EDITORIAL Traversing the Downturn

EDITORIAL
KERALA CALLING
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Traversing the Downturn
The global recession is looming. The financial meltdown that started in
the United States certainly has an impact in almost every level of our economy.
The most immediate effect is the unprecedented economic challenges we have
to face. The long spell of economic growth is reversing. Industrial growth is
dropping sharply, inflation remains quite elevated and foreign exchange reserves
are falling. The financial markets are experiencing the rollercoaster swings,
sending shivers down the investors’ spines. The financial crisis has shown
how poorly functional, the global financial structure is! The industrial world
is still unaware of the need for serious rethinking of the governance of global
finance.
Reeling under the impact of global slowdown, India's exports declined.
The US and European markets account for 70 percent of India’s textile and
garment exports. After agriculture, export-oriented industries like textile,
handicraft and gems and jewellery employ largest number of people in India.
Concerns have been raised over large scale job losses in these sectors. Amid
the deep concerns, Indian Government has assured the industry that
government would take measures to maintain economic growth. India’s growth
rate for the year 2008 has been revised down by the Reserve Bank of India to
7.5 percent from the previous projection of nine percent.
The global economic downturn has already begun to have its impact on
Kerala economy too. The Kerala economy is dependent on world market
conditions to a larger extent than any other state in India. Exports from Kerala
have declined, prices of cash crops are coming down, information technology,
textiles and tourism sectors are facing a demand crunch and industry is already
feeling the credit pinch.
The growth this year may come down to six per cent from last year’s eight
per cent. The State may also witness considerable job losses. The loss is likely
to be in the service sector as well as in the unorganised traditional sectors and
plantations. It would bring a substantial reduction in the number of work
days per employee.
The Information technology industry, the most dynamic sector of the
economy, is feeling the impact of the financial turmoil. The fears of global
slowdown grip the BPO industry also. But the opening up of new opportunities
provide a silver lining as the companies look to cut cost and, as part of the
exercise, outsource more of their work.
Government has taken some monetary and fiscal measures on the domestic
front to strengthen the service sector and thereby relieve the economy. These
problems should be addressed in ways that will promote fairness, efficiency
and productivity. We have to explore new horizons and newer ways to manage
the recovery of our economy. That calls for a coordinated and informed action
from all levels.
COVERSTORY
V S Achuthananthan Chief Minister
Downthrow
Market
Fundamentalism
W
The world
economy
cannot move
through the
same way that
it travelled all
these days.
4
KERALACALLING
e are now facing the historical moment
when the global economic history is at the
end of the road, searching for new ways to
go ahead. In all ways this is a time of
transition of eons. The world economy
cannot move through the same way that it
travelled all these days. We see all over the
world the sight that even strong
conventionalists are competing to wash their
hands of market fundamentalism and new
liberalisation policies. Even the tongue of
World Bank and International Monitory
Fund has changed. We have even seen that
those who renounced administration too
were begging for the interference of the same.
It is noteworthy that those who rendered all
help to casino capitalism themselves are
criticising the same. It has been widely
accepted that the world cannot go ahead
much without refurbishing the national and
international economic arrangements,
especially global monitory system. The global
economic crisis fuels the thoughts and
expectations about the non-capitalist
societies.
The economic crisis faced by the present
world is so severe and grave that the countries
of the world and international institutions
are forced to abandon old ways in search of
new ones. It is undisputable that this crisis
will affect almost all nations, phases of
development and the great majority of
people. The reality that the global economic
crisis has crossed the seas and started affecting
India and our State itself is in our front.
At this moment of crisis and break down,
December 2008
instead of being pleased in frustration and
sluggishness, we have to prepare to face it.
The most immediate responsibility is to
protect the workers, farmers, small scale
industrialists and other weaker sections who
are more prone to the economic crisis. Along
with that we have to take vigil in not slowing
down the flow of growth and to revise our
development tactics according to the changes
that occur in national and international levels
due to the economic crisis.
If you want to take precautions as I
mentioned above to defend the global
economic crisis, firstly, you have to acquire
the exact awareness and understanding about
the reasons as well as solutions of it. The
background of the frantic studies and
discussions taking place all over the world
about economic crisis is this. The reason
behind the decision of the UN General
Assembly to appoint a special panel as
mentioned here is nothing but this. Our
Planning Board Vice Chairman Prof. Prabhat
Patnaik has been invited to join in the panel
and address the General Assembly. I see this
as a recognition too to the uncompromising
activities of Prof. Patnaik and other
progressive thinkers all over the world against
the neo liberal thoughts. Let me use this
occasion to inform my congratulations to
Prof. Prabhat Patnaik.
