a) Needs of the humans are numerous and varied; still they are limited. But their desires –
greed – are not limited. They desire everything that exist in the world; they would imagine
things currnetly not existing and desire to have them too. Efforts to satisfy the needs and such
desires have been the prime motive force of human development. But we have to realise that
physical resources available on this earth are limited; they may be sufficient to satisfy the
genuine needs of all, but not th greed of even a limited minority. We should have the wisdom
to differentiate needs from greed.
(b) One of the most unfortunate things that has happened during the course of history,
especially since the advent of private property, is the oppressive gender divide. Women, who
form half of human species have been cornered into a role, which is not necessarily biology
dependent. They are oppressed , both within the family and outside. The list of cruelties
towards them is very, very long. A major objective of the new society should be to put to an
end to this cruelty, to raise women tothe status of dignified human beings on par with men.
(c) Human progress will have to be redefined. Increasing production and consumption of
goods and services shall not be construed as progress. Human progress is something more
fundamental. It can be considered as consisting of two essential components, a Physical
Quality of Life (PQL) and Spiritual Quality of Life(SQL). The word ‘spiritual’ is used to
include moral, cultural and ethical elements, in short everything non-material. Spirituality is
not to be considered as an exclusive prerogative of religion!
(d) Physical Quality of Life may be defined in terms of three parameters:
1.Biological Quality: high life expectation at birth and low life time integrated morbidity are
the basic elements in this. Contributing factors are: low crude death rate, low infant mortality,
child mortality and maternal mortality rates, low birth rate and fertility rate, low levels of
malnutrition, etc.
2.Human Liberation: increased freedom from the merely animal aspects of existence such as
search for food and species procreation and increased availability of time for genuinely
human-cultural activities.
3. Sustainability: ‘Liberation from animal aspects of life’ is presently being attained at
the expense of nature, depleting limited natural resources at alarmingly rapid rates.
This is not sustainable for long. True human development should enable the species to
survive indefinitely. (This is rather axiomatic. There may be people who would ask:
what if human species get extinct in a 100 or less number of years? If the species get
extinct we are not there to grieve over it... There is no counter arguement to this
except that one of the biological instincts of any life form is to survive and to expand).
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This would demand the use of natural resources in a fully renewable manner, to be
affected only by cosmic catastrophes.
(e) Spiritual Quality of Life too can be defined in terms of three elements:
1. Social Quality, indicated by a continuous reduction in suicide rate, in murder and
crime rates, in the rate of consumption of alcohol and narcotics, reduction in
expenditure on police and military, reduction in child labour, in abuse of women, etc.
2. Cultural Quality, indicated by high literacy, high average levels of education, high
reading rates, increasing participation in cultural and sports activities etc.
3. Participatory Quality: Human beings do not like to live on charity. Work is an
essential need for them. Increased participation of each and every citizen in the
economic and political activities of the society is imperative for human satisfaction.
‘Full employment’ is not only an economic necessity, but also a spiritual necessity.
Same is the case for participatory democracy – it is not merely a political demand, it
is a spiritual demand too.
There are, in all continents, both in developing and developed countries, hundreds of groups
and individuals whose vision about the future are more or less similar, or even identical, but
still only partial. Some are interested in environment, some in gender issues, some in
education, etc., and often only in one aspect of them – to save a particular species, to protect a
particular tree, to fight plastics and so on. One of the first things to be done is the
development of a shared and broad vision.
Today, there exists an ideological vacuum or perhaps, an ideological fish bazaar – thousands
and tens of thousands whispering, shouting, canvassing, trying to sell their vision. Many of
them are sceptical about ‘grand narratives,’ ‘overarching theories,’ ‘holistic visions.’ While
concrete action will have to take into account concrete issues, concerted action requires a
shared view of the future and an agreed understanding of inter-relationships. Without such a
vision and such an understanding, we cannot contest the all too powerful consumerist vision
of the capitalist society. The new vision cannot emanate from the brain, from the revelations
of a single brilliant leader or messiah but should evolve through collective efforts of many.
