Utopian Kerala

What we should do instead of celebrating women's day?

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 04:57:00 +0000

Published on Substack on 8-Mar-23 - https://utopiankerala.substack.com/p/what-we-should-do-instead-of-celebrating

Another Women's Day and there is no dearth of wishes and messages for women. I believe this is not helping anyone. We should do something else. Let me try listing a few things that anyone who is reading this can do.

What women should be doing?

Open a sole bank account, if you don't have one. It should not be a joint account with your spouse. You should be operating the card, cheque, internet banking, etc and not your spouse. This is the first step towards financial freedom.
Start driving a car. It is not enough that you have a driving licence. If you don't have a licence, get one. If it is within your means buy a car in your name. This will give you the freedom to go places.
Read a newspaper daily, including the editorials. Keep an appetite to know what is happening in society, economy, politics and sports. This will make you an interesting human with whom people would like to discuss things. This will open up the world for you. Even my 5-year-old says that it is men who read newspapers and women the magazines. This must change.
Make friends with men, other than your spouse. Men are interesting people. You can definitely find good men around who can be a very good friend. Seeing the world from their perspective will make you a better woman.
Ensure that all your immediate family members have medical insurance for at least 2 lakh. This will keep you prepared for any medical emergency.
Ensure that earning members of your family have life insurance. Not unit-linked (ULIP) but a pure term insurance with others as nominees. The term insurance must cover at least all your liabilities. This will give you a headstart in case of an unexpected death in the family.
Get your spouse to share all information related to assets and liabilities like land details, bank accounts, demat accounts, deposits, loans, insurance, etc and also email accounts. You must have a book that records these details preferably with login and passwords. It must be ensured that there is a nominee for all these accounts. If the spouse is running a business as a promoter you must get involved in it to the extent possible.
Ensure that your spouse has written a ‘will’. This can help you keep away potential disputes with the extended family.
Travel. I read somewhere that women marry so that they can see the world. Let the world see a happy you!
If you have a boy at home, take good care of him so that he becomes a man whom you would want to marry. If it is a girl, equip her to deal with the world by herself without anyone's help.

What men should be doing?

Just help a woman do all the above.

Flowers fall, men do not

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 04:52:00 +0000

Published on Substack on 30-Jan-23 - https://utopiankerala.substack.com/p/flowers-fall-men-do-not

A cousin was sharing the other day that she gets teased by Malayali men in the streets of England. Our brothers have migrated but without leaving their habits from Kerala.

Vayanottam (ogling at others from the street side) is a pastime for men in Kerala. From very casual vayanottam to stalking, men enjoy doing this mostly in their dhotis. Every morning I get to see a few men in my village who does this when other men and women are rushing to their workplace.

It is not that these men do not have any work. They must be back from early morning rubber tapping, about to start their farming activities, or just starting the day with morning paper and tea. Given a chance they are back at the kavala (junction) for vayanottam. They also do pass comments on themselves and others. Occasionally it will be loud enough for everyone to hear.

Their most common subjects would be women and other men who do not join them in vayanottam. The village grapevines get shared during this pastime. Obviously, women do not enjoy this but have been ignoring this for generations.

This vayanottam is exceptionally captured by an artist at Kochi Biennale. Men in their neat white kasavu mundu (white dhotis with golden silk border) are drawn without their bodies above the waistline. It’s nice that various postures of men are captured. There are some flowers lying on the ground. Apparently, flowers fall but malayali men do not. They continue their vayanottam for generations and decades even after they migrate from Kerala.

Leave our girls alone

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 04:50:00 +0000

Published on Substack on 17-Jan-23 - https://utopiankerala.substack.com/p/28-leave-our-girls-alone

Today's front page news on Malayala Manorama got me thinking about the times and the world we live in. Menstrual leave is being considered at every University in Kerala.

As if women start menstruating when they do higher studies and stop when they graduate.

Not long ago, I had a chance to look at a study done by a doctor among adolescent girls in a government-aided high school. One of the most important revelations was that many girls skip school during menstruation. Yes, they go through unbearable pain but that was not the reason for them skipping school. The school lacks good toilets for them to use. Girls cannot access toilets as they want. They do not have access to napkins and using clothes make their life difficult at school.

Providing leaves to menstruating girls is not helping their cause. Leave them alone. They do not need such sympathy. Let the focus be on the infrastructure we build for women at schools, colleges and public spaces.

Can you delete dog videos?

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sun, 19 Jun 2022 13:10:00 +0000

Can you delete dog videos? My 5-year-old asked me the other day.

She was showing YouTube on the phone which had dogs in videos after another. She is only seeing dog videos and she wants me to delete them and see something of her taste.

My 9-year-old is fond of pets and keeps watching dogs and other pets on the same YoutTube and phone. The YouTube algorithm was yet to recognise that a different user with different interests is now using it!

The same phone is used by my mother as well. She watches “Big Boss” videos one after another.

There is something for all of us to understand here about how the algorithms behind YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and such, work and how that can shape our beliefs and action. Before that, let me share a true story from my extended family.

Two sisters, one a housewife and the other working for the government live nearby. Gardening is a passion for the latter and does that as a small business. She goes on YouTube only to check videos related to gardening. The former, in between her daily chores, spends time on YouTube. Particularly, she follows multiple cases and news around the Malayalam film actor, Dileep.

One day they both were chatting. The former shared a ‘breaking news’ in the Dileep case. The latter, even though curious, was not aware of it. She asked for details. The former curiously asked ‘aren’t you checking Youtube?’. Latter replied, ‘yes, I did today as well but did not see any’. The former was surprised ‘how come?! it was there at around 1 PM on YouTube! Probably you did not check YouTube at that time!’.

They both do not know that they are on completely different YouTube, made for them with the help of algorithms. YouTube has created a world of videos around them that they want to see. The same happens on all social media - Facebook, Instagram and such.

We can surround our world with gardening, K-Pop, god, politics, cooking, cricket, self-improvement, film stars, hatred, books, cancer, tourist locations and more. The underlying algorithm monitors our choices. We will be creating a microcosm around us that will harden our beliefs. We will not explore anything outside and tend to believe this is what matters to the world and us in this day and time.

We will follow our sports team with greater zeal. Our political beliefs will get strengthened to the extent that we want to eliminate the others. We will harden our worship of gods and celebrities. We will harden our hatred against another community. We will harden our fears. Every stranger can be a killer. Every young man with an uncommon beard, hairstyle or dress is taking ‘stuff’.

This is where we have to appreciate the beauty of a Newspaper in our life. Newspaper brings to us the curated news from across the world. There is the suffering of people from Ukraine and the celebration of Neeraj Chopra winning another gold. There is Adani buying another business entity and the economy losing its steam. There is Amit Shah on ‘Agneepath’ and Jay Shah on ‘Crorepath’ with IPL! There is waterlogged city and Silverline. There is a son washing her mother’s legs and another killing his mother. Newspapers bring to us the life around us. A mix of everything!