One basic reason for the break down of
capitalist system is that the market will not
develop in accordance with the accumulation
of capital and increase in production.
America tried to solve the issue of growth
It is foolish to think that speculative trading capital can be
restrained by increasing the price of share value
artificial y. They may see the increase of share value as the
time to sell out their shares.
stagnation of market by credit finance
and by permitting the speculators
work with loose reins. When the
bubble of debt finance burst out and
the speculation capital faced backlash
in share markets and others, the crisis
in money market has permuted to a
big economic crisis. Hope has great
place in the growth and fall of
capitalist system. The atmosphere of
economic crisis has made that hopes
touch the bottom. This situation in
which nobody has faith in anybody
will intensify the impact of the break
down.
The particles of global economic
crisis spread over other countries
mainly through two ways. The first
one is that of foreign trade. And the
second one is the way of the floating
of speculative trading capital. In these
two, the first one will create headache
to all countries and lands which have
exporting and importing. The inflow
of crisis through foreign trade cannot
be get rid of completely. Within a
short period it can only be controlled.
The contagious nature of disease from
the way of the floating of speculative
capital is very swift and more
dangerous. Immediate steps should be
taken to seal this way.
When the foreign speculative
trading capital was given permission
both to enter India and to withdraw
at any time, the Left Parties and
eminent economists had given
forewarn about the danger that would
December 2008
occur. When the speculation capital
flooded in and the share values went
sky-high, the rulers of the Centre had
no time to lend an ear to our advice
and warning. But all of them were
busy with celebrating the share value
shoot up. Our apprehension was that
the speculation capital would flow out
collectively if any kind of meek
provocation occurred and the impact
of this could not be borne by our
economy. What we feared about is
happening now. By then the news of
global crisis spread, they began sell out
Indian shares massively and get away.
Indian share values fell down. The
value of Indian Rupee fell downright.
The fact that foreign share trading
institutions have not carried out the
entire amount they brought in and
they will do the same if they get an
opportunity is worrying. It is foolish
to think that speculative trading
capital can be restrained by increasing
the price of share value artificially.
They may see the increase of share
value as the time to sell out their
shares. So I strongly recommend the
Central Government to implement
stern controls over the foreign share
trading institutions.
The way out of this crisis is the
taking over of developmental activities
which will increase both the buying
potential of people and the demand.
Most of the scientists take such a stand
in this matter. For taking more
developmental activities in
government level, the Central
Government has to dispose of its
Contd. on page 9
KERALACALLING
5
be directly available to all. The fall of
traditional sectors will worsen the
condition of the poor in the State.
Counter Cyclical Measures
The above-mentioned factors
point to the significance of
formulating a comprehensive plan for
protecting the poor and employment
opportunities and income for them.
But in the federal set up of India,
the state governments are severely
constrained to undertake this task.
The state governments cannot take
recourse to deficit financing or even
take recourse to market borrowing
without the permission of the central
government. There is a possibility of
shortfall in the Central Tax share and
the State's tax revenue due to the
economic down turn. There has been
a decrease in the tax received from
stamp duty, rubber and vehicles
during the month of October. The
Central Government should raise the
borrowing limits of the state
governments. Nevertheless we shall
adopt the following measures:
Firstly we should be able to take
immediate steps to protect the poor
in the traditional sector. For this
purpose, the social security measures
including public distribution should
be strengthened. Central aid should
be made available for this.
Secondly,
the
National
Employment Guarantee Scheme
should be broadened, focussing the
unemployed in the traditional sector.
This scheme should be implemented
in the form of a campaign in
connection with Food Security
Programme, Social Forestry and
Sanitation. Changes should be made
in the criteria so that they are more
appropriate to the conditions of
Kerala.
Thirdly, large-scale investment
should be made for the development
of infrastructure which includes
roads, bridges, parks, public buildings
etc. The Central Government should
be ready to enhance the credit limit
of the State immediately for this
purpose.
Fourthly the NRI deposit
schemes should be made more
attractive. This would help in
lightening the credit crunch in Kerala.
Banks should change their approach.
Co-operative sector should be
strengthened. We are devising a
Rs.2000 crore total housing
programme with housing loan from
co-operatives. It is indeed a model
global recession programme even at
the national level back drop of the
crisis.
Fifthly import of rubber should
not be liberalised. The subsidies given
to other edible oils should also be
made available to coconut oil and
import of the former must be
controlled. Support price should be
announced immediately for unhusked
coconuts in the new season.
