You have been lied about Kerala

0:00 Recently, you must have seen this clip somewhere on social media. So Pearl Williams what's your political leaning? Political leaning? I don't watch politics. You don't have any political opinion? No no. did you vote? me? No. Kerala sir 100% literacy sir. Now Jaspreet Singh who cracked the exam is from Punjab. So after this clip went viral, it seemed like a war broke out on social media. On one hand, Keralites started calling out Punjab and started counting the reasons why Kerala is better than other states. Kerala Punjab Poverty 0.71% in Kerala 6.5% in Punjab Infant Mortality Rate 7% in Kerala 22% in Punjab And on the other hand, people from other states started making fun of Kerala even more and started pointing out the shortcomings of Kerala.

0:47 Now, I told you what happened on social media. But apart from all this, if you think about it, then whenever there is a talk about Kerala across India, the chances are very high that a picture perfect image of Kerala gets created in your mind too. But the truth is that like any other Indian state, Kerala is also facing many major problems like economic troubles, unemployment, lack of industries etc. But this truth is never shown to you. And this is most dangerous for Kerala because instead of addressing these issues properly, Keralites often start defending them. So let us talk about all these issues in detail in today's video. RBI publishes a handbook on the statistics of Indian states. When this report was released in 2023-24, it was

1:34 found that in the 5 years between 2018-19 to 22-23, Kerala's annual growth rate was only 3.16%, which was the fourth lowest in the entire country during this time period. In fact, today Kerala is the only southern state of India whose contribution to India's GDP is continuously decreasing. Kerala's contribution was 4% between 2000 and 2001 and will be 3.8% in 2023-24. Last year, the Kerala Government told the Supreme Court that it had suffered an economic loss of more than Rs 1 lakh crore since 2017. In return, no relief was received from the Supreme Court. On the contrary, the Supreme Court reprimanded the Kerala Government for mismanagement of funds. After this, there was a lot of conflict between Kerala State and the Centre. We are facing a lot of decisions by the Union Government which squeezes our

2:21 financial resources. There is a serious crunch there. That's not even a single pie is spent with the Government of India. Either they have not followed the criteria or they have not claimed that. Now the question arises that how did the economic condition of this picture perfect state become so bad ? There are many reasons behind this. The committed expenditure of the Kerala Government is the fourth highest in the country. Committed expenditure means the necessary and unavoidable expenses that the government has to make regularly. These expenses are already promised or legally required. That is why the government cannot reduce them easily. Examples of this are the salary or pension received by government employees and retired officials. The interest that the government has to pay on the money it borrows and some subsidies like food or fuel subsidy. The

3:06 cost of maintaining public infrastructure such as roads or buildings etc. Now the problem is that the government does not get any significant return directly from these committed expenditures and because of investing a lot of money in it, you are left with no money to invest in the places from where you can get good returns i.e. mainly in the places where capital outlay is required. Simply put, the Kerala Government is spending a lot of money on a lot of expenses from which it is not getting any returns. If you look at the estimate of 24-25, this time also the Kerala Government is spending 71% of its total revenue receipt, that is, the income of the government from taxes or non-taxes, on such expenses. If you look at the chart for comparison, committed expenditure is 55% in Maharashtra. 58% in Karnataka, 45% in Gujarat. Apart from this, Kerala's economic crisis has become more severe because the Central Government has a pool of total collected taxes which is shared with the states and

3:53 Kerala's share in this has reduced significantly over the years. While Kerala used to get 3.88% share in the 10th Finance Commission, in the 15th Financial Commission this share has become 1.92%. The Finance Commission revises the tax sharing criteria from time to time. And now population becomes a major factor in the formula of tax revolution. And over the year, the population growth in Kerala has been relatively low compared to other states and hence Kerala's share in the tax allocation here has been decreasing. Apart from this, Kerala is also facing the brunt of off-budget borrowing. Off budget borrowing means those loans or borrowings which the government does not show directly in its books. But it takes this through a public institution, PSU or special purpose vehicle. Its main purpose is to show less fiscal deficit so that it does not have a direct impact on the official account of the government. But now this rule has changed and off-