Yes, Newspaper has their own flaws. The editor and the owner can influence what gets printed. If we are aware of it, Newspapers still bring a better worldview to us.

The Internet can bring the world to you. But the algorithm can still decide what you get to read or watch next. Break your algorithm and break the microcosm. You will be surprised to see the world beyond!

Yet another rape case

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sat, 07 May 2022 17:36:00 +0000

The Malayalam film industry got national attention again with a woman (Y) accusing a man (X) of rape. The very same day, X revealed the identity of Y through Facebook. Quite naturally, supporters of X endorsed his illegal act. I do not support X or his act. But there is something here that needs our attention.

Let it be made very clear that women and their concerns are something that I identify with very often. Let me share a recent observation by a bench in Karnataka High Court in a case “A man is a man; an act is an act; rape is a rape, be it performed by a man the ‘husband’ on the woman ‘wife’,”. That quite sums up my take on rape.

In a rape case, the woman is identified as a victim or survivor. Because of the social prejudices, victimization and ostracization, special rights are granted to victims by law. ‘Noone should reveal the identity of the victim or survivor’ is one such right. It is a right that intends to secure the life of the victim or survivor.

But, what if a woman decides to malign the reputation of a man with a rape case. In such a case, this special right becomes a weapon for the criminal.

Yes, such instances could be rare and I buy the argument that a woman would not take such an extreme step because of the social stigma attached to it. But is that so?

Let us look at another case in the Malayalam Film industry. Leading actor Dileep is accused of an abduction and rape case which is under trial. Recently police started investigating a new case in which Dileep is accused of conspiring to kill police officers who put him behind bars for 85 days in the rape case. In this new case, Dileep’s estranged friend and film director Balachandrakumar is a key witness. In a few days of this new case, a woman filed a complaint accusing Balachandrakumar of raping her 10 years ago.

The woman here must be a survivor and would have a valid complaint. But, what if she filed this complaint to tarnish the image and credibility of a key witness in another prominent case. The case against Balachandrakumar undoubtedly gives Dileep and his advocates an edge in the court. What if, Dileep is exonerated doubting the credibility of the witness and later Balachandrakumar is found to be innocent in the rape case?

There have been a few fake rape cases from Kerala - a Sub-Inspector framing his daughter as the victim, a case against a health department official, a mother using her minor daughter…. All of them are recent cases. Quashing a false rape case, Kerala High Court had said that “False rape charges deserve equal seriousness”.

We cannot deny the fact the right ensured by law to protect a rape victim can be misused by criminals for extortion and/or to tarnish the reputation of another individual.

If there are no safeguards on misusing rape cases, there could be more instances of X identifying themselves as victims and revealing the identity of Y.

Rail or road on my land

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 17:40:00 +0000

Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (K-Rail) is a Joint Venture Company under the Government of Kerala and Ministry of Railways, Government of India. SilverLine is their “Thiruvananthapuram – Kasaragod Semi High-Speed Rail Project”.

The 529.45 km SilverLine corridor connecting Kasaragod and Thiruvananthapuram, with an operating speed of 200kmph, eases the transport between North and South ends of the state and reduces the total travel time to less than 4 hours, compared with the present 10 to 12 hours. The intermediate stations include Kollam, Chengannur, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Kochi Airport, Thrissur, Tirur, Kozhikode and Kannur.

Most of you would be knowing all this and more as it is a hot discussion across Kerala. Some are for development and others are against development. Everyone has a point to make and so do I!

Having decided to give part of the land for infrastructure development, what would a common man prefer on his land - a road or a railway line?

A road means better access to him and his remaining land. The value of the remaining land will appreciate. He has better options with the asset. The road will give easy and better access for his future generations for a better life. If by any chance the road splits his land, it is much better for him. The opportunities and potential for him with the remaining land is far better when the road is in place.

A railway line is the complete opposite of this. The railway line does not make his living better. The land value will not appreciate. There are stringent restrictions on what can be constructed on the nearby land. The rail will not give easy access to the world around. He will have to reach the nearest station to travel on them. If by any chance the road splits his land, it is worse for him. The opportunities and potential for him with the remaining land is far worse when the rail is in place.

We just have to look around and see the life of people beside a road and a railway line. The above dichotomy exists for anybody who stands to lose part of their land. How do we consider them in our decisions?

Are you a girl?

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sun, 23 Jan 2022 18:14:00 +0000

That’s my 4-year-old daughter asking me one morning. It was not a silly question. It provoked me to think deep.

I was sweeping my front yard that day. It is usually my wife or mother who does this, while I would be reading the newspaper. It is not that I don’t know sweeping. I just choose not to do it. If I remember right, the last time I swept the front yard was when I was a kid playfully helping my grandmother. It was her daily routine then. My mother started doing and now my wife does it.

My wife fell sick and I was forced to share the workload of my ageing mother. There I started sweeping and the little one got up in the morning seeing me on the job instead of her grandma or mother. “Are you a girl?”, she asked and started smiling.

I have not seen my father or grandfather sweeping the front yard. I think I know only one person who has been sweeping for years, not letting her wife do it.

Who should sweep, that is not the subject here. We should know that we all have grown up with such gender discrimination ingrained in ourselves. Just think of the gender that comes to your mind when you imagine a driver, pilot, doctor, minister, judge, president, teacher, nurse, receptionist, maid. Our minds are conditioned to think like that. It is not a cause of concern. But we should be aware that our minds are conditioned. We should be mindful of such notions in our thinking.

When the Malayalam movie “The Great Indian Kitchen” was a talking point, I had asked a few married men and women about the film. Surprisingly, almost all from Kerala, irrespective of gender, did not find anything special in the movie. They could not see gender discrimination in the movie. Few women even felt the leading lady a bit odd, not doing what every other woman in Kerala does in their ordinary life. The world outside Kerala was celebrating the movie as a pathbreaking Indian Cinema. The movie was not any more a Malayalam movie, an Indian movie.

The other day, my colleague came back to the office after recovering from COVID. His wife, three small kids and mother all fell sick and recovered. He had tiring days taking care of the family which his wife was managing every day on top of her work. He was appreciating his wife!

A woman’s life is not easy in Kerala or India. Womaning in India, by Mahima Vashisht explores this at great length. I am reminded of a scene in the Malayalam movie “Salt n' Pepper”. The boy asks the girl why she is holding books to her chest and starts wondering why his mother did not tell him to hold books like that!

Woman makes their daily living being fully aware of their gender and its limitations, every moment. Men like me are so privileged that we do not even think of our gender.