Sixthly, steps should be taken to
expand the domestic market for the
products of traditional export
industries, even if this effort will be
constrained by the economic slow
down.„
December 2008
Contd. from page 5
Downthrow
Market Fundamentalism
bundles of ideologies of market
fundamentalism and neo liberalism.
It has to recognise the part of
administration and public sector in
the leadership also.
I remember here that the Centre
has done Herculean task to cut down
the government expenditure and
economic deficiency only for
attracting speculative trading capital.
This is the time to give up the
fundamentalism about economic
deficiency and to increase
government’s investment on capital.
There is no other means in giving
solace to the public and revitalising
the hope of investors.
The news that Central
Government is preparing to increase
public capital investment is worth
welcoming. But the states also are to
be permitted to do the same. The
states should be released immediately
from the nose-string of Financial
Responsibility Bill. Restriction to
borrow should be revoked. States
should be evaded from compelling to
take foreign debt and be permitted
to borrow from domestic market. The
problems created by foreign aid
projects need not be mentioned here.
All economic powers stolen from
states as part of neo liberalisation
policy should be reinstated. As part
of bringing solace to the public, the
Central Government should get ready
to cut down the controlled prices of
petroleum products. It is
objectionable that the prices of India
are not abated even the price of crude
oil has been reduced to one third in
the world. If the price of petroleum
products decreases, other prices will
also come down.
Kerala will attend the crisis by
increasing social welfare and safety
expenditure and by maximising
capital investment. The State will take
such a stand in the 2009-10 annual
project and in the State Budget. Along
with, Kerala will sincerely attempt to
make the management of CentralState projects more effective. „
KERALACALLING
9
C O V E R STO RY
Counter
the Credit Crunch
Based on the speech made by Dr. Thomas Isaac, Finance Minister,
in the Legislative Assembly on November 24, 2008
I
t is certain that global economic
crisis would have grave adverse impact
on the State economy and in the
public life. The situation will worsen
in the coming months. Therefore the
State Government is preparing plans
to face the situation. The Centre for
Development Studies (CDS) has been
asked to prepare a comprehensive
report on the impact of global
recession on our regional economy.
The budget to be presented in
February will address the counter
recession measures to be adopted in
the State.
The Global Crisis will adversely
affect Kerala in four different ways.
1. Decline in exports.
2. Fall in price of cash crops
3. Stunted growth in IT and Tourism
sectors.
4. After effects of Credit Crunch
Decline in exports
During the first five months of the
FY 2008-09, Kerala’s exports
registered remarkable increase. The
situation has been reversed in
October. This is the indicator of what
is in store for the future.
Unlike the crisis of 1930s, there
6
KERALACALLING
has been a considerable decline in the
export of coir. In the thirties, the lower
income groups in the western
countries turned to comparatively
cheaper floor coverings made from
coir. In the present context, they are
likely to prefer products made from
artificial fibre which are cheaper than
coir. The four important companies
that imported coir in foreign
countries are already reported to be
bankrupt. Compared to the export
in the month of September in 2007
there have been a fall of 16.17 per cent
in quantity and a fall of 9.76 per cent
in value. While in October there was
a fall of 9.72 per cent in quantity and
15.14 per cent in value. It is to be
noted that even though rupee has
depreciated, the export
value in rupee term
too decreased
during
the
month
of
October. This
indicates that the
demand of coir in
western market is
decliing.
The marine
products exports
December 2008
registered the sharpest fall. Compared
to the export in the month of
September in 2007 there has been a
fall of 30 per cent in quantity and 31
per cent in value. Dollar value fell by
37 per cent.
Cashew exports increased
substantially during the first half of
this year. But, in October and
compared to that of last year, the
export declined by 25 per cent in
quantity. The dollar value of cashew
during the months of June and July
was $3.6 per pound has been reduced
to $2.66 in the month of October
Even though there has been a nine per cent
increase in export value, in terms of quantity,
the total export of spices during October 2008 was
16 per cent lower than that in 2007-08.
In place of 22800 ton pepper
exported during April-October 2007,
we could export only 14750 ton
during the same period in 2008. This
means a decrease of 35 per cent in
quantity and 25 per cent in value.
Foreign traders are reducing their
inventory. Even though there has been
a nine per cent increase in export
value, in terms of quantity, the total
export of spices during October 2008
was 16 per cent lower than that in
2007-08.
Due to decline in production of
tea in Kenya and cardamom in
Guatemala, export of these
commodities increased. The export of
tea from Kerala during 2007 January
to July was 3.54 crore kgs. This
increased to 4.15 crore kg in the
current year. Price has also improved.
For the first time in last 14 years it is
expected that export of cardamom
will exceed 1200 tons. Needless to
add, these trends will be reversed once
the production in Kenya and
Guatemala returns to normal pace.
