For more than a year now, the Government of Kerala has been making an earnest effort to revive interest in agriculture and restore it to the former glorious days. The effort reached a highpoint yesterday with the CM and his cabinet colleagues making a song and dance of planting paddy saplings to usher in the paddy cultivation project.
The joke of the century, I should say – the commies trying to revive an activity that requires dedicated and disciplined cooperation from the labour force!
I hate prophets of doom. And I hate myself for being one when I say that
large scale agricultural can never again be revived in Kerala. Unless
- the unions are dismantled
- draconian laws are put in place to deal with truant workers
- and draconian laws are enforced to ensure that labour interests too are protected.
Unless these steps taken, no sane person will want to plant even as many sapling as the CM did yesterday. No one will invest in a big way in agriculture knowing fully well that agriculture in Kerala was destroyed, not by errant weather Gods but by unionised labour and its manipulation in a manner totally hostile to the success of any farmer-entrepreneurial activity.
And these commies are responsible. Kuttannad, the once granary of Kerala metamorphosed into a wasteland, thanks to the commies playing dirty populist vindictive politics.
Some poor souls, being saddled with paddy fields , continue to engage in cultivation with all its unsurmountable problems. But with last years bumper crop going under water because of the party workers manipulating the use of harvesting machines to make a quick buck, they suffered mammoth losses. They are now completely fed up.
What in god’s name does the govt. think the people of Kerala are? Fools? Does the government think it can induce selective amnesia in the people to forget the deep hurts that fester in the collective consciousness of the people?
Let the government rein in their unions. Let the government give assurance to protect the farmers from the rowdyism and clout of the party workers and the unions.
The day any government does that, that day Ellavarun padathilleku project will succeed.
The present culture in Kerala can be summed up this way:
He who walks hates the one who rides a cycle.
He who has a cycle hates the one with a scooter.
He who has a scooter hates the one who has a car.
He who has a car hates the one with bigger car.
He who has a car hates the owners of lorries and buses but unlike the earlier cases, are helpless ‘cos the lorries and buses have the backing of mafias and unions.
He who who works hates the employer/mothali.
The hater is the all powerful ’exploited' proletariat.
The hated is the ‘privileged’ bourgeois
In such a hate filled unproductive ambiance how can any one invest in cultivation which involves a special bonding of all stakeholders?
The commies need to apologise to the people of Kerala for introducing this highly unproductive hate- work culture into Kerala.
Now, is DR. Jekyll trying to rein in the Hyde, the monster of his own creation, who has been on the rampage, destroying everything that comes in his way.
Are the Marxists, by any chance, suffering from pangs of conscience? Are they, after all, trying to apologise for the predicament they have brought the state to?
If they truly want to do it, let them set up commandos to shoot Mr. Hyde down before the monster completes his destructive spree started a few decades ago.
No. Dr. Jekyl has the least intention of reigning in Hyde. This was just the usual elections time 'Tamaasa'. Did you notice Dr. Jekyl's brand new lungie and head gear? Not even a crease on them. His co-actors had them too.
ReplyDeleteTrue, its the communists who brought in the political philosophy of deep rooted hatred. But the congress did capitalise on it when they knew this was essential for the surviving game.
I have heard of instances where the INTUC were as ruthless as the CITU in perpritating violence and destruction with a view to keep the industry / planter at knife-point.
Had it been the congress henchmen in yesterday's photograph in place of the communists, the only difference would have been that they would have worn creaseless, sparkling white silk khadi in place of the lungie.
As per your solution to the crisis in agriculture, I think the solutions lie elsewhere. If I were to elaborate on them, I should probably start a blog!
At least they didn't go for the "vettinirathal" they did some years ago in the lands of those who farmed other crops than paddy. This time they're taking the soft route. As you said, do they think this would work?
ReplyDeleteThough I don't do any farming, it was painful to see all those crops getting destroyed last year because of these demons.
I'd surely have liked to leave a detailed comment. I had, in fact typed out my immediate thoughts, but lost it all in the process of posting.
ReplyDeleteYou can't blame me of being net-savvy.