Why do we count the number of rape victims and not the perpetrators? As a society, we need to be aware of gender discrimination deep inside our thoughts and deeds. As a male, we may attempt to make the social life of females better. Can we not lift the seat of a unisex toilet before urinating? Can we not wash our own plates? Just be mindful of women in all our deeds! All of us can make a woman’s life better.

Are you political?

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sun, 15 Aug 2021 13:38:00 +0000

Are you political? Are you interested in politics? Which party do you support? These are some common questions that we all come across. People do ask me. More so after they read me.

Let me make some disclosure. I am interested in politics. I do have my preferences. Most of the time I find myself casting vote in favour of a particular party. But I definitely do not endorse everything the party does. I find all political parties to be good. As I cannot pick and choose portions from each, I find myself prioritizing the options. I do not use this medium to further any political party. I just reflect on the world around me, particularly Kerala.

Now, are you political? Are you interested in politics? I believe, everyone should be deeply interested in politics. It does not matter which party you support. It bothers me when someone says they do not care about politics. If you do not care about politics or find yourself in doubt, please do read further with an open mind.

It is undoubtedly clear that we need a system of governance and rule of law. We need it to engage with other countries, to protect our individual rights and belongings, for building and managing infrastructure for the public good and more. Humans evolved over centuries always discovering better ways of governance. Democracy seems to be the best way of governance, even with all its deficiencies. In a democracy, people get to present different approaches to governance and compete. The public gets to make their choice and elect their representative. They then get to be part of the elected government.

Democracy is a beautiful system when it works well. Unfortunately, democracy has many deficiencies and does not provide the best result always. Hence we have people questioning democracies. Questioning democracy is not bad. We should always be in a pursuit to find a better system and do change if we must. Till then Democracy is what we have.

How does each one of us approach politics?

We need a government that fundamentally respect each of our basic individual rights. I am talking about individuals, not people in collective. You, your spouse, parent, child, are all individuals and cannot be seen collective as a family. All of them has the individual right. There cannot be murder, marital rape, harassment and such within the family. We need a government that ensures rule of law within our family.

Once we step into our community, society and public at large, everyone’s basic individual rights should be protected. The collective interests can be there but not at the cost of an individual’s basic rights.

We should approach politics this way from individual rights to collective interests. We should be worried about corruption, political violence and atrocities. But that should not stop us from liking politics. We should be able to see collective interests in all political crimes.

We should openly welcome differences of opinion, consider alternate solutions, make our own choices and do support the best. We need not be wedded to a political party and be forced to justify everything the party does. We should keep an open mind to opposing views and do change. We do not hold all our childhood beliefs even now. We would not endorse all our actions when we were young. Likewise, we need not hold on to a political belief and party always. Be fluid, for individual rights and interests. Be political!

Twenty20 - Is the end near?

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sat, 17 Jul 2021 18:12:00 +0000

It is not often that the common man in Kerala rallies behind a “muthalali” - an entrepreneur. But that has been happening for the past 2 weeks. Kitex Garments and the promoter Sabu Jacob has been in the thick of things. The Vazhipokkan in Mathrubhumi sums up a lot that I have to say on this. Let me add more.

Twenty20, the political party formed by Sabu Jacob, has been an experiment that took national attention. I had written the below lines in September 2020.

The political scene in Kerala took an interesting turn with the arrival of Twenty20 a few years back. A political party with corporate-style functioning, backed by capitalists, in Kerala! Heady Mix! Twenty20 won the last panchayat election handsomely. Now they have plans to contest in neighbouring panchayats. The interesting experiment has enough backers and critics. Nidheesh M. K. has an interesting article on Twenty20 which can be read here.

I was wary of predicting an end to Twenty20. I would say now that the experiment will lose steam and would die in 6-8 years! It can only sustain longer without Sabu Jacob.

Politicians and businessmen are interesting people. They command a lot of public respect. But has there been a businessman who runs his own political party in a democratic country? There are businessmen within established political parties who have occupied public offices. In those cases, they stood in the election and won or had the backing of political parties in power. They occupied offices with the confidence of the public.

History is replete with instances of businessmen sponsoring political parties but not running parties successfully. Businessmen always have a vested interest in their business and profit which often comes in conflict with that of the public interest. That is the reason they cannot be successful in running political parties.

Twenty20 by Sabu Jacob has been successful for the activities it championed and the immediate benefit that the public had. Corporate-style functioning brought in a refreshing change to the politics in Kerala. People preferred professionally run Twenty20 enterprise over the political parties run by normal people, most often not very well educated and even corrupt. The local politics among the leading parties also helped in the growth of Twenty20. Twenty20 won the local panchayat again in 2020 and won few more neighbouring panchayats. They now want to win the legislative assembly seats and probably run the Kerala government.

Would an established political party allow this to happen? Definitely no! They cannot afford to let the experiment grow bigger. They will do everything within their means to restrain Twenty20. The strength of Twenty20, Kitex Garments promoted by Sabu Jacob, will become its weakness, the Achilles heel. If Twenty20 has to sustain itself, Sabu Jacob has to keep either his business or party away. He might not leave his business.

If you still need to be convinced, try answering the below questions.

Would Sabu Jacob be able to run a political party like Twenty20 in any other state in India? Why?
Can there be a business entity that enjoys preferential treatment more so when the business is run by a politician?
How do we trust a politician who can potentially legislate laws in favour of his enterprises?

Twenty20 came into existence because of the public mistrust in politics. They say “Politics is downstream from culture. If you want to change politics, you first have to change people to change culture.” Businessmen are not the answer!

Startup ecosystem in Kerala

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sun, 02 May 2021 18:02:00 +0000

How good is the startup ecosystem in Kerala? Where do we stand? What do we lack? What can be done? These are some questions for us when we see the startup frenzy happening elsewhere in India. The question hits us hard when we see the growing success of Byju’s. Why Byju’s did not happen from Kerala?

The State Of Kerala Startup Ecosystem 2019 published by Kerala Startup Mission [KSUM] details a lot about where we are now. You can read that here. An analysis of the startup ecosystem can be found here. A guide on how to startup in Kerala can be accessed here. Clearly, the government is doing a lot to get the ecosystem to work and nurture a potential unicorn from Kerala. The central government has even recognised the state as a leader across all pillars of the startup ecosystem for the 2nd time in 2019.

It seems like we are doing everything possible and we just have to wait patiently for a success story. It is not that simple.

Indian startups seem to have received $10.14 billion in funding in 2020, even in the midst of a pandemic. India holds on to its 4th position globally in attracting funds after the US, China and the UK. That’s big! A significant portion of global funding is definitely flowing to India. Bengaluru, Delhi NCR and Mumbai accounted for 90% of the startup funding in the country.

55% of the total startups in India are in the states of Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh. Kerala is at the 9th position holding only 3.43% of startups in India.