When compared to the previous
year, there has been an increase in
export of coffee during the first 10
months of 2008. The price of coffee
also improved but it declined in
October. The collapse of Lehman
Brothers, which was a major player
in the speculative trading of coffee,
triggered the decline in coffee prices.
Exports too have started to decline.
Fall in price of cash crops
As in the case of coir, cashew,
prawns etc, the global financial crisis
has also affected adversely the prices
of rubber and coconut, the two major
cash crops of Kerala, sold mainly in
the domestic market. This is going to
sharply reduce the income level of
lakhs of farmers in our state. The price
level of rubber, due to globalisation,
has not only reduced to the global
level but also has been fluctuating
according to the changes in the global
market price. Recession in car
industry and the fall in price of
synthetic rubber had pulled down the
price of natural rubber.
ton in October 2008. Likewise, the
price of palm oil declined 41 percent
i.e from $1270 per ton in March
2008 to $750 per ton in October
2008.
There are still import restrictions
on coconut oil. At the same time
Central Government is not only
permitting unrestricted imports of
edible oils like palm oil and soya bean
oil without any tariff, but also selling
them at subsidised prices through the
ration shops. As a result, the recovery
The price of RSS-4 rubber fell
from Rs.142 to Rs.62 a kg between
August 28 and November 21, 2008.
In the name of economic crisis, tyre
manufacturers have demanded wavier
of import tax and to make the imports
more liberal. If this is implemented
the price of rubber will decline even
more sharply.
The price of edible oil has nosedropped in the global market. The
soya bean oil, which was priced $1554
per ton in July 2008, has went down
by 30 per cent reaching $1085 per
of prices of coconut oil, from the
2001 crisis, has been stalled and it has
started declining once again.
December 2008
IT and Tourism Sectors
IT and Tourism constitute new
sources of economic growth for the
State. These two sectors will be
adversely affected by the global crisis.
It is feared that there will be a 20 per
cent decrease in the tourist inflow.
Next year the situation will worsen
further. The IT sector is expected to
lose 25 per cent job opportunities.
KERALACALLING
7
The IT sector of Kerala is relatively
small even though it is growing at a
fast pace. Therefore, we are more
concerned about the deceleration in
investments of this sector rather than
the reduction in job opportunities.
After effects of Credit Crunch
An important distinctive feature
of the current economic crisis is the
credit crunch. Banks are reluctant to
provide credit. On 31st October 2008
the total bank credit in India was Rs
26,34,893 crores. Annualised it
would constitute 29 per cent of
growth. However, during AprilOctober 2008, bank loan increased
only by 10.7 per cent. Further, it is
also reported that the credit
outstanding declined by Rs.16,630
crores between October 31st and
November 7th.
Credit crunch adversely impacts
on exports. Instead of providing
discount facilities, the practice of
sending the documents to the bank
for collection has become order of the
day. It indicates that the mutual
confidence among financial
institutions has eroded. There are
many complaints about reduction in
credit limit. The trade loans for
traders have been cut down. All these
factors have negatively affected the
exports and production.
Aftermath of the Crisis
increase in unemployment. One and
a half lakh people will lose
employment in the traditional
industries and plantation sector. Since
the traditional industries are
unorganised, unemployment will be
disguised as reduction in the number
of working days than open
unemployment. This would adversely
affect the standard of living and
income of the poor people in these
sectors. There will be loss of
employment in the tourism and
related sectors. The service sectors will
also be negatively affected by the crisis.
On the one hand, while the rate
of decrease in prices of almost all the
commodities sold by Kerala
occurs rapidly the decline in
prices of commodities like rice,
sugar, steel, cement etc imported
by Kerala decreases only at a
slower rate. Except for a small
percentage of people, ration has
been denied by the central
government. The Keralites have
to depend on the open market.
If we consider the increase in
prices from ration shop to open
market it can be seen that the
prices of food grains has gone up
steeply. This situation will
adversely affect the terms of trade
of Kerala and thus will accentuate
the economic crisis.
The Global meltdown has
affected the Middle East. It
is certain that the fall in oil
prices and bear slide in Gulf
stock markets will
adversely affect the job
opportunities and wages of
migrant workers. It is also
worth considering whether
the Gulf Malayalis would
save their earnings in
depreciating rupee or in
some other foreign
currency.
As a result, the economic
growth of the State which was 8.1
per cent in 2006-2007 may
decline to around 6 per cent. This
estimate is drawn by assuming
that the service sector will not be
seriously affected soon by the
crisis.