Can't bring myself to type it all over again. Not for now, at least. And there's fear lurking, that others who comment, may not really be in the same wave-length and so mine could very likely end up a futile exercise.
I'm not sure if it is in accordance with blog etiquette that one asks (most politely,though) for the bloger's mail id. I'll risk it anyway, and do so now. Mine's paulmathewmac@gmail.com
@ paul
ReplyDeleteoh yes. i agree with you wholesale.the intuc is as bad as citu. congress party and its unions too have contributed insubstantially towards retarding developmend in (industriasl & agri)in kerala.
but this type of senseless aggressive unionisation is the brainchild of the marxists.if only other parties had refrained from following suit.
both you comments have come.
you should start of blogging.seriously.
@ bindhu
tho no vettinerathal is happening now, the desired effect was achieved. today even if paddy fields lie fallow, nobody thinks of using it for fish culture or any other crops.
Hello KPJ
ReplyDeleteExcellent and thought provoking post!
Communist party is an anachronism in the modern days and should be dismantled as quickly as possible. They are against progress and development. They don’t want people to prosper because if there is prosperity they will lose their grip on the people.
When computers were introduced the Marxists barged into offices and destroyed the computers saying computers were against the people’s interests. Now each party office has computers.
Many good industrial undertakings in Kerala like Gwalior Rayons, Premier Cables, Madura Coats, Punalur Paper mills etc. closed down because of the labor militancy unleashed by the Marxists. Many multinationals evinced keen interest to set up units in Kerala but after studying the labor situation in the state, they shifted to neighboring states.
We had so many cashew factories in Quilon providing employment to thousands of women. Most of them shifted to Tamilnadu because of the Marxist goons and the women lost their jobs.
They tried to run the country by giving outside support to the UPA. All that they did was to criticize the Central Government on every small thing that did not suit them. They wanted the Central government to toe their line. Sonia had to put up with their nonsense and insults for a long time. When a suitable opportunity arose she dumped them on the roadside with great élan and grace.
All the Marxist leaders amassed wealth at the expense of the workers. These leaders do nothing but encourage the workers not to work, assault the management staff and go on strike. They did the same thing in agriculture. The land lords suffered and many were forced to give up cultivation altogether. For most of our food requirement we have come to depend on the neighboring states.
When I was transferred from Bhopal to Kochi in 1987, the red shirts demanded and collected Rs.1000 from me under threat of physical violence for unloading my household items whereas I paid only Rs.100 in Bhopal for loading them into the lorry.
It is time to get rid of the evil communists lock, stock and barrel.
is it not too simplistic to blame only the Trade Unions for vanishing paddy fields?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Charakan. What we seem to be looking for, by and large, is oversimplified solutions to the plight of the Indian farmer. And there are none. The complexities of macro, micro level economics come in to play.
ReplyDeleteAnd Pulikotil, I hope will agree that every political leader in the country believes in amassing wealth and hold sway over assets grossly disproportionate to his / her known sources of income. They use this money to keep groups of henchmen loyal to them, to invest black money heavily in elections which are their surest route to power and to more murky deals and to enter into partnerships with police officials in the higher positions so that they can make a murder look like sucide and vice versa, when it suits them.It so happens that the communists are no different. Had it been the Congress lead INTUC or the BJP lead BMS that unloaded your truck, they would have used the same threat of physical violence against you. Palat Mohandas, when he moved in as Chief Secretary in Kerala from the centre, he too faced the same situation which you had to face. The socio-political dynamics of a society made up of individuals who will resort to the use of the most unfair, ruthless and self-centred means to gain undue advantage in any life situation, is not too simplistic. And each of us, myself included, make up that society.
@ Charakan, it is not only simplistic but also realistic.. Perhaps you could come up with a better reason???
ReplyDelete@ the topic, I cant understand what this word 'bourgeois' mean in modern Kerala.. where can you find feudal landlords and the slave-employees now-a-days? Thanks, for once to the red comrades for it. Appreciate that.