Kerala has more than 2200 registered startups. Now and then we hear some instances of glory, them getting recognised. But that’s it. Is there a single startup in Kerala that can become a unicorn?

Startups are essentially people-driven. Founders and founding team are the key to a startup’s success. They come together immediately after college or from the industry in which they are working. If they are working, they come across an untapped demand which they attempt to meet. Most of the startups that we see around are of this kind. Then there are multi-billion dollar exceptions like Google & Facebook. Such startups coming out of educational institutes are completely novel. Those startups are catering a latent need, which the consumer is not even aware of. These are the moonshots!

In Kerala, our exercise is mostly around institutes. Here success can be big, but elusive. For the other set of startups, we first need an industry from where they can come out, to start something. All the states ranked above us are far better in terms of industries they have. The diversity augurs well for the diversity and number of startups they produce. Kerala cannot make a remarkable change in this area overnight. But we are now seeing multiple IT companies setting campuses here. They can be a breeding ground for future ideas and startups.

Next comes the capacity of the city the startup belongs to. Startups need the best minds. The best minds are in the best cities, which are global in every respect. We only have Kochi as a city that can be considered here. No wonder, 36% of startups in Kerala are in Kochi. We need Kochi to be much better in all aspects as a global city.

Next is the angel investors. Beyond the family and friends that help the founders bootstrap a startup, it is the angel investors who believe in them early on. They invest around ₹50 lakh to ₹1 crore in a startup and help the idea to bloom in its most critical state. Banks would not invest in startups as they are highly risky. Angel investors invest in 10 startups expecting at least 1 to be successful returning them more than 10x money. Angel investors are High Networth Individuals (HNI) who can afford to take such risks, expecting better returns than alternate avenues.

We have enough HNIs who can afford to invest such money in startups. KSUM is doing its bit to guide them. But significant investments can only happen directly. Angel networks and anchor investors are the most important cog here. We need to identify and bring anchor investors who will fund their own money and help channelise funding from other investors.

In short, what we lack now are,

Cutting edge, global companies and industry
Vibrant global cities and,
Angel investors

We need to have this ecosystem in place for us to have our own Byju’s.

Can we agree to disagree?

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 09:36:00 +0000

We ensure 100% of children are enrolled for primary and secondary education in Kerala. As per the ASER 2020 report, all children up to 14 years are enrolled in schools. What are we teaching them? How can they be politically motivated to kill others? Why are they not able to disagree and still agree to coexist?

Political killings are not new in Kerala. Haven’t our society progressed or developed enough to keep our children away from political violence?

Let us look at our political leaders. The Association of Democratic Reforms published criminal, financial and educational details of candidates in the recent Kerala Assembly Elections 2021.

It finds that 355 of the 928 candidates have criminal cases against them. A 10% increase from 2016!
167 candidates (18%) have serious criminal cases (murder, dacoity, sexual assault etc) pending against them. The same number in 2016 was 138 candidates (12%). A 21% increase! 22 candidates face murder or attempt to murder cases!
54% of Congress candidates, 36% of BJP candidates and 26% of CPI (M) candidates face serious criminal cases against them.

Criminal cases seem to be a requirement to become an election candidate. 29% of our Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha) have serious criminal cases against them.

Considering the way our politics, police, courts and institutions work, many of these cases could be baseless and motivated. But that cannot be an excuse. We shall not encourage a society where we have criminals as our leaders. Legislators with criminal records would not bring any legislation that restricts their candidature. They will only breed more criminals into politics. We can probably reject them during elections.

But how do we prepare a society that can agree to disagree, at the least, not to kill another with a different religion or politics? That has to start from our homes.

Knowingly or unknowingly, we tend to pass our politics to our children. It is not just politics, also our views on other castes and religions. This would then get ingrained in our children.

We raise our children not as a human with independent thoughts but as someone who is in alignment with our own world view.

People of X religion are terrorists.
People of Y caste are inferior/superior to us.
People of Z religion eat non-veg.
People of X religion are intelligent.
ABC religion is the only right religion in the world.
Y political party is corrupt.
Z party is for X religion.

It goes on and on…

Most of the time, we find schools with similar thinking for our children. The school hardens these notions. Children would then tend to look at the world around them from our beliefs.

Primarily, it is the responsibility of a parent to raise a child who can accept a difference of opinion. We should guide them to explore the world. We should be careful not to pass our beliefs blindly to them. We should be able to let our children know our beliefs as just beliefs, not the ultimate truth.

The religion that we follow is our own belief, not necessarily our own choice.

The politics that we follow are our own belief, not necessarily the best choice.

There are many people in the world who follow other religions and politics. They are not bad just because their beliefs are in conflict with ours. Our children should engage them to know the world better.

We can start from there. What do you think?

We are all victims of media

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sat, 27 Mar 2021 18:47:00 +0000

MG George Muthoot, the chairman of the Muthoot Group since 1993, passed away recently. Aged just above 70, he helmed around 20 businesses. As per Forbes Asia, he was the richest from Kerala and the 26th richest Indian family in 2020. He was a trustee of the Malankara Orthodox Church was a member of the national executive committee of FICCI. A towering figure in Kerala, the news was covered widely by the national and regional media.

But the print media handled the news differently. There was an intentional suppression of the reason for his death in the regional media. Regional media lazily conveyed that he had a fall in his house in Delhi and was brought dead to the hospital. National media was more specific.

The Hindu wrote this,

M.G. George, 72, died on Friday evening after he allegedly fell from the fourth floor of his house in southeast Delhi’s East of Kailash.
A senior police officer said a crime team visited the spot where the incident happened. They have scanned all CCTVs in the house, including the one facing the entry to the terrace which Mr. George was seen entering after leaving the lift cabin.
“Mr. Geroge was captured on the CCTV entering the terrace at 6.30 p.m. They have also found one chair next to the railing. The height of railing is around five feet. The crime and forensic team have taken measurements of the trajectory of the fall to confirm if he fell off the chair. The location in the terrace from where he actually fell was out of CCTV range,” said the officer.

The media at large had an opportunity at hand. His second son Paul Muthoot George was murdered in 2009 and was devoured by the media then. But they looked away this time. Media has always been canny in choosing their prey to hound. If the prey happens to be an advertiser or powerful entity, the media tends to go lenient and soft.

Suicides among children aged between 10 & 18 years are very high in Kerala now, particularly since lockdown. Every suicide of a child is more meticulously detailed by print media than in this incident.

When food safety authorities find spoiled foods, the media treats a small restaurant and big hotel differently by choosing to share their name or not.

Privacy that can be given to a person alleged to have done a crime is the choice of the media.

When the issue of women entering Sabrimala was gaining attention, the media was found conveying messages convenient to their own political inclinations. The enraged readers started switching their newspaper. The same happened in the backdrop of church politics between Orthodox and Jacobite factions.