Such collective efforts on the ideological theoretical plane on a global scale would have been
almost impossible half a century ago. Thanks to the Communication and Information
Technology Revolution, today it is much easier. IT can be used in a revolutionary manner, to
share and develop ‘subversive’ ideas and programmes. One can initiate a really massive
ideology-reconstruction programme on a global scale involving hundreds and even thousands
of participants – through e-mail. The common language will have to be English, into which
and from which local language versions can always be made. Whenever possible, occasional
face-t-face meetings and discussions can be made. The entire process may take a few years –
a very long struggle using Head, Heart and Hands.
Fight against Imperialistic Globalisation – An Indian Perspective
What follows is the first draft of a possible cultural, and economic plan of action against
imperialism. An opportunity has presented itself for carrying out this plan: the preparation for
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the World Social Forum – WSF4 in India during February 2004. Literally thousands of
movements, groups, institutions and individuals were involved in the run-up activities leading
to and the actual event of the WSF4. The WSF is basically a space for all who oppose neoliberalism. With the participation of all the groups involved in this, a major cultural campaign
against imperialism and its agents within India could be carried out. This campaign would
focus on:
1.
The unsustainability and inhumanness of the neo-imperialist culture.
2. The ‘other history’ – the history never taught – of America.
3. The mode of operation of imperialism.
4. The impact of imperialist expansion on our day to day life and also life in the long
run.
5. The possibility of unrestricted development with restricted growth – the concept of
physical, biological (material) development and of social cultural (spiritual)
development.
6. The necessity and possibility of self-reliance and ever increasing levels of selfsufficiency
7. The idea that fight against imperialist culture is also a fight against the consumerism
within each one of us.
8. The understanding that the myriads of consumer goods promoted by the transnationals and even domestic producers – these include useless and even harmful
beverages, packed foods, cosmetics, durable consumer goods, etc., are the instruments
through which neo-imperialism is carrying out its economic aggression.
9. Realising the fact that we can resist these attacks by a simple tactics: by boycotting
their goods. This will not really affect our material – physical-biological – quality of
life at all.
We can plan the publication of, say, 1,000 titles over a period of coming five years – a sort of
Jan Siksha Pustak Mala (Citizen Education Book Series) each about 48 pages, written in a
simple and appealing style (but rigourously researched) and profusely illustrated. These shall
be published in all the Indian languages – some may be only 2000 copies, others 20,000. In
this land of 1000 million it should not be difficult to find a 1000 people – one in a million
who can and who is ready to write one such booklet. There will be also publishers to publish
them and movements to spread them.
We can and should, plan millions, literally millions, of dialogues based on these books and
local experience. Hundreds of thousands should be trained to facilitate these dialogues.
Again, literally tens of thousands of artiste groups (The Praja Natya Mandali in Andhra alone
has more than thousand groups) can go round the country performing skits, singing songs,
exhibiting posters, organising video shows, etc., to expose the subtle ways of the imperialists,
their agents within the country and to some extent within each one of us.
All this is part of the preparation for the major offensive – the economic front. Even
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Americas military might is incapable of defeating the will of a people. Vietnam, and earlier
Cuba have shown this. If we decide to boycott certain goods and services no force on the
earth can force them on us. This is an open guerilla fight on the economic front. The ground
is the ‘sacred market.’ We are playing according to its rules. No foul play. We use a number
of tactics: selection, substitution, rejection, production...We can and should, plan millions,
literally millions, of dialogues based on these books and local experience. Hundreds of
thousands should be trained to facilitate these dialogues.
(i)
We substitute certain products and services through local products.
(ii)
We improve the quality of these products.
(iii)
We increase the choices available for each items.
(iv)
We discriminate against foreign products, select from among the Indian products
which are least bound to foreign companies.
(v)
We reject certain goods and services for which currently no substitute is available.
(vi)
We influence our R& D institutions to help us to produce those goods and services
which at present we are not in a position to do.
(vii)
We make a classified list of goods indicating the category of use, the transnational
and local products, the quality of each the cost differences, etc.
(viii) We may, to begin with, target a few trans-nationals like, for example, Hindustan
Liver, Pepsi, Nestles, Cadbury, McDonald, Kellog, etc. for the first round of
attack – through a total boycott of all their products.
(ix)
We shall charter a progressive course of action to enlarge this list finally to cover
all the trans-nationals – basically belonging to imperialist countries – America,
Canada, E-Union, Japan and Australia.