But it seems as if ' militancy' is the only way of life for our commies. The world has revolved a million times and still our commie leaders and unions are in the ice age. Kerala will be one great case-study for the future generation of how an ancient ideology brought down a prosperous state. Touchwood.
i agree with all of you that laying all the blame at the door of organised agricultural labour is a simplistic interpretation of the situation. but it is a very very basic issue. the labour attitude is a fundamental problem, which if not addressed, will render kuttanaad package totally ineffective. for, to the best of my knowledge(limited, i admit-confined to newspapaer reports only) Swaminathan's kuttanad package does not address the labour problem. it only addresses the technical problem of paddy cultivation below sea level and the funding. The issue of labopur has to be addressed - no amount of funding and technical revolution can save the the package from being drowned in the murky waters of kutanad.
ReplyDeletemy call to the marxist to address this problem is because, a congress govt will not dare to touch the labour issue - notwith the left in the opposition. WE have seen that as an opposition, the left is most cantankerourous, unproductive and development hostile. but while in power, it tries to get operationalised whatever it subverted from the opposition bemnchesso. if the left addresses the labour issue, if the ball is in the left court, and if it takes a decision to regulate the excess union interference in cultivation related activities, the other parties will play along.
i repeat. agriculture in kerala will look up only if the farmenrs and labourers sit around a round table and discuss the issue threadbare and arrive at an agreement. if such a conference can be telecast live, it'd be great.
I guess this sounds like scenes from suresh gobi political thrillers.
* i agree with you that politicians and parties in our system cannot survive without money - and lots of it. they need it for elections and for cover up activities.hence corruption and the nexus with unlawful elements are inevitable.but it is this defeatist attitude that should be worrying us.cant we install some correctional formula into the system. remeber what seshan could achieve - but the intensity of that clean up of the electoral sysem could not be sustained 'cos his successors lacked his conviction.
remeber amul kurien? and so many other people who could make an impact.if we the people can throw our weight behind such people, i'm sure some change will happen.
except making a little bit of noise in our blogs, we too have resigned to the inevitabilty of the undesirable state of the system that governs us.
There are several reasons for declining paddy cultivation in Kerala.High cost of Labour due to strong Unions supported by the Left is only one of the reasons. Land reforms in 1957 resulted in smaller and many a time uneconomic holdings for the Tenants.High literacy rate and availability of white collar work in Kerala and fast-developing cities in rest of India resulted in a shift from agriculture.
ReplyDeleteDeclining procurement price of Paddy from the 1980's is another important reason. Land prices even in rural Kerala began steeply increasing due to Gulf boom again in the 80's.This resulted in more and more farmers converting their land to house plots. Insufficient monsoon rain, attributed to climate change, and the drying up of ponds and streams near the cultivating areas have worsened paddy cultivation. Cash crops as its name implies was a better option for many. Also the cash crops like rubber, cardamom etc get an increased amount of central subsidy as they are considered as foreign exchange earners while poor Paddy is left out. Other reasons found out by a study by Central team included unavailability of quality seed, imbalanced use of fertilisers, improper plant protection measures, weed menace etc.
Another important reason is the very low cost of manual labour in rest of India as pointed out by Mr Joseph. As rest of India remain illiterate and unaware of workers rights, profitability of Kerala Industries will suffer, [similar to what happened in IT Industry in the West before they started out sourcing to India to overcome high labour cost.]
Disclaimer; I do not support militant trade unions but is happy to support workers rights for a good living.
Hi KPJ
ReplyDeleteThis is in response to Paul M’s comment regarding my response to your post
Hi Paul.M
I do not agree with your statement that every political leader wants to amass wealth beause there are honest, good, decent political leaders whose hands are clean and they don’t think of making money but serving the people at large. Besides, your contention that other workers would have also done the same thing for unloading my household items does not hold water because I have used others and I found them more reasonable in their dealings. The reason why the Marxists have become so bold , ruthless and violent is that we tend to generalize things and meekly give in to their demands. We have become weak and spineless and allow the communists to dictate terms to us and indulge in extortion.