Media plays its own business and politics very well. They understand their readers very well and operate accordingly. We lost objectivity in reportage long back. They are only interested in what is good for their business. Credibility, trust, truth etc remains only in their tag lines.

Manorama & Mathrubhumi together can capture the collective imagination of the people in Kerala. What we discuss, imagine and act can be guided by their choices. Their huge soft power is a burden for us. You can read two earlier posts on Manorama here and here.

Most of the people reading this may not be reading newspapers these days. For them, it is an Aha! moment, that they left the habit long back. But you need to be more watchful. Your actions are not guided by the choices of Manorama and Mathrubhumi but by the algorithms of Google and Facebook and the forwards of your friends.

Leaving one for another is not the solution. Being aware is.

Who are your friends?

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sat, 20 Mar 2021 17:43:00 +0000

We have always been told by our parents to choose friends wisely. Friends determine our destiny!

A friend from 10th class, an average student, had scored excellent marks in the final exam. He shared recently that the turnaround was when he became friends with class toppers. He went on to excel in his life and career beyond his imagination then. Such is the impact of friends!

Friends can impact our thinking too. What we think is what we are! Hence our friends determine who we are as an individual.

Let us do a counting exercise.

How many friends do you have who are atleast 20 years older or younger than you?

How many friends do you have from other gender?

How many friends do you have from other religion?

How many friends do you have from other castes of your religion?

How many friends do you have from other states of India?

How many friends do you have from other nations?

How many friends do you have who call themselves atheists?

How many friends do you have who are politicians, lawyers, doctors, undertakers, activists, artists?

The higher your count, the broader is your thinking. Better the ability to think comprehensively on a matter. More balanced will be your thinking and opinion. More considerate you will be for others. Better individual you will be and your decisions.

If your count is low, it is time to reach out and broaden your friendship. It will help you and your friend.

Truth Beyond Facts

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sat, 13 Mar 2021 17:30:00 +0000

What is truth beyond facts? Aren’t truth and facts one and the same?

Facts are facts. We do not argue over them. Facts can be checked and verified.

When many of us concur to a fact, we find the truth. Truth requires facts to substantiate.

Imagine we have two groups of people arriving at some truth from some facts. Both have truths substantiated by facts. But, what if one group’s truth is in conflict with the other? Whose truth is the better truth?! We have a disagreement. The easiest example is those who believe in God and those who do not.

In the movie Twenty:20, there is a court sequence with Mohanlal as the murder accused, Suresh Gopi as the policeman and Mammootty as the lawyer. The court was presented with the fact that the policeman saw the accused with a knife in one hand and the victim on the other hand. The fact was not disputed. But the lawyer asked the policeman, whether the accused was seen stabbing the victim or pulling the knife out? The truth was under conflict and the accused was let go.

So, what is truth, when we do not have universal acceptance of it?

We are surrounded by this conflict. We have an abundance of facts but no truth shared by all of us.

We have a leading actor under trial for abducting another actor. What is the truth?

Our leading politicians are under trial for various allegations of corruption and even pogroms. What is the truth?

COVID-19 surrounded us with a lot of facts - the number of deaths, survivors, beds, vaccines, etc. What is the lasting truth? What will this be pandemic be remembered for? Doctors at Elmhurst Hospital, New York are yet to recover from the trauma a year back. Young patients they speak to on the first day, do not speak the next day and dies the third day. A new patient is replaced. The story repeats. While at it they lose their parents, siblings and colleagues. The vaccine is not the truth, probably the resilience of humanity is!

Immediately after the panchayat elections, there were few cases of elected representatives suiciding or attempting suicide. Why do they do it, soon after the public showing confidence in them? What is the truth?

The truth remains elusive to us in many ways. Till very recently, traditional balanced media was able to ensure a shared truth held by the public. Good or bad, that has gone now. With pervasive social media, we now have multiple truths held by smaller and smaller groups that are in conflict with each other.

Our decisions are a manifestation of the truth that we hold on to. Such decisions are very important when we are about to elect our representatives. To make matters worse, we have around us, professional campaigners. We will be surrounded by facts and narratives packaged in a convenient format with anecdotes. We will be led to a truth shared by a larger community. Before we know it, we would have made the wrong choice. Beware!

Technocrats or Politicians as our leaders?

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 17:46:00 +0000

When it is time for elections there is always a call for technocrats to contest. Most of us want them to win an election and run public offices of the highest order. These technocrats have excelled in their professional life and positively impacted many lives. We expect them to be successful in politics as well and bring the much-wanted change in our life. Does that happen?

Technocrats operate in a microcosm of society. It can be an organisation or institution. The organisation is a collection of individuals who have agreed to work together for a common purpose or goal. Exemplary technocrats, with their ability, regularly achieve much larger goals from the individuals around them. They are good at working with people, delivering greater results for the organisation. They make life better for everyone around them. It is not just their colleagues, they make life better for the extended stakeholders of the organisation. The beneficiary can be the supplier, the investor, the customer and so on.

Thus there is an aura build around these successful technocrats. The public wants them to reciprocate their success in the profession to politics and public office, making their lives better. They find the political leaders lacking in the ability to bring desirable change in their lives. The public believes that technocrats can bring their leadership skills in professional life to politics and public offices. They want successful leaders in professional life to replace political leaders.

It is naive to believe so. Technocrats leading organisations, delivered results of higher-order, have always crossed one big hurdle early in their journey. They crossed this hurdle much early to their success. That hurdle is, they were able to bring together like-minded people towards a common goal for everyone’s benefit. Everyone around them believed in the common goal and was on the journey in their own free will. It is not the case in politics and while running public offices.

Politics calls for different kind of leaders. Some technocrats may excel in politics but most of them can fail miserably.

In Kerala, a candidate can win an election with a vote percentage of 37%. If we take 74% as the polling percentage, more than half of the voters did not vote for the winning candidate. Thus the winner starts with more than half of the population against her candidature, also considering the non-voters as well.

Even the most popular candidate is only able to garner a voting percentage of 56%. Again, if we consider 74% as the polling, 24% of the voters did not select the winning candidate.

Thus, in electoral politics, an elected representative starts off with a very large number of the population who did not want her in the first place. It calls for a very different leadership skill, to engage the other side of the population and be successful at it. Technocrats will not find it easy. Probably we need to give more respect to political leaders who win their constituency repeatedly!

Caesarean and Abortion

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sat, 06 Feb 2021 17:16:00 +0000

Caesarean section (C-section) deliveries are very common in Kerala. Women make the choice between a normal or c-section delivery much before they are in the labour room. The thought of caesarean itself has been normalized by society. It is no wonder that studies and surveys repeatedly find Kerala on top of the % of births delivered by C-section.