4:39 budget borrowing also counts in the actual day ceiling of the state. Due to which Kerala is almost caught in a day trap because of its heavy off budget borrowing. India may or may not top any other list but it always tops one list. Remittances means the money that Indians earn abroad and send to their families in India. Last year, we received remittances worth more than $129 billion which is 14.3% of the global remittances and Kerala alone had a 19% share in this and Kerala has always been one of the highest remittance receiving states in India because today, people from Kerala are working in 182 out of 195 countries in the world and most of these people are based in the Middle East. Now, on one hand, remittances are coming into the country, so it is a very good thing. But the other side of this coin is that due to this a

5:25 lot of skilled labour and even brilliant students are leaving the country and this is making a significant contribution to India's brain drain. You must have heard this slogan a lot in the recent past. Only if India studies will India progress. Then some people started saying this while mocking it. America will progress only if India studies. And in the case of Kerala, this is exactly what is happening today. Where at one time almost 90% of Keralites used to go to Middle Eastern countries. There has been a decline of 10% in the last few years. Specially JG Kellite is now giving more preference to USA and overall West. Now in such a situation the question arises that why is this happening? So there are many reasons behind this in which the biggest issue is unemployment. Yes, youth unemployment has become a big issue in this so called 100% literacy state. Now if you look at social media, Kerala seems like a very shiny state. It

6:11 seems like everybody would want to live here. But think about it, if Kerala was such a good state then why would people be leaving their state to earn money outside ? 30% of Kerala's youth is unemployed today. This is three times the average national unemployment rate. And one of the major reasons for high youth unemployment in Kerala is that there is a major mismatch between the qualifications of job seekers and the requirements of the job sector. Many young people are highly qualified, but their qualifications are quite different from the requirements of the job market. According to retired economic advisor RV Rajeev, this mismatch is due to the education system as it does not align with the skills required by employers. For example, there are many graduates roaming around but people with the kind of skills required in the manufacturing and service sectors are not coming out of the current education framework. The second major reason is that there are not sufficient job opportunities in Kerala to absorb the educated youth.

6:59 Despite the service sector being strong, the number of jobs created is not matching the number of graduates entering the market each year. Even traditional industries are not growing so fast that they can accommodate new job seekers. Due to this, competition is increasing and unemployment rate is increasing over the year. Apart from this, there are many employers who offer such wages which do not match the expectations of the qualified candidates at all. Meaning that they want a good person but are not ready to pay money. Many young individuals also consider only those jobs that can pay them salary according to their education level and skills. Due to which many job opportunities get overlooked. According to a survey, 30% of today's youth believes that if the job is not up to their expectations, then it would be better for them to prefer remaining unemployed. And due to all these reasons, a different mindset has developed regarding youth employment in Kerala. Many young

7:45 people are preferring to migrate instead of taking local jobs because they see better pay, better quality of life and more opportunities there. Now no matter how much people praise Kerala on social media, the truth is that while other Indian states have focused more on over the year industrial expansion, Kerala's industrial sector has still not developed that much. And there are many sociopolitical, economic and geographical reasons behind this. We all know about the heavy influence of communism in Kerala and its love affair with private industries and businesses. Historically, Kerala has had a strong influence of communism, which has shaped its economic policies. Communist parties always oppose private investment and focus more on state-led development. This model has been very successful in sectors like education and public service. But a

8:31 conducive environment has never been created here for private enterprises. And for this reason, investors prefer to go to states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra instead of Kerala. The communists have done Kerala a huge disservice because in fighting for worker rights which is something admirable. They have one's rights but they also drove away investors. And the result is now you start anything from a tourist resort to a factor. And you dread the red flag showing and the people higher being unionised and putting on strike. Irrespective of how well you are treating them. And many many people tend to back away because of that. I remember when I left the United Nations before I came into politics. I was still based in Ucor but I was taking an active interest in Kerala. And I remember hosting a dinner for about 40 investors in New York. Mainly expected Indians with the particular interest in India but also some Americans for the communist Industry Minister Ellybar Kareem and his senior