Although the Kerala is the most literate state in the country, the commies are responsible for the backwardness of the state because they are against all progress and modernization. If any one buys a piece of land to start a factory, they will plant their eye sore red flags and make the prospective factory owner run for his life.
The Marxists are the evil people who started violence in the state and others parties, if they want to survive, have to adopt the same means.
Many industries closed down because the communists teach the workers to agitate over silly things. They make them to work less, ask for more money and manhandle the management staff if their demands are not met.
Many small scale industries shifted out of the state due to the strong arm tactics of the red shirts. Our state got a bad reputation because of the goondaism and rowdysm encouraged by the Marxists among the work force.
If you go outside the state you will find Malayalees are the best and most trusted workers. In Kerala , they hardly work on account of the poisonous influence of the Marxists.
The labourers from neighbouring states are pouring into Kerala in large numbers for the simple reason that the wages are three times more here because the communists have taught the local workers to demand more and more and work less and less and if possible not work at all.
Marxists have ruined the industrial and agricultural growth of the state and we have come depend on other states for our day to day needs. They have ruined our educational institutions. Even now, go to the Law college and Maharajas college in Ernakulam and see for yourself the number of red flags and banners there.
If the state is to progress, the communists must be booted out. As simple as all that.
@ charakan
ReplyDeletethanks for the very informative post.
yes. i agree with u. changes in the land holding and a host of other factors have contributed to the decline of paddy cultivation.
but it is first hand knowlede of some brave souls in kuttanaad who still engage in paddy cultivation in a big way that causes me to get emphatic on this issue. every year around the harvesting season and the 'nadeel' season, they get so harassed by labour problem. every year they swear to it'll be their last-but are forced to continue by local pressures(from the surrounding feilds). last year's harvesting tragedy was heart breaking cos the crop was so bountiful.
the point i am trying to make is the packages offered to farmers do not factor in the basic problem of labour.
i agree fully with you about labour rights.Well paid labour is the best indicator of development.but the unions should undertake to ensure that a certain code of behaviour is observed by the labour - like imperatively putting in so many hours od work every day, or agree having some system in place to quantify work. keralites are the best workers - outside the state.
the most dignified thing on earth is to earn your wages - the most unethical thing is not to.it is the commitment to work that was destroyed by marxism completely.they have created in the labout an allergy to hierarchy. i am not aware of any organisation/system which can function withou some sort of hierarchy.
@ JP
i too have had experiences with "attimari" for my husband has a tranferable job. we have kept the unions away but have had to fight a right royal battle with them each time, as a matterof principle. it really and truly drains you.
but i agree with charakan. in 1996, in tvm, it was the bjp union that we had to deal with. They were no better.
today, we cannot hope to have success with the attimari guys, cos, sometime in the past year, a order was passed to the effect that police cannot be called to intervene in an attimari crisis. earlier, the move to call the police have worked.
what amazed me was no one reacted to this govt. decision. The fight is gone out of us keralites - the fight for justice.
http://pareltank.blogspot.com/2008/03/kuttanad-ravaged-by-rain-gods-and.html
http://pareltank.blogspot.com/2006/11/post-kerala-piravi-delirium.html
Being from a once-upon-a-time agricultural family, I think the most important reason for agriculture vanishing from Kerala is the changing mindset of the poeple of Kerala.
ReplyDeleteEveryone wants to talk about it, but no one wants to do something about it.
Not many poeple want their children to be farmers anymore, they want them to sit and do some white collar job or go to Gulf.
This is irrespective of whether they are poor or rich.
No one wants their children to work under sunlight and suffer.
This is a phenomenon in Kerala which we can't deny.
According to me, all political reasons are secondary.
Due to comparitively high labour costs, labourers are also able to make their children study and they also manage to go to Gulf as coolies at least where they are paid even more!
@ ammu
ReplyDeleteyes. that's a very important factor. but if farming was a lucrative bisiness, will the landlords allow the acres and acres of paddy fields to lie idle? look at rubber. the younger generation does not sit at home looking after rubber and cardomom estates. but the family somehow gets the show going 'cos there in money in it. in paddy cultivation, it's a story of all loss - actually, it's a vicious circle we have here
It is not a lucrative business because of the high cost involved.