World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that the rate of C-sections in a region should not exceed 15%. All districts in Kerala records a rate much higher than 15%. It is also worth noting that the share of C-sections is much higher in private hospitals than in public hospitals. You can find the details here and here.

Women chose C-section for multiple reasons ignoring possible future health risks. Hospitals promote C-section for monetary gains which is understandable. Doctors suggest C-section so that they can bring the deliveries in their working hours and thus can avoid late-night visits. But women need not fall for it.

It’s high time that we address this unhealthy practice. A social campaign nudging a change in behaviour by making women more aware could help the cause. NGOs, activists and government can join the cause.

Another concern is abortion. Every woman should have the complete autonomy of their own body and absolute control of their reproductive rights. The society does not need children which the mother does not need in the first place. Yes, the choice has to be made within a fixed time period very early in the pregnancy. Studies in America have repeatedly found that greater access to abortion might have reduced crime rates there. You can check the study and reports here, here and in the popular book Freakonomics. That is a good unintended consequence.

Very recently, Argentina legalized abortion in a historic decision which is expected to have a much wider impact in the Latin American countries. While in India, we are still dabbling with a 1971 law and some half-hearted amendments. We are leaving much to the discretion of the doctors, courts and even medical boards! They bring with them their own cultural baggage into their decisions on women with an unwanted pregnancy. Let it be very sound and clear. Every woman should have the complete autonomy of their own body and absolute control of their reproductive rights.

Let our women have better access to abortion and more awareness to prefer vaginal births. What do you think?

KSRTC is our Air India. Do we need them?

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sat, 23 Jan 2021 15:31:00 +0000

Let’s assume that we have to travel from Kochi to Bangalore. We have multiple choices. We can drive down at an expense of around ₹5,000 in a personal car. We can take the train which would cost around ₹1,500 in 2nd AC. We can take a seat in A/C bus that would cost around ₹2,000. We can also take a flight that would cost around ₹3,000. Kerala Road Transport Corporation [KSRTC] also operates an A/C bus that costs around ₹1,000. We are spoilt with choices at varying comfort and costs. The service providers are also happy catering to the demand. Among the options available, KSRTC is the cheapest but definitely not the popular. Why?

Why don’t we have the best buses available for local transport at varying comfort and costs? Why do we see more entrepreneurs leaving the local bus service business than entering them? Why do we have policemen and road transport officers running private buses under ‘benami’? Why A/C local buses are not common in a humid place like Kerala? Don’t we like A/C buses?

At current regulated ticket prices, there is not much money left for the bus service providers. That’s why we see bus owners driving their own bus. They are making themselves self-employed. It cannot be seen as entrepreneurial as the business do not offer them the scale and opportunity to grow and own multiple buses. In fact, 2nd and 3rd generation entrepreneurs in the business of bus service are moving away selling their bus to their employees.

In this environment, how can we even contemplate that a KSRTC can operate profitably?

First of all, the government has no business operating KSRTC or for that matter any sort of business. Having made a choice to operate KSRTC, the government is depriving the public the choices and comfort a market would offer by itself over time. Let me explain.

The losses made by KSRTC on a daily basis is funded by the government. There is no other competitor with that privilege of big purses to fund losses. On top of that, the government regulates the ticket prices. KSRTC will die anyway. The price regulation will ensure that the industry does not survive. By regulating prices, we are depriving ourselves the choices that a market provides by itself. Even with an Air India, with huge losses funded by the central government, the airline industry in India is doing good because the prices are not regulated. The airline industry is otherwise heavily regulated. Still, private players make profit and consumers are happy flying with them.

When the prices of our papadam or rice or puttu or appam or umbrella or chappal or mundu or even internet are not regulated by the government, why do we want the bus ticket prices to be regulated? For all those products, we are spoilt with choices at different prices. Every player in the market is better off. That’s how a market operates without any government intervention on pricing.

What do you think?

Misleading ads and propaganda in the name of Ayurveda

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sat, 16 Jan 2021 16:01:00 +0000

Anoop Menon, the actor, is well known in Kerala. He is also the ambassador for multiple brands. Dhathri is one such brand which rides on the bandwagon of Ayurveda. The advertising and business fraternity in India got their attention on them because of a very unique order passed by a consumer court in Kerala penalizing both for misleading customers. It could be a beginning for brand ambassadors to be more cautious in the advertisements they appear. Where else in India could such orders come other than Kerala. An aware citizen from Kerala holding the company and the celebrity responsible for their claims! It is another matter that the mainstream media in Kerala gave the news a miss.

Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) had issued a notification allowing Ayurveda doctors to perform around 58 types of surgeries on some conditions. Since then, doctors from modern medicine (allopathy) and Ayurveda have been on each other’s throat. Modern medicine doctors do not want to lose their vanguard position in public health. Ayurveda doctors believe that the notification is only clarifying the prevailing fact that the Ayurveda doctors are trained and have been performing these surgeries. Why this petty quarrel? We are a large country with not even 1 doctor for every 1000 citizen. We need more helping hands. Why some from their pedestal of privileges stop the unfortunate from accessing better healthcare than what they have now. Dr Sanjay Nagral wrote a beautiful article in The Hindu which can also be accessed on his Twitter page.

Incidents like Dhathri give modern medicine an excuse to berate Ayurveda!

Meanwhile, we have a new budget announced, a populist budget considering the oncoming election. It is a futile exercise considering that the new government will have a budget again.

It is good to note that remittances to Kerala from citizens overseas have been steady in the last few months. This has come as a great relief as an economic indicator. Opening up of tourism can shore up the economy at large.

Lastly, do you know that the Chief Minister of Kerala has a public dashboard? Information on fingertips! This seems to be a central government project to have a dashboard for all chief ministers. But none other seems to have it live. Here you can check Kerala CM dashboard. But you might not find there yet that the debt per head in Kerala is ₹1 lakh!

Local government bodies can deliver better

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 16:09:00 +0000

Local body elections are underway in Kerala. People will elect their representatives to grama panchayat, block panchayat, zilla panchayat, municipalities and corporations as per their place of residence. Kerala is one place in India where the Panchayati raj system of election and local self-governance works in a well-oiled fashion. The local governments deliver and the public has belief in them. This became evident whenever we have crises like natural calamities and lately during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reservation in terms of gender, scheduled caste and tribes ensure wider representation of people by the elected representatives. Everything is good but we still find some deficiencies that can be addressed in the Panchayati raj system.