The above-mentioned situation
will severely impact the life of ordinary
people. The first problem is the
8
KERALACALLING
December 2008
Remittances from the Gulf
It is to be highlighted that the
level of decline in the total
income of the State will not be as
severe as decrease in the domestic
production. Thanks to the
depreciation of rupee, it is expected
that there would be an increase in the
income from Gulf in terms of rupees.
During 2007-08 it was around Rs. 34
–36 thousand crores. Estimates of
some experts have indicates that due
to depreciation this would increase up
to Rs.38 –42 thousand crore during
current FY.
The global meltdown has affected
the Middle East. It is certain that the
fall in oil prices and bear slide in Gulf
stock markets will adversely affect the
job opportunities and wages of
migrant workers. It is also worth
considering whether the Gulf
Malayalis would save their earnings
in depreciating rupee or in the some
other foreign currency. When these
factors are also considered, the
estimates on income from the Gulf
need to be moderated. Furthermore,
the benefits of Gulf income will not
be directly available to all. The fall of
traditional sectors will worsen the
condition of the poor in the State.
Counter Cyclical Measures
The above-mentioned factors
point to the significance of
formulating a comprehensive plan for
protecting the poor and employment
opportunities and income for them.
But in the federal set up of India,
the state governments are severely
constrained to undertake this task.
The state governments cannot take
recourse to deficit financing or even
take recourse to market borrowing
without the permission of the central
government. There is a possibility of
shortfall in the Central Tax share and
the State's tax revenue due to the
economic down turn. There has been
a decrease in the tax received from
stamp duty, rubber and vehicles
during the month of October. The
Central Government should raise the
borrowing limits of the state
governments. Nevertheless we shall
adopt the following measures:
Firstly we should be able to take
immediate steps to protect the poor
in the traditional sector. For this
purpose, the social security measures
including public distribution should
be strengthened. Central aid should
be made available for this.
Secondly,
the
National
Employment Guarantee Scheme
should be broadened, focussing the
unemployed in the traditional sector.
This scheme should be implemented
in the form of a campaign in
connection with Food Security
Programme, Social Forestry and
Sanitation. Changes should be made
in the criteria so that they are more
appropriate to the conditions of
Kerala.
Thirdly, large-scale investment
should be made for the development
of infrastructure which includes
roads, bridges, parks, public buildings
etc. The Central Government should
be ready to enhance the credit limit
of the State immediately for this
purpose.
Fourthly the NRI deposit
schemes should be made more
attractive. This would help in
lightening the credit crunch in Kerala.
Banks should change their approach.
Co-operative sector should be
strengthened. We are devising a
Rs.2000 crore total housing
programme with housing loan from
co-operatives. It is indeed a model
global recession programme even at
the national level back drop of the
crisis.
Fifthly import of rubber should
not be liberalised. The subsidies given
to other edible oils should also be
made available to coconut oil and
import of the former must be
controlled. Support price should be
announced immediately for unhusked
coconuts in the new season.
Sixthly, steps should be taken to
expand the domestic market for the
products of traditional export
industries, even if this effort will be
constrained by the economic slow
down.„
December 2008
Contd. from page 5
Downthrow
Market Fundamentalism
bundles of ideologies of market
fundamentalism and neo liberalism.
It has to recognise the part of
administration and public sector in
the leadership also.
I remember here that the Centre
has done Herculean task to cut down
the government expenditure and
economic deficiency only for
attracting speculative trading capital.
This is the time to give up the
fundamentalism about economic
deficiency and to increase
government’s investment on capital.
There is no other means in giving
solace to the public and revitalising
the hope of investors.
The news that Central
Government is preparing to increase
public capital investment is worth
welcoming. But the states also are to
be permitted to do the same. The
states should be released immediately
from the nose-string of Financial
Responsibility Bill. Restriction to
borrow should be revoked. States
should be evaded from compelling to
take foreign debt and be permitted
to borrow from domestic market. The
problems created by foreign aid
projects need not be mentioned here.
All economic powers stolen from
states as part of neo liberalisation
policy should be reinstated. As part
of bringing solace to the public, the
Central Government should get ready
to cut down the controlled prices of
petroleum products. It is
objectionable that the prices of India
are not abated even the price of crude
oil has been reduced to one third in
the world. If the price of petroleum
products decreases, other prices will
also come down.