ReplyDeleteIn other states like Andhra pradesh, nice exploitation happens which will not happen in Kerala.
You know what one of my colleague says: They give 5 kgs of low quality rice from their field to the barber who comes every weekend and do shaving, hair cutting etc to the entire joint family for one year. That is the fee. Will someone accpet this in kerala.
Every worker in the farm will be given such tokens only as fees and not any money. If we try to convert what these workers get into money, it is real peanuts (literally). These people lack basic education and believe it is their duty to do whatever the landlords ask for and accpet whatever they offer.
Many socio-economic movements in Kerala changed such things for the lower working class(for good), we should not forget it also.
I agree with Ammu.Exploitation of Labour class in other States of India is unbelievable. The huge income disparity that we see in other States of India we wont see here and we should thank the social movements including the Left for it.
ReplyDeleteCPM cadres in some places are notorious for victimising ppl[farmers] who are openly against them.The Kuttanad farmers that you mentioned might have been victim of this fascist trend in CPM.In my part of the State most farmers and labourers have a good relationship and both groups are staunch supporters of Left.Generally speaking paddy cultivators look up to the Left for their grievances as they feel UDF is not interested in them,whereas cash crop farmers look up to UDF for their problems.
Hi KPJ :)
ReplyDeleteThe high wages extorted by workers in Kerala due to the evil infuluence of the abominable Marxists have not helped anyone and even the workers themselves.
This money is certainly not going for education or better living standards but to the liquor shops. The ques at the Beverages corporation retail out lets are longer than the ques in cenema theatres.
The ill gotten money is spent on liquor and not for provinding succor to the family. In the houses there is only shouting, abusing, beating and harassment to wives and children.
Besides, the unethical Marxists have pushed up the prices in Kerala due to their insistence on getting wages disproportionate to the work done. The people are going bankrupt which can be seen from the number of suicides in the the state. Kerala, a pigmy state, has the unique distinction of having the highest number of sucides in the entire country.
Again, the Kerala government which is in the stangle hold of detestable commies is always bankrupt and there was a time when they were taking loans from the World Bank under the pretext of development projects and paying the salary of government emplayees. Ofcourse, the world bank officials came to understand this shameful trickery of the government and stopped such loans.
I am more than convinced that unless an until we show the door to the communists, the state of keral will not improve.
Communist countries are becoming capitalists because communism is a total failure. It is obsolete, outmoded and an anochronism in the present day and age.
In the last 30 years there is practically no industrial development in the state and whatever agriculture we had have gone to dogs due to the communists. The faster we understand this better.
Best wishes :)
Hi, as a reply to Mr. Joseph Pulikotil, Not all workers booze with their money. It is a pity if you think so. And not all boozers are workers!!
ReplyDeleteMay be you haven't seen many people who made their children study with their hard earned money in feilds and all. Off late many bloggers and commneters are generally blaming kerala as if rest of India is heaven. Go to these so called heavenly cities, open your eayes to the lower section of the society there and then you will see, the living standards of average working class Mallu in kerala is far better. And we can't deny the fact that they deserve this.
Commie or not commie, why should anyone hate workers just because they are workers. They are not a class to be exploited by others. They like any one of us have their rights adn it is their right to get theri rights. If there is something called a minimum wage, they should get it.
Hi KPJ :)
ReplyDeleteKindly allow me to reply to Ammu’s observation in response to my comments.
Hi Ammu :)
No one says workers in Kerala are bad but I object to their demanding disproportionate wages for the work done. I don’t object to their earning minimum or maximum wages, but I object to their earning abnormally high wages which has no relevance whatsoever to the work done by them.
I am not saying all workers drink but it is a fact that the vast majority of them booze and ill treat their families. Besides workers who booze cannot work the next day because of hangover.. Since they have to find money for their booze in the evening they try to extort and extract money by bullying, intimidating and sometimes manhandling people.
You should know that liquor consumption in Kerala is the highest in the country and workers constitute the major workforce. When I say workers, I mean not only laborers but the entire spectrum of workforce who form the majority of the population.