9:17 bureaucrats to come into a presentation why they should invest in Kerala. ah and I thought you I'm doing a favor to my own state. ah the presentation was done there was a discussion. And at the end of it all the minister and his top ads go away and the 40 bureaucrats 40 investors head a good dinner go away. not one pledge was made later I called up some of these people include one person another world and said aunt investing and they all know and I said why not and they said we just don't trust the environments in kerala from looking at little work force people are a little unemployed they bravely have a job they be smart they educated they you know they will acquire skills very quickly said or we can get them just establish the same factory across the border and tamilnadu they came in but the commies won't be there the unions won't be there they re flags once again be there that was the kind of feedback and that became a very disheartening factor. There is also a negative perception among the general public regarding industries in Kerala. Many people here feel that industries

10:03 damage the environment and displace local communities. Here environmental conservation and social justice are given high priority. For this reason people do not support big industrial projects. Projects keep getting delayed because of public opposition. Legal battles continue and sometimes projects are outright rejected. For example, the Coca Cola plant at Plachimada and the Aranmula airport project had to be closed due to environmental concerns and protests. Awareness is important but due to the extreme anti-industry stance, investors are afraid to set up businesses in Kerala. Apart from this, Kerala has the most powerful trade unions in India and labour activism is deeply rooted among the people here. Trade unions play an important role in protecting the rights of workers. But excessive interference often leads to inefficiency, frequent strikes and

10:48 conflicts with the management. An infamous example is Nokku Puli which was basically an organised extortion through the trade unions of Kerala. In this system, people who wanted to unload their own goods or materials had to give bribe to the trade union activists there. This was an unofficial tax which the union imposed forcibly. Whether there is a need to do the work or not. Meaning, if any goods are loaded or unloaded from a truck or vehicle, then the workers of the local trade unions would demand that either they should be made to work or they should be given money as nokoli. Because of such practices, industries run away from Kerala. Every industry wants a stable labour environment. But here the business is not able to operate smoothly due to frequent union interference. Due to lack of support for large private industrial projects, the

11:34 manufacturing sector here lagged behind and Kerala's economy has become largely service based. In which tourism, health care and education dominate. The government's focus is more on knowledge based industries like IT and finance. Because of which the manufacturing and industrial sectors do not get that much support. Yes, IT sector is growing in many cities like Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. But large scale manufacturing industries do not get that much encouragement. The result is that Kerala still remains a consumer state. Where instead of industries developing, most of the goods and services are being imported from outside. Apart from this, the geography of Kerala also works against industrialization. Being a thin strip between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea, it is difficult to develop large industrial zones in Kerala. Most of the land is agricultural or forested or ecologically sensitive. Because of this the scope of industrial expansion becomes

12:20 very limited. The little land that is available is very high in cost, which becomes another major obstacle for the industrialists. Land is comparatively cheaper and easily available in neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, so investors often prefer to shift there. Apart from this, you may often hear that there is a lot of religious harmony in Kerala. But then we see such articles and reports. In 2017, Kerala police itself reported that more than 100 Keralites had joined ISS and by now, this number would have increased much more. ISIS recruitment often targets educated Muslims and this process has become easy for them thanks to social media. There was a time when Kerala was called God's Own Country. But nowadays, due to the influence of ISIS, Kerala is being given such names. When this 100% literacy controversy was going on, another clip went viral in response to it.

13:07 Yes we have 100% literacy. That's why we eat beef. Now whether beef consumption has any connection with literacy or not, it definitely hurts religious and communal sentiments. Otherwise this statement does not make any sense at all. And this was not the first time. Many times you can see Hinduphobic sentiments openly in Kerala. Apart from this, Malayalam movie industry is called Bollywood. It also has a big role in promoting the soft power of Kerala. Many great movies like Sandesham, Mani Chitraju, Kumbalagi Naids or the Drishyam franchise have been made here and have been made popular across the country from time to time. But last year when Justice Hema Committee's report came out on the same film industry, the whole country was shaken. Justice Hema Committee was formed in 2017 following the abduction and assault case of a famous actress. The committee submitted its report in 2019.