(x)
We may simplify this process by including in this list all, literally all, the goods
and products advertised in TV and newspapers.
(xi)
We initiate, immediately a dialogue with scientists from CSIR and other R&D
institutions throughout the country placing before them very specific problems
faced in the field which require immediate solution.
(xii)
We organise neighbourhood groups of 30 to 50 families each living in close
proximity, persuade them to become some sort of consumer co-operative, over
and above other social activities.
(xiii) We encourage direct trade, as far as possible, between producers and consumers.
(xiv)
We obtain the services of professional managers, or even set up a number of
firms, to provide technical help to the small producers in product and technology
selection, in marketing, in financial management and inventory control, in bulk
purchase of raw materials, in matters dealing with government and other
authorities etc. Yes, we will have to be unconventionally professional.
But, then, who comprise ‘We’? ‘We’ include all the trade unions, peasant and workers
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unions, students and youth movements, women’s movements, other mass movements like
environment – science – dalit, etc. movements, myriads of NGOs ....
A process has been recently initiated through which it is possible, if consciously attempted, to
bring a very large number of them together for a concerted action, in their own way, but with
a common purpose. This is the preparatory process for World Social Forum – India Event
2002, WSF – III in 2003 at Porto Alegre and WSF – IV in 2004, possibly in India. A
national-level Indian Working Group has been formed. State-level Working groups and
perhaps district-level working groups – in about 200 districts – will be formed during this
year. Before the end of 2003, one may be able to go down to 2000 blocks and 20-30 thousand
gram panchayats. The number of activists involved will, or at least can, easily top a hundred
thousand.
None of this is impossible or even excessively difficult. What is required is a will (heart) to
do it. The head and hand will follow.
REFERENCES, NOTES
1.
Thomas Isaac T M & Franke, Richard W. Local Democracy and Development, Left
Word Books, New Delhi; Govindan Parayil, ed.: Kerala – The Development
Experience, Zed Books, London; Franke, Richard W & Chasin Barbara H. Kerala:
Development Through Radical Reform: Promilla & Co., New Delhi.
2.
Frederic Engels: Part Played by the Labour in Transition from Ape to Man in Dialectics
of Nature.
3.
Rachael Carson: Silent Spring, Other India Press, Goa.
4.
Richard Falk, Endangered Plane.
5.
Ralph Nader, different titles.
6.
Herman Daly, Steady State of Economics.
7.
Barbara Ward, Only One Earth
8.
Eric Hobsbaum: Age of Extremes.
9.
All India Congress Working Committee Resolution, November 1947.
10.
B R Ambedkar, different works
11.
M K Gandhi, Harijan.
13.
T Gangadharan, Panchayati Raj in Karnataka and West Bengal (Malayalam), KSSP,
1989
14.
Report of the Administrative Reforms Committee, Government of Kerala, 1958.
15.
A Handbook for Rural Science Forum Activists, KSSP, 1976.
16.
M P Parameswaran, K N Shyama Sundaran Nair, ed. Wealth of Kerala (Malayalam),
KSSP,1989.
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17.
M P Parameswaran: Electricity and Industrialisation of Kerala (Malayalam), Paper
Presented at the Kerala State Electricity Board Workers’ Association – Annual
Conference 1975.
18.
Silent Valley: A Techno economic and Socio Political Study – Committee Report, 1979
19.
Grama Sastram: Issue No.40 ( Malayalam), KSSP, 1980.
20.
Village Development (Malayalam), KSSP, 1984.
21.
KSSP: Past and Future (Malayalam), KSSP, 1981.
22.
Group Approach to Locally Adapted and Sustainable Agriculture: Report, KSSP, 1990.
23.
Development Perspective of Kerala, KSSP.
24.
‘The truth is that planning cannot really be decentralised within a regime of strict
central planning... Finally, with the old style of planning going out at the Centre and
new style self-government coming in at local level, we need to give up talking of
decentralised planning and instead focus attention on decentralised governance.’
Reflections on Status of Planning p.58, Nirmal Mukherjee.
25.
Thomas Isaac T M. Kerala: Land and the People (Malayalam), KSSP, 1987
26.
An Introduction to the Discussion on 8th Five-Year Plan, KSSP, 1988.
27.
Mohammad Yunus: Banker to the Poor: Public Affairs, USA, 1999.
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