Kerala workers should learn lessons from workers in Maharastra , Gujarat and Punjab etc. where they lead a frugal life, save money and invest wisely in business. In Kerala workers live beyond their means, try to show off, indulge in profligate spending and get into debts.
How many Malayalis own and operate induatrial undertakings in Kerala? You travel from Kasarkode to Parasala and see for your self. Most of the industries are ether government undertakings or owned by outsiders. The few outsiders who started industries here are regretting. Are you aware Apollo Tyres Ltd. Kalamaserry is under lockout right now because the workers refused to increase production and manhandled the officers. Kanwar Singh is a tough man. He will keep the factory closed as long as it is needed to bring the workers to their knees. Coming to rich malayalees, they go to other states to start their business ventures. Why? They are mortally frightened of the workforce here who will make them bankrupt in no time.
Land lords don’t want to cultivate their lands. Rather they would like to sell it in pieces for building houses. Again, travel from one end of Kerala to the other and see for yourself how many paddy fields have been converted into house plots.
Many multinational companies eagerly come to Kerala to locate places to set up their manufacturing concerns. But when they hear about the terrible labour situation prevailing here, they run as fast as they can to other states. They are not fools to invest their money here!
This reminds me another interesting case. When MRF started a factory in PONDa, Goa, they employed a large number of malayalees from Kerala. Soon the malayalees started unions, crippled production and the factory was running in a loss. The factory was closed for a long time and when reopened they decided not to recruit any more mallus. This is what mallu workers did to a malayalee organisation!
These are all hard facts and difficult to stomach. You have to call a spade a spade. There is absolutely no purpose in eulogizing the evil communists and glossing over the terrible labor situation and the unethical practices adopted by them to swindle money.
To say the least, the labour force controlled by the commies in Kerala have crippled the industrial development , destroyed agricultural production and ruined the educational institutions. You need some courage to face this grim scenario in Kerala.
I can write pages and pages on this.
Best wishes :)
Well said Ammu, The human development index has always shown Kerala the best among States while the so-called development hubs like Gujarat way behind. Along with social movements, the Left have played a crucial role in this. May be Kerala lagged behind in increasing productivity and that needs to be addressed.
ReplyDeleteIt is time that we shed this stereotyped narrow vision about drunken laborers abusing wives.
It is not question of parties or ideologies. It is our basic mind-set of submission to bullies.
ReplyDeleteIf Communists have been the successful bullies for a long period of time, have we not seen the Church bullying us during the Vimochana Samaram and the like? Do they not bully now, a la the Colleges, text books and Abhaya? What about Karunakara Bhakthans during the Emergency; the rowdy youth Congress men around the College Samaram times; the NDF and RSS currently? And the Police and bureaucracy all throughout?
Ironic as it might be, but for the obstructing Communists, Kerala would have been a hellish and unlivable place through lack of space and pollution long back. The current bout of Cities, immigrant labour and Mafia landholdings around all Projects might still see to it in the next five years.
Hi KPJ:)
ReplyDeleteI saw some more comments eulogizing the decadent commies who have completely damaged this wonderful state – GOD’S OWN COUNTRY. I hope this will serve as an eye opener to them.
It is crystal clear that the commies have destroyed the state in all aspects. Garbage is piling up all over the state, tourists are being molested, rowdie commies attack the police station and release their criminal colleagues, commies criticize the judiciary with impunity, unmotorable roads in the monsoon, water logging, no proper drainage, misbehavior of the bus crew, extortion by auto drivers, highest liquor consumption in the country, highest suicide rate in the whole of India, extortion by labour force, innumerable strikes, bandhs and hartals, assaulting the management staff, closure of several industrial units, decline in agricultural production, dependency of the state for the basic necessities of life to other states, bankruptcy of the government and many more evils in the state are the gifts given to us by the evil communists.
What are we gloating about? We have practically nothing to show. All destroyed by the detestable commies. We have better human index. Ridiculous! Go to Eroor. There is an old woman called Karuthamma living with her husband named Kannan.