13:53 But it was not made public for 5 years. When it became public after 5 years , the findings revealed that there was a powerful nexus of about 15 people in the industry who controlled the entire system. According to the report, women were forced into sexual relationships in exchange for roles and promotions and their working conditions were also very unsafe. These findings expose the deep-seated power dynamics and exploitation in Bollywood. Due to which the clean and progressive image of Mollywood gets directly tarnished. But unfortunately many people who keep praising Kerala day and night did not open a single word on this. You will often hear a lot about progressive political environment and thoughtful voting from Keralaites. But it is also true that the names of many political leaders of Kerala have come up in various scams over the years. Like the Kerala Solar Panel Scam in 2013, this high

14:40 profile scandal was related to the fraudulent activities of a solar panel company which was allegedly linked to top Congress leaders including the then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. Life Mission Scam This case was related to a government housing project which was started to build houses for poor flood victims. In this, many political leaders were accused of corruption. In which names of former Principal Secretary of CM and many other big bureaucrats were mentioned. Apart from this, you must remember the Delhi Locker Policy Scam. Similar bar bribery scam also happened in Kerala. Bar owners had given a bribe to UDFists so that they could get the policy decision in their favor. In this case too, like Kejriwal, the then Finance Minister M Mani had to resign and later when the case came to light, allegations were also made against his son for bribing him to close the case. And the most shocking was the gold smuggling case in which the

15:29 matter of gold smuggling through diplomatic channels came to light. When gold worth around Rs 15 crore was caught being smuggled to UAE in a diplomatic bag at Thiruvananthapuram airport. This case had connections with high ranking officials and some political public figures of the LDF Government in which even the name of former secretary of Kerala CM had come up. Now think, this type of financial scam completely contradicts the strong social welfare image of Kerala. However, there is a contradiction in their claim of 100% literacy as well. I remember I was asked to do some work on National Literacy Mission and that time everyone said Kerala was 100% literate. You know what was the definition of the NLM at that time the National Literacy Mission? If you can sign your name your literate. Why was Kerala 100% literate? Where all the jokers were working in the Gulf sending money back, so to sign for that money. Oh so the

16:14 literacy rate is actually scam it was can you imagine I thought that there they could speak and at least read and not literacy sorry they could read and write although Kerala definitely comes at the highest number in terms of literacy among all the states of India but this percentage is not 100% but around 94% according to the last census report. Now some people here might think that my motive behind this video is to downgrade Kerala. But no, through this video I am just trying to bring to you the reality of the bubble that has been created around Kerala, a picture perfect image that has been fabricated over the years. But along with this, it is also important to mention here that there are many things associated with Kerala which other states can learn. For example,

16:59 Kerala's performance in poverty education is excellent. According to the National Multidimensional Poverty Index (NPI) report of NITI Aayog 2023, 0.55% of the population is classified as multidimensionally poor. And today, Kerala is the state with the lowest poverty rate in the whole of India. Kerala is far ahead in this ratio also. If we look at the data of last census, there are 184 women per thousand men in Kerala which is much better than the average sex ratio of India. Where there are only 943 women out of 1000 men. Kerala is also leading India in terms of life expectancy. Kerala's performance in all these areas like Sustainable Development Goals, Human Development Index and Air Quality is highly commendable and hence it is important to acknowledge both these sites of Kerala as only then can one get a clear and comprehensive idea. And anyway, I keep hearing many people say that one should not do blind devotion. So

17:46 if you keep praising someone blindly without knowing his shortcomings, you can never correct him. Because the first step to fix any mistake is to acknowledge its existence. And the purpose of this entire video is that we should first acknowledge the problems in Kerala so that we can take a step towards their solution. Jai Hind. Vande Mataram.