Delimitation is an exercise to assess the changing socio-economic demographics in a locality to continuously graduate them from a grama panchayat to a corporation. The exercise ensures that an area is categorized correctly so that a capable self-government institution is in place there. This will then ensure the institution and the public have access to the best resources. Currently, the wards across Kerala are identified and limited based on the 2001 and 2011 census. We should have completed the delimitation exercise based on 2011 census for the elections in 2020. That means most of the wards in Kerala are identified on the basis of our census done 20 years back. This will have an impact on the expectations of the public and the capacity of the local government to deliver after this election. We should complete delimitation exercises timely.
Local governments need funds for social sector spending, capacity building and various development works. They always look for funds from the state and centre government. Unfortunately, none of our local governments does anything well-meaning to maximize the tax collection and mobilization of funds. Elected representatives take a casual approach passing such responsibilities to the state and central governments. Timely collection of building taxes is one item where a local government can deliver better results. In fact, the state government can consider transferring funds in accordance with the efficiency of tax collection by local governments. Also, local governments can find new avenues to raise funds. Going further, they can even do various development works by mobilizing resources within the locality from the stakeholders through innovative ways.
Corruption is pervasive in local governments. The pilferage happens in smaller sums and hence goes under the radar of public watchdogs. We can see the larger disbursement of state funds to local governments as a way to democratize corruption, thereby strengthening the political parties at the local level. Local representatives and contractors work in tandem. Generally, we cannot separate one from the other.
Reservation of wards based on the scheduled caste and tribe has passed its relevance in Kerala. It is to be noted that we do not have such reservations to state and national elections. This is controversial but Kerala is a place where this can be done. The society has outgrown from the needs of such regressive reservations.
The elected representatives can be given the necessary training to build their managerial capabilities which will then ensure better outcomes in their public responsibilities. Institute of Management in Government (IMG) is doing its bit but this can be done at a much larger scale. Better leaders make better decisions delivering better results for society.
There are still only six municipal corporations in Kerala. Considering the demographics, we should have more corporations in Kerala. We should be early in identifying emerging cities for equipping the place than late in catching up with the exponential growth of the city.

What do you think?

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KIIFB and the promise

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sat, 21 Nov 2020 16:22:00 +0000

Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board [KIIFB] has been drawing news headlines for a long time. It was mostly for all the good that it was doing. But recently it is all for the wrong reasons.

Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board [KIIFB] has been existing since 1999. In 2016, the current government reconstituted the organisation to a corporate body enabling it to attract investments to the state to fund infrastructure development projects. Kerala government is guaranteeing most part of the payments to KIIFB. It’s like, if KIIFB funds a road project, Kerala government will return the money to KIIFB in instalments over the years. KIIFB will attract investments globally at competitive rates making the cost of funds to the government much better than what is otherwise available from financial institutions in India.

The need for such a novel financial intervention was the debt pile Kerala was carrying. The fiscal norms in India were not allowing the Kerala government to take more debts. Here, the debt is taken by a corporate body for whom the Kerala government is a promoter as well as the customer. Hence the debt is not identified as that of the Kerala government. The intentions are good, the execution is smart. The entity was able to attract experienced luminaries from the financial sector to guide and run it. They brought with them the credibility. The entity did attract huge sums of money from global markets through various bonds at very competitive rates.

Time can only testify the performance of KIIFB. If the investments they make did not give timely returns, KIIFB will not be able to return the money to its investors. As a promoter, the Kerala government will have to take the burden to meet the financial obligations world over. Hence the role being played by the luminaries in the entity is crucial. The decisions they make and the diligence they do determines the success of the initiative and the entity. Else, it will only add to the debt burden of the people in Kerala, which as per estimates is 1 lakh per individual!

It would take another 3 to 5 years for us to critically judge the performance of KIIFB against the promises they made. Till then, the public is burdened to identify the victim and the culprit among all the allegations around it.

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Call for crusaders against rape

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sat, 07 Nov 2020 17:18:00 +0000

A day won’t pass without news of school-going girls or women raped in Kerala. The difference is only the attention that each gets. Some are trumpeted out from newsrooms, some sidelined. It seems like the public does not care. The public takes it in the stride as if it is an inevitable road accident. Few movies and violent crimes here and there shake the public consciousness then and now. That’s all! We do not fight this malaise as we fight polio or cancer or child labour.

It’s probably because we do not have crusaders for the cause. Except for some samaritans, we have vultures who devour the social evil. We have political leaders who belittle the victims, police who protects the violator, judicial system which only exacerbate the pain of the victim, society which isolates the family and media who run their own agenda. Where do we have an institution that can help the survivor overcome the physical and emotional trauma, the family from social ostracization while ensuring the legal recourse for them? Few commissions can be pointed but are they good enough?

Kerala has many crusaders. Crusaders against corruption, against alcohol sales, against pollution, against corruption, against cancer, against deforestation, against discrimination, against fascism, against suicide, against climate change, against, against, against…. Crusaders against rape? NO! Probably because the victims are only women. Men, the other half of the population, are not able to understand or relate to the trauma. Men do not understand that it is not a disease that you fight, overcome and forget. Among women, a large number do not care, believing it happens only to the careless.

But who is this crusader against rape? It is not an individual or an institution. It is an idea that snowballs into multiple forms. We have crusaders when we ensure that violators are marginalised and legally punished. We have crusaders when survivors are mainstreamed and recognised for their courage. We have crusaders when boys & men respect girls and women and not see them as objects of desire. We have crusaders when we remove the social stigma of survivors. We have crusaders when survival is a news item and not the rape! Rape is just a criminal incident. The story is survival. For that we need crusaders.

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COVID-19 opens up a world of opportunity for Kerala

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sat, 31 Oct 2020 17:04:00 +0000

Does the COVID-19 promise any lasting paradigm shift in the Kerala economy? Yes, definitely for good!

Kerala has always been the fountainhead of knowledge workers across India and the world. Professionals, engineers and non-engineers, are employed in all the new-age enterprises including IT, ITES, Fintech, e-commerce, mobility, auditing, education, design & media. They work outside Kerala and make a living there - marrying another Malayali and raising their kids there. Except for people working in Gulf countries who would spend a predominant portion of their earnings in Kerala, they spend only a small portion of their earnings back in Kerala. Most of the time, they don’t even return leaving behind their ancestral properties and parents. We call it the “brain drain”!

This could change, we are now seeing more of them back in Kerala ‘working from home’. We thought they will go back once the COVID-19 eases. But that is still some time away. Amazon extended their “work from home” till June 2021. Many call centres are switching to permanent work from home. Microsoft employees can work remotely forever. TCS plans to keep up to 75% of their employees working from home till 2025. Even our State Bank of India has plans to make “work from home” a permanent feature.

But the future is “work-from-anywhere”. Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury, an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School, has been exploring “work-from-anywhere” for five years now. He is a great proponent of “work-from-anywhere” predicting a radical shift in the way we work. He shares his thoughts and findings in this article and podcast. He shares that millennials may prefer to explore the world by working from anywhere, ultimately benefitting everyone - Individuals, Organizations and Society. Society and economy in Kerala can benefit from “brain gain” and the eventual spending of their earnings in Kerala.

