On the other hand, we should give praise to the liberalization policies of Manmohan Singh which have started producing its fruits in the rural India. Interestingly, it is even reflected in my home village Thrickodithanam also. Unemployment and poverty had reduced to almost nil. At least one person in every house is employed now. Minimum wages in the village have gone up to Rs. 500 a day. Some of my neighbours work as real estate & insurance agents, many as auto rickshaw drivers and some work on daily wages. Life style of individuals has improved noticeably compared to the pre-liberalization period. Ape’s and small trucks have taken over bullock carts. Cycles are now seen only with kids and may be in future it will be reduced to mere toy models !!
I remember my childhood days and the old neighbourhood, where Velappan’s foundry for manufacturing bronze lamps was functioning and how horrible his life was prior to liberalization period. But today, Velappan and Meenakshi have renovated their house and they are now proud owners of a Maruthi 800! Velappan and Meenakshi belongs to Viswa Karma community,used to sell their bronze lamps to temples or churches. Things got changed now; it is now common that everyone have at least on lamp at home for the sake of it. Demand for lamps has increased and they are even exported to other parts of India and abroad.
Kunnumpuram now have almost all the basic Govt. machineries which includes a primary health center, a Homeo and an Ayurvedic dispensary, a Police Station, Post office and 3-4 schools including the Gov. Higher Secondary School. Few of media and telecom giants now have regional offices at Kunnumpuram with around ten employees working there. Mobile Telephone shops, Internet cafe's, CAD and CAE oulets are very common. Streets of Kunnumpuram and Pulikkotupady resemble any street in a developed country. Multistory villas on both sides of the road make us feel that we are in par with any European Country.
(Changing Thrickodithanam)
Purushan was at our house that day for spraying herbicide in the waste ground. Interestingly, he came in a Kinetic Honda wearing a Helmet. I was very happy to see such a change! Believe me, he is no more a farmer now! He is a contractor for a farm work! Based on the verbal enquiry from my mother, he had a site visit few days back and offered a lump sum price of 3500 Rs for spraying the herbicide with herbicide in his scope of supply. In fact, the deal was finalized over phone! It took only 3 hours for him to complete the job. Doesn’t it resemble a deal in Europe or US? Yes, we are in a highly developed and sophisticated Kerala now. The days of hunger and back-breaking labour in the fields are passed. Nobody wants to get their earnings by wages. They are now clear about their rights and have even reached a stage where they negotiate with their customer. (Years back, I remember Kuttappi, kunjammani, Kochu Pappan and other farm workers used to come to work with metal tipped ploughs on their shoulders.)
(Veteran Karshaka Thozhilali Kunjammani at her new house.)
After finalizing the job with Purushan, yet another offer came from the representatives of Desheeya Grammena Thozilurappu Padhathi (National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme). They offered the complete job free of cost! A bit late in getting this offer, my mother awarded the job to Purushan. What my mother had to do was just to fill in a form at the Panchayat office. 10-15 women will come and complete the job in 5 days. It sounds bit over estimated! Isn’t it? In fact, that is all about the NREG Programme! It appears to me that the revenue generated through 3G Spectrum is diverted to NREG Programme. NREG Programme is currently running very successful in our Panchayat. Being an outsider I felt like Govt. is simply wasting its money for nothing. Output and efficiency of these women as well as the project they execute is not at all contributing anything for the development of the Panchayat. However, the idea of diverting the revenue to this Programme was successful. It has raised the level of employment in the rural areas and income of the rural households, thereby enhancing the purchasing power. Working in group has empowered the women socially as well. It is clear that Congress party is aiming at the votes of the poorest section of the society. But by diverting the revenue to such projects, the poor is also enjoying the fruits of economic liberalization.
NREG programme is providing 100 days of guaranteed wage employment every financial year for the unskilled adult members of the society. They are getting Rs. 150 a day. Moreover, if they complete 100 working days, they are eligible for life time medical insurance and a pension. There was an argument that NREG Programme had created scarcity in getting unskilled laborers for the agricultural work. However, I feel there is a different reason for it. Reason being, due the economic development many are engaged in other type of jobs where the manual labour is much less, viz; in painting, as real estate agents, mobile tea shops etc. Ironically, jobs involving manual labor in agriculture, infrastructure and construction sector are now taken over by the migrants from Bihar, Bengal and Orissa. I met many migrant workers in Pulikottupady and poor locals they have to now learn Hindi to interact with these people. Interestingly, bus conductors and barbers have already started talking in Hindi !!!
The other day I was travelling in Kalesh’s Auto rickshaw to Thiruvalla. Quite Knowledgeable in Kerala Politics, he is a very happy person now a days. He earns nearly 25,000 Rs every month. He uses his auto not only for passenger transport but also for drop-off and pick-up of school students and delivering milk. According to him he drops daily 50 students to school. No doubt, Parents are now earning more than before to manage to send their kids in Auto rickshaw, than in ‘Natarajan’ motors. Apparently, many parents hesitate to send their children by walk due to the increasing number of sex scandals and other atrocities against women. He strongly opposes the policy of Govt. for providing 35 Kilos of rice @ 1Rupee for BPL though he himself being in BPL. In his opinion everybody has money with them now and adds that Govt. should have done this in the pre-liberalization period.
Salary structure of the Govt. employees and teachers had increased at least 5 times than what was during the 80s and 90’’s. Again, the reason being Govt. revenue has increased due to the economic reforms. Salary hike has enhanced their purchasing power which in turn is improving the economy. Many of them now have changed the mode of transport from two wheelers to small sized cars. Number of cars in the street has gone up by at least 10 times now. Naturally, for that reason more vehicle workshops are in place. Bijoy, who was employed as mechanic few years back, now owns a workshop with three people working under him.
Good or bad, the Idea of giving NOC’s for Professional colleges in Kerala had generated plenty of Engineering, Medical & Nursing Professionals. 100 plus professional colleges producing more than 50 thousand professionals every year. Two of my neighbor‘s sons are engineers now. Though, they may not get a job in Kerala, soon they will be either migrating to other parts of India or abroad. For that reason so many IELTS coaching centers (a must requirement for migration), have mushroomed in and around Thrickodithanam. Migration has been a key engine of social, political and economic change all over Kerala and in Thrickodithanam as well. At least 10% of the village population is either in Gulf or in other parts of the world. This had created high remittances which created indirect employment to many in our village which again decreased un-employment and poverty. Remittance economy also changed the pattern of ownership of the land and unprecedented rise of construction and real estate sector.
To conculde with, it is incredible to see that Thrickodithanam is 'shining' now!!