She is from Thrikkakara. She has no food to eat for many days. She doesn’t even have decent clothes. Just because you have food on your table it doesn’t mean that all people in Kerala are getting their meals every day. Starvation is rampant in Kerala. Open your eyes and see. There is no point in being like an ostrich.
The commies are the culprits for all this evil. They are the ones who taught others the violent methods. Others are only imitating them. The church has to survive in the commie culture and cannot allow themselves to be bullied and intimidated by the commies.
What do we have now in the state of kerala? God bestowed this state with immense beauty and intelligent people only to be destroyed by the commies.
A few days back there was a report in the Hindu paper that the commie government has given licenses to open more than 1500 toddy outlets in the state to co operative societies controlled by commie goons. This means commie goons will mint money and more and more people will become drunkards. Commies cannot survive without drunkards to support them. To make matters worse, DIG, Rishi Raj Singh has been stopped by the commie government from investigating into the sources of spurious liquor coming into the state.
Where are we going? Just think!
Best wishes :)
"What are we gloating about? We have practically nothing to show. All destroyed by the detestable commies. We have better human index. Ridiculous! Go to Eroor. ":
ReplyDeleteOur poor do not need any help from any god-less Communist government.
Churches of our Lord Jesus Christ are here to take care of all our poor.
The Church has enough and more money to feed the entire population of Kerala. If the Church funds run out, we have other god-believing communities to take over the burden.
Let the god-less enjoy all the mammon. As for us believers, it is "Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away".
As long as we have the Church established by St.Thomas here, there shall not be any starving or poor in here on this God's own land.
@ ammu, charakan
ReplyDeletei have no quarrel with the labour being paid well in kerala-or anywhere else for that matter. That is most certainly the way it shud be. my problem is with the wpork output. it is totally disproportionattte to the wages. the end result - the labour is paid for the work they do NOT do. how can any enterprise survive that way? i believe whether a ceo or a lecturer or a govet. employee or a farm labourer, it is unethical not to put in the required amount of work for which you draw your salary. it shows lack of integrity.to be a shirker where work is concerned but hang on arrogantly to your job on the strength of the unions or service laws that protect you cannot be jstified.
i repeat. i'm proud to belong to a state which pays the best minmum salary to its labour. but i am completely ashamed of our work culture.
@ stoic
yes. the trouble with us is we meekly submit to all sorts of bullying.i suupose over along time we've learnt of the vicious strenght of the bullies' musclepower.
the church and other religious institutions have money but i was not awarethat that it is this money that keeps hunger at bay in kerala. source?
@ jp
i was really shocked to hear that we have cases like karuthammas in kerala. a year ago, i was involved in a survey taken in the a munciplty in mid travancore on the bpl population. we didnt see a single case of hunggry mouths. of course life is precarious but they manage three meals a day somehow or other. and we found that the credit for this goes to the women.yes, alchohol is a serious porblem, the survey showed.
so this karuthamma case comes as a surprise.guess it is a case of urban poverty.
we all live in a fool's paradise seeing only what we want to.
Amen to all comments. Hope the powerful and super rich Churches along with the Mahal Committees and Madhoms along with their powerful political friends save our Kerala from the hands of bullying and evil God less Commies and make it once again a God's own country
ReplyDelete"the church and other religious institutions have money but i was not awarethat that it is this money that keeps hunger at bay in kerala. source?":
ReplyDeleteI was only trying a bit of Reductio ad absurdum
Among Mallus, as with most other communities, the 'religious' are the worst hypocrites.
Bravo stoic, for your comment of 23 Jan. I wonder if Pulikkottil lived all his life in Kerala as I did, getting a first hand experience of all political cults in the state. The 'commies' (hatred makes us refrain from using the term 'communists', right?) perpetrate violence for the sake of monetary gains for the proletariat. And the non-communists bend the rules, indulge in large scale corruption and high-handedness to fill their personal coffers.
ReplyDeleteOf late the 'commies' too have emulated the example and many of them have manged to amass huge amounts of wealth. The left and the right indulge in mud-slinging in the media to keep as all tense and anxious ( almost like those hormone-fed wwf wrestlers) but cover up for each other whenever there is an inquiry by some statutory body or the other.