It is not just the professionals returning back to Kerala. There is more. We can see tourists with extended stays in Kerala. Online education and coaching throw open a new world of opportunities and possibilities for literate women in Kerala households. Families in the US are turning to India for helping their children in homework. Our idle, skilled human resources can find new opportunities to earn by working from their home.

Altogether, Kerala can bustle with new needs and demands created by all of this. This can bring forth a lasting paradigm shift in the Kerala economy, driven by the people.

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Migrants are good for Kerala

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sat, 17 Oct 2020 17:32:00 +0000

Are migrants from other states a burden or benefit for Kerala? That’s a question popping up in our thoughts and discussions now and then. Particularly, when we have incidents of brutal murder or robbery by them on the locals. Immigration is a global concern, where a lot of political capital is spent on retaining or gaining power raising this.

We mainly encounter four thoughts against immigration.

Immigrants rob jobs and livelihood of locals
The social support extended to them is a financial burden on the state
There are criminals and terrorists among immigrants
Immigrants ruin the local culture

Perumbavoor, a town near Kochi, is a hub for migrants in Kerala. The town has welcomed them to the extent that people included Hindi in name boards of shops and route boards of public transportation bus. But still, the town witnessed multiple murders and robberies by them. Lately, there was even Al-Qaeda terrorist arrested from Perumbavoor. Hence, the thoughts and concerns of locals are real and valid. But we need to understand things more deeply before labelling migrants as outcasts. Let us go through all the above concerns one by one.

Immigrants robbing jobs and livelihoods of locals are a real and imminent concern, whenever there are new immigrants in a place. Immigrants are desperate for work and would be willing to take a job at lower wages. Hence, locals would be replaced with immigrants for better value for money. This is the short term impact. But what would be the longer-term impact? The economy and market would benefit because of more efficient use of capital. The employers would make better savings which would then get deployed back in the economy. This is bound to help the job losers soon with another job. That’s the reason why we do not see unemployment rising in Mumbai, even after decades of immigration, while the economy is getting better.

Social support extended to immigrants definitely increases the financial burden of the state. But the state is also benefitted by their labour which is helping the economy, thereby enhancing the tax revenues. We can even look at it slightly differently as a windfall of labour resources gained by the state in their most productive age without the state spending for their childhood! Yes, the state would have to wait till the circular economy takes its own time to pay back.

Immigrants don’t come to Kerala for robbing us. They are here to make a better living. We can easily relate to this by looking at people going to Gulf, America or Canada from Kerala. They are desperate to make a better life by efficiently using their skills for the best rewards. Immigrants are still a slice of society with their own share of criminals. Those criminals need to be dealt with legally. Let’s not to forget that we have our brethren convicted as criminals in other countries.

Immigrants bring their own cultural baggage, which could be abhorred by us. Generally, immigrants make a greater effort to assimilate their culture with ours. This is evident in their use of ‘mundu’, speaking Malayalam, liking our puttu, porotta and appam and many more. There was a story shared by a tea estate manager in Idukki that the immigrant child from Bengal was the class topper in Malayalam there! Immigrants know inherently that they can advance faster economically if they adapt themselves to the local culture.

Given all these reasons, we should allow migration that happens naturally. Yes, the government should do one thing better in identifying all migrants, capturing vital information about them and doing necessary background verification.

What do you think?

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Masks slipping-off, COVID slipping-in

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sat, 10 Oct 2020 15:29:00 +0000

Kerala is now officially in the 2nd wave of COVID-19. The numbers are rising and the peak seems to be a few more days away. As our masks slipping-off, COVID is slipping-in!

It has been 6 months since our movie theatres were closed. There was no movie released during school holidays and Onam. Most likely there will not be any releases during the imminent Puja & Id holidays. Christmas also is doubtful. The industry is passing through its toughest time. Regal Cinemas, the 2nd largest movie chain in the United States shut their doors recently. Going by that, how many theatres will reopen in Kerala is to be seen. Except for the financially stable, all the cast & crew behind movies are struggling.

It’s the same in the tourism industry. The hotels and resorts missed domestic tourists during the school holiday and Onam seasons. From October till February, it is the time for International tourists. They would also give this season a miss. The industry is going through a crisis not soon after the Kerala Flood in 2018. Many are turned jobless. A large number of self-employed people with rentals cars, buses and boats are jobless, piling up loan interests on their side. Then there are the allied sectors - the travel agents, guides, people offering crafts, the wayside restaurants, street hawkers and so on.

People eking a living out by owning and running public transport buses are also reeling. They are putting up a brave face by ensuring skeletal operations. But that would only meet their basic expenses.

While people are losing jobs, the expatriates back in Kerala are looking for jobs here. Few expatriates are becoming industrious on their return, even trying their hands in ganja smuggling! The domestic migrants who were working here may not find it easy to get their jobs back when they return.

The times are tough but we can be adventurous wherever possible. An example is the attempt by Andhra Pradesh government to allow floating casinos near Vizagapatnam coast. Casinos near Goa state are profitable. Why don’t we consider floating casinos near Kerala coast?

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More women in police, the fight worth winning

noreply@blogger.com (Utopian Kerala) — Sat, 03 Oct 2020 15:26:00 +0000

Is it ok for a woman to slap a man?

Is it ok for a woman to swear a man?

Is it ok for a woman to outrage the modesty of a man?

Few women took the law into their hands and did all of them to a man who was making abusive videos with sexual overtones against them.

Right or wrong reasons, taking the law into hands is not good for the society and the law should take its course. That’s it! It does not matter whether it is being done by men or women. In a state where men kill others for political reasons, a woman slapping a man need not be given greater importance. But the slap was on the face of many ‘alpha males’ in Kerala. They were equally surprised by the range of ‘vocabulary’ these women had! The revered health minister quickly endorsing the act made the matters worse for them.

Women may feel reassured by this bold and unlawful act. But endorsing the act will not serve good for society. For a state that is ahead of even other countries on multiple Human Development Indicators, another number needs to be addressed. That is where we should spend our energy.

As per the India Justice Report, women comprise only 6.3% of our total police force and it is only 2.1% among officers. It would do a world of good for women and the society if we have women at 33% of the police force. That is the fight worth winning. At the current pace, it would take 30 years to reach 33%. It is worth noting that there are at least 14 states with a better percentage than Kerala.

We have been raising slogans to get 33% representation in the state assembly. In the current legislative assembly of 140 members, there are only 9 women. An abysmal 6.4%! But women have grown in strength in local self-government bodies to make 54% of elected members. So it is definitely possible to increase the strength of women in the police force.

Meanwhile, the government is trying hard to avoid another lockdown as the COVID cases are mounting. The imposition of 'Section 144' has affected operations of fish and vegetable markets. That could increase the economic distress.

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