Kerala will attend the crisis by
increasing social welfare and safety
expenditure and by maximising
capital investment. The State will take
such a stand in the 2009-10 annual
project and in the State Budget. Along
with, Kerala will sincerely attempt to
make the management of CentralState projects more effective. „
KERALACALLING
9
C O V E R STO RY
V Santhakumar
Impact
Unpredictable
E
ssentially, there are two dimensions
of the crisis that can have an impact
on Kerala: liquidity crisis in financial
institutions including banks and
possible recession – or the
compression of economy of the
developed world. These aspects
impact a region like Kerala through
different channels such as availability
of credit to consumption and
production in Kerala, prices or the
demand for exported products and
services (like IT/ITES) from the state,
prices of commodities imported for
consumption or production within
Kerala, arrival of tourists in the state,
remittances from the Non-Resident
Keralites, prices of commodities like
steel, cement, petroleum products
10
KERALACALLING
used as intermediate inputs and
opportunities to attract foreign direct
investment to Kerala.
However the influences of all these
factors are mediated through the
changes in exchange rate of Rupees.
For example, the international price
of a cash crop exported (like pepper)
may decline, but the rupee value of
the export income may not decline
that fast due to the depreciation of
rupee against dollar.
There are many reasons why one
can expect a compression of the credit
availability despite the measures taken
by the Union Government. In general
lenders may become more risk averse
given the experience of sub-prime
crisis in US. This may affect loan
December 2008
disbursal to buying homes and cars
and also for other consumption
durables. This in turn can affect
economic activities like construction
and real estate business. However one
can expect that there will be
moderation of this credit contraction
due to the availability of more
liquidity with banks due to the
measures taken by the Union
Government, a possible reduction in
interest rates due to decline of
inflation, and also by the fact that
Indian banks may not face a
significant shortage of deposits due to
the perceived safety. There can be a
decline in the credit demand due to
the excessive caution by ordinary
borrowers and this can also reduce the
There can be some decline in the demand for
cash crops and fish from Kerala due to the recessionary
conditions in the developed world.
negative impact of decline in credit
availability.
There can be some decline in the
demand for cash crops and fish from
Kerala due to the recessionary
conditions in the developed world.
This depends on how much the
citizens of developed country reduce
their consumption of cashew, pepper,
fish, etc. thanks to the possible decline
in income (or job losses) due to
recession. Such reduction, if occurs,
can have a negative impact on the
revenue to the growers and exporters
of such commodities. This can be
partly moderated through the
depreciation of rupee against dollar.
A possible reduction in the demand
for software and outsourcing services
can also occur in the developed world.
However, there will be more pressure
to reduce costs on the developed
country firms during recession, and
this can be an added incentive to
continue or increase outsourcing.
Regarding the prices of
commodities
imported
for
consumption/production in Kerala,
there are two types. The financial crisis
is likely to lead to a reduction of prices
of oil, cement, steel, etc. due to the
slackening of global demand. For
those commodities, imported by
India, this favourable impact of
reduction in prices may be offset
partly by the appreciation of US
dollar. However, there can be a net
reduction of the price of these
commodities, and this can reduce the
cost of production here. Regarding
imported consumption in Kerala, a
major item is food, for which there
may not be a substantial reduction in
prices. On the other hand
manufactured goods coming to
Kerala may in general be available at
lower prices.
The remittances are affected by a
number of factors: depreciation of
rupee may not reduce the rupee
equivalent of remittance even if there
is some reduction in the dollar value;
there can be some diversion of NRI
investments from elsewhere including
stock markets and mutual funds to
normal deposits in Indian banks,
December 2008
however if the oil prices decline
drastically and if the recession
continues in developed world, the
investments in construction in
middle-east countries may come
down (or may not have the same
growth in a situation where there is
no crisis) and this can have a negative
impact on the jobs and income of
NRKs and the remittances from
them.
The arrival of tourists can also be
expected to go down, though the full
impact of the recession on tourism
will not be evident immediately since
India has became cheaper recently for
foreign tourists due to rupee
depreciation. The foreign direct
investment to India as a whole may
decline, but its impact on Kerala may
not be that significant since the state
is not anyway a major destination of
such investments.
The net effect of all these
changes on Kerala economy is
difficult to predict. However
a two or three per cent points
of reduction in the growth
rate of Kerala economy
should not be a surprise, if the
crisis persists for a minimum
period of six months. The
long-term impact, if there is
contraction in investments in
middle-east countries (due to
low price of oil) and
continued recession in developed
countries, can be much more
adverse.„
The writer is Associate Fellow, Centre for
Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram 695 011
KERALACALLING
11
C O V E R STO RY
I
n an increasingly globalised world
order, no regional economy is
immune to the developments at the
global level. This is particularly so in
the case of regional economies like
that of Kerala, which is heavily
dependent on external remittances.