"there are honest, good, decent political leaders whose hands are clean and they don’t think of making money but serving the people at large."
Please give me a list of 10 such politicians from the whole of India. I'm curious.
Of course, from the point of view of the industrialist or the investor, the right wing is easier to handle as money paid to individual politicians for favours received,remains a secret, be it the Kanichukulangara murderers or the 'Mathikettan' land invaders. In the case of the communists, chances are that the details of the amount received as bribe will be made known to the state committee or the polit bureau or at least to those who hold key positions in either,(with the promise and without the guarantee that it will be invested for the next elections) be it from Santiago Martin or Lavelin.
I'm glad K.T and her husband have always put up a brave fight whenever the loading unions tried to bully them. I have acted in similar lines in similar situations, sometimes with moderate success, and some times without. A few of these conflicts lead to decades long legal wranglings at the end of which I managed to salvage my self respect.
I got lucky. Many don't. It's not the legislation alone that stops the police from interfering in these conflicts. They go only by what their political masters tell them. And care a damn about the courts and their verdicts. Every time the high court passes an order to the effect that protection should be provided to someone's life and property,the police ensures the order is NOT complied with. And they get away by charging a 'suo moto' case against the offenders who will ultimately be let free as there is no evidence. No police officer is punished by a court for not providing protection as per its order. Right now there are over 700 cases of contempt pending in the high court of Kerala. If KT and her husband have put up a fight and won, it could mean only mean one thing. They were lucky to have the police take a stance for them and not against them, as is usually the wont.
Since MRF has been mentioned, just a question: did you by the way here that some trucks loaded with natural rubber where caught at the border as they took a round about route out of kerala to evade the excise tax? They were suspected to be heading towards a tyre manufacturing unit situated outside kerala. The total amount gained ran in to a few crores. But the case was quickly covered up. We had 'our right wing govt.' in power in the state, at the time.
We must have a Golden Mean.
ReplyDeleteWe do not want rulers like Morarji Desai who mailed to Pakistan the addresses of our RAW agents there [because it was immoral to spy]; or Gandhiji who made a teen girl shave off her hair and her teen paramour walk barefoot across the desert at midday [because they were found hugging]. We also do not want the 'total' businessman leader either. I dare not give names because I am a Mallu and so, a coward before any bully.
Would someone like AK A, who does not take anything himself, but does not raise even his little finger against partners' stealing; be good for us?
When would we have any integrity at all? The new-born is handed over here to the parents only if at least Rs 100/- is given to the Ayah at the hospital. He is admitted to a school, joins a college, gets a teaching job - all through bribes and donations only.
I hold the religions and religious organisations as the sole culprits in this situation. In the IT age, people might move away from all organisations. They might have more transparent governance also.
Till the individual thus becomes free, Kerala has no future, unless colonised by the immigrant labourers.
I agree with stoic's comment on AKA. But this morning I read a write up by K.M.Roy in Mangalam as to how,had it not been for AKA, the Marad murderers would have gone scotfree. Roy feels its AKA's resolve that lead to the investigation being complete in 90 days and the charge sheet filed, where as investigations against those who perpetrated communal violence on a much bigger scale are not complete, even after the passage of a few years, in certain other states. Apart from keeping his eyes shut towards corruption by his cabinet colleagues and party men, I hated AKA most for encouraging and propping up KK even while remaining his sworn enemy. (Or was it that he found an ally in KK against possible threats from OC?)
ReplyDeleteExplosive. The tone betrays your hatred too.
ReplyDeleteHatred? That's one human emotion totally unknown to me! With me it's been 'loka samata sughino bhavanthu' right along the way! LOL.
ReplyDeleteAnd talking of Antony he's one (and perhaps the only)politician who never accrued a few hundred crores through corrupt underhand dealings to stach away in a secret swiss bank account. Let's give him credit for that!
(But having acted as the treasurer of the AICC, he must have seen such money and even handled it, all the while keeping his lips sealed.)