Solutions to Change

A vacation journey D.Dhanuraj As Christmas has been nearing, I wanted to be in Cochin to complete some of my works pending. It has been one week in Chennai. I looked at the Indian Railway site for tickets. There is no ticket in any of the trains going to Kerala for next couple of weeks. Then I spent an afternoon searching for the private buses (illegally run) for tickets. They said the same story as in the railway website. Then I tried any ticket to Coimbatore instead to Cochin directly. No way I could expect a ticket. Then I tried with Tamil Nadu state transport. Finally I had to end up with a ticket to Salem in TN state bus. The reasons for the rush are; Holidays and Sabarimala piligirimage. I wondered how much money is pouring into this God's own country from Tamil Nadu only at this fag end of the year. If the former showed the vast contigent of Malayali emigrants in Tamil Nadu ( there are five trains running to Kerala every day including one special train these days), the la...

A hartal day D.Dhanuraj On the day of the hartal, I cannot resist working. Not because I want to oppose terhe Hartal but beacuse I have been given a deadline on the project that we are working on ' Justice V R Krishna Iyer - a living legend' documentary on Justice V R Krishna Iyer. The second editing has been going on. The editor and the director wanted my presence in the studio. Since I am leaving for Chennai next day, I have been asked to be present on the hartal day itself. I was deinite that even Justice Krishna Iyer - a member in the first communist ministry - would not oppose my move to work on that day. Whenever we met he emphasised the need for a work culture and the importance of hardwork When I drove with the director, first i felt hartal has not much impact on that day. 20 km drive from my home to studio in the morning showed up a number of two wheelers in the road. Since th studio was in upsatirs, once we entered the studio we were not all disturned by the happen...

Kerala - a state of pardox Dhanuraj Why crimes and harassment against women are so high in our state? I wonder our society is so closed. Out of 30 million population, 2.5 million are gulf emigrants. There is a huge Diaspora of malayalees in Europe, Africa and America. Lastly, within India we can call an influential NRK (Non Resident Keralites) population across the country. So the number of families got separated are in millions. At the same time, Socio Cultural Revolution in the late 19th and early 20th centuries appeared to have worked on the malayali mindset to a model moral place. The struggle against feudalism and social inequality succeeded very much but the resent on the upper class still runs trough the malayalees still???? The latter part of the 20th century, Kerala witnessed the emergence of middle class which identified with the upper class or the separation between the two is very narrow, so the struggle continues against the middle class. Don’t you think these factors pla...

What a state is it? D.Dhanuraj Kerala, the land with ravishing beauty and unparallel resources boasts of hundred percentage literacy. For the last two decades, the annual inflow income money is more than 700 crores which equaled the one of the highest net inflow in the pre globalization time. We have an enrolment of 85% of students in the primary level and our health indices are comparable to the developed countries. Distribution of health is very much in this state in terms of mansions, bungalows and multi storied buildings puffed with Italian marbles and granites. This is the first state where the first communist government came into the power through ballot. We have seen Naxalism and emergency at various degress compared to other parts of the country. We sent our sisters and brothers to toil in the deserts because we were reluctant to submit the failure of our policies. The communal organizations caught the imagination of the majority of the people even while they preached Marx’s fa...

Evaluation time D.Dhnauraj This is the time to evaluate and analyze the contributions of all these governments in the last fifty years. Suppose one come out with an Index positioning the performance and contribution of each government since 57 and on the other side the contribution of different sects of Kerala society and then compare both. What will be the outcome? There are decisions and legislations which had a direct as well as indirect impact on the development of the state. Usually they say land reforms, education bill, golden period between 71 to 75 etc. Again, evaluate the outcome of these reforms. From 1805 onwards, Kerala has been one of the main centre’s of education. Christian missionaries started schools while in Malabar; it is the local administration initiated the proceedings. Trend is continued ven today even though the regulations and legislations on education sector over the time influenced the sector. This is clearly explained in the paper A review of 1957 Education...

Islamic Terrorism - a facy word to politicking D.Dhanuraj HI, This is a comment to the article on ‘ Pakistani terrorism faces manpower crunch; starts new strategy ’ I denounce the phrase Islamic terrorism. Any reader of this article who happened to be an Islam by birth cannot be mollified by any other pleasing gimmicks by the Government of the day to retain their vote bank when elections are around. How come terrorism can be attributed to one and only single group/ community in this world? LTTE is not an Islamic force nor is Northern Ireland group. In India, there are many small and big organizations that do not have any link with Islam but having pronounced allegiance to Hindu and Christian groups terrorize the state. Then, why Islam only? There is an increased identification of all the actions of any society or an individual with any of the religion in the recent times. There is a concerted effort also from some quarters to visualize the developments along the restricted and confi...

Who won the Election? Another round of elections, whether it is General Elections or By polls, Kerala spends a lot of time watching the Political theatre set for the idiotic warm up games. There is no permanent enemy in Politics; this statement may not have been verified with such an authenticity and vilification nowhere else than in Kerala. This is such a deeply disoriented society in a hyper political atmosphere. Alas, the hope is not lost. The margin of the victory of the present ruling party candidate indicates that voters of Kerala (or at least those in Thiruvambadi) are looking for alternatives and they are highly disappointed with both the political forces in Kerala. They do not find any difference among the political forces in Kerala. In an election where 84% o the voters cast their franchise, the margin of the victory (246 votes) champions the democratic principles enshrined in the constitution but it also reflects the mood of electorate. Is there any vision statement on the...