Keynesian prescription for kick
Jose Sebastian
are rather limited. It has to mobilise
more resources and increase public
expenditure. Focusing on commercial
taxes, which contribute nearly 70 per
cent of own revenue of Kerala, this
article discusses the options before
Kerala to tide over the impact of the
global financial crisis.
of social and community services.
Public expenditure on education,
public health and social welfare
payments account for bulk or Kerala’s
public expenditure. It is this
expenditure pattern that has created
what is internationally known as
‘Kerala Model of Development’. But
Dependence on
Commercial Taxes
due to paucity of resources, the State
is finding it difficult to maintain the
quality of many of its public services.
Onset of the recession as made
matters worse for the State.
The choice before the State is to
mobilise more resources and thus
supplement the efforts of those
sections of the society, which are more
vulnerable to the impact of recession.
But from the point of mobilising
resources, Kerala has certain inherent
disadvantages. Kerala is industrially
backward and therefore is not able to
mobilise much revenue through
taxation of industrial raw materials
and intermediate goods. Most of the
agricultural products are exported out
of the country and the State cannot
tax exports. Therefore the Kerala has
to tap the potential of the
consumption sector to the hilt.
up
Yes,we can boost
starting a recession griped economy
is increasing government expenditure
and this is possible only by mobilising
resources by the State. While a
national government can consider
several options in this context
including printing of currency, the
choices of a sub-national government
12
KERALACALLING
The Centre-State financial
relations in India involve a certain
degree of imbalance between revenue
raising powers and expenditure
responsibilities of states. It has been
pointed out that the successive
Finance Commissions have not fully
succeeded in correcting this
imbalance. Though the states are
overburdened with expenditure
responsibilities, the only elastic source
of revenue at their disposal is
commodity taxes. Commodity taxes
like Value Added Tax (VAT) and sales
tax account for almost 65 per cent of
own tax revenue of states. In the case
of Kerala, this is as high as 70 per cent.
However, compared to most
Indian States, Kerala’s public
expenditure has a higher proportion
December 2008
There is misconception that in a recessionary phase
government should reduce taxes and leave more liquidity with
the people. On the other hand, if government mobilises more
resources and spends, the overall liquidity level of the
economy increases and this activates the productive sectors.
The fact cannot be denied that the
consumption sector of the State offers
considerable potential for resource
mobilisation. According to the latest
consumer expenditure data brought
out by National Sample Survey
Organisation, Kerala stands top
among major Indian states in
household consumption. Scientific
studies have shown that the
commodity tax potential of the State
remains largely untapped. The level
of tax evasion/ avoidance in Kerala by
any standards is quite high.
The key to fighting the global
recession thus lies in increasing public
expenditure because in a recessionary
phase private expenditure will shrink.
Individuals will try to reduce spending
as a strategy to tide over the recession.
Therefore government should step in
and pump in additional liquidity to
keep up the level of economic activity.
This is possible only by tapping the
potential of commercial taxes to the
hilt.
There is misconception that in a
recessionary phase government should
reduce taxes and leave more liquidity
with the people. This however is not
supported by any evidence. On the
other hand, if government mobilises
more resources and spends, the overall
liquidity level of the economy
increases and this activates the
productive sectors. This is not difficult
to understand. Government
expenditure on salaries, welfare
pensions and infrastructure increases
the purchasing power of those
section of the population whose
propensity to consume is very high.
For the same reason, tax evasion
in a recessionary phase is selfdefeating. Evasion will force
government to reduce expenditure,
which in turn will cause glut in the
consumer goods market. The traders
will soon find that the stocks on the
shelves are not depleting. While tax
evasion by an individual trader may
be temporarily beneficial to him/her,
tax evasion by the trading community
as whole is detrimental to their own
interests.
But governmental efforts at
checking tax evasion anywhere is
fraught with problems. In the context
of Kerala, there are inherent
difficulties for the government to go
ahead with an aggressive programme
of preventing tax evasion. First and
foremost, almost 80 per cent of
manufactured consumer goods are
imported into the State. Though
check-posts are established in almost
all entry points into the State, a wilful
tax evader can find newer and newer
methods of hoodwinking the tax
collector. It is almost impossible to
establish check-posts in front all the
railway stations in the State. Of late
certain provisions relating to booking
parcel through the railways have made
matters more difficult for the tax
administrator.
All these point towards one fact.
A culture of paying taxes voluntarily
has to be inculcated in our society.
Perhaps government may have to
unleash a massive campaign to
educate the masses about tax
consciousness. Some of the recent
initiatives of Government of Kerala
like ‘Lucky VAT’ hold considerable
promise in this context. The trader’s
organisations also have big role in
creating tax consciousness among
their members. Thus through a
concerted effort of Government and
people, it is indeed possible to tide
over the challenges posed by global
recession. Kerala has the necessary
social capital for such an endeavour.„
The writer is senior faculty member, Centre
for Taxation Studies, Thiruvananthapuram
December 2008
KERALACALLING
13
C O V E R STO RY
B
y year's end the impact of the
global financial crisis will be felt with
a slowdown in all emerging
economies. These growth declines
could have significant effects on the
world's poorest populations. The
World Bank estimates that one
percent decline in developing
country’s growth rates traps an
additional 20 million people in
poverty. Concern centres on India and
China, the world's two most populous
nations and the largest contributors
to reductions in global poverty in the
last two decades, according to many
academic studies. Reduced economic
growth in both countries could
reverse poverty alleviation efforts and
even push more people into poverty,
say some experts.
The glaring inequalities in
agricultural trade are the result of
unjust reforms. Trade in Agricultural
commodities and food products is
directly linked to the survival of nearly
70 per cent of the populations in
developing countries.
Dr M Subramonia Iyer
Liberalisation of the farm sector
has already witnessed import surges.
Agriculture commodity imports have
gone up by 300 per cent between
2000 and 2004.
Agricultural commodity trading
on exchanges is likely to drop about
50 per cent to touch Rs 6.5 lakh crore
this year as compared to Rs 13 lakh
crore in 2006-07 due to the
slowdown. The new global economic
outlook report projects growth in
developing Asia as a whole to fall from
9.3 percent in 2007 to 7.1 percent in
2009, and similar trends across most
of the world's major emerging
markets and the global economy, the
bullion accounted for agricultural
commodity trade is being 23 per cent.
Considering the increasing prices
of wheat, sugar, edible oils, it is
believed that government has
compromised on growth and decided
to cut import duty on all edible oil in
crude form to zero percent with
immediate effect from March 31,
2008. Rising demand in global
market, global warming, bio fuel
production, hot commodity market
and price rigging at futures trading
marts are said to be the reasons for
soaring commodity prices in India.
The government aims to reduce
domestic prices by allowing free flow
of products from the global market.
The Government of India’s decision
to withdraw export incentives of
many items including spices, have a
negative impact on the farmers.
Make it
farmer centric
14
KERALACALLING
December 2008
The new global economic outlook report
projects growth in developing Asia as a whole to
fall from 9.3 percent in 2007 to 7.1
percent in 2009.
October this year was the worst
month in history for commodities.
The S & P’s GSCI Agriculture index
declined by 17.3 per cent as many
farmers chose to store grain and wait
for better prices rather than sell at
current levels.
Setting up a time-bound National
Food Security Mission by enhancing
production of wheat, rice, pulses and
edible oils comes at a time when the
Government itself is lowering the
custom tariff, thereby allowing
cheaper imports. India was almost
self-sufficient in edible oils in 199394. Ever since the government began
lowering the tariffs, edible oil imports
have multiplied turning the country
into the biggest importer. Small and
medium farmers growing oilseeds
including “coconut” and that too in
the rainfed areas had to abandon
production in the light of cheaper
imports.
In the international market, rice
is traded under two main categories
– fragrant and non-fragrant rice.
Basmati rice is the most preferred
fragrant rice and India dominates its
trade. However, despite these reasons,
rice prices had followed a steady but
sluggish rising trend particularly when
compared to other bulk commodities
such as wheat and corn. What
triggered a sudden price rise was
mainly export restrictions imposed by
various exporting countries. Weather
related production shortfalls have also
resulted in increasing import demand.
This put pressure on rice exporting
countries, where prices started rising
in the domestic market prompting
their governments to impose export
restrictions.
Rice production in India is likely
to exceed 94 million tonnes, despite
unseasonable rains in southern states
like Kerala and Andhra Pradesh in
March this year. This bumper crop
together with strict government
controls on exports is expected to ease
prices by the end of this year.
However, till then, it is most likely
that prices will remain firm.
Besides online trading, unofficial
trading of many agri products - in
The international
community needs to act
urgently to strengthen the
credibility and resilience
of the international trade
system.
which speculators are not required to
maintain margins and also do not to
pay transaction fees or taxes - is
popular at our national exchanges.
The government's Forwards
Marketing Commission has been
unable to regulate this trading.
Farmer’s organisations and food
security specialists maintain that
unchecked trading and speculation
have played a pivotal role in the
spiraling prices of food staples in
India. It is high time the government
December 2008
rejected this neo-liberal and
corporate-led agriculture model and
replaced it with a farmer-centric one.
The ultimate solution to the problem
of current food prices is to improve
production and productivity.
There should be rates of
protection to farmers which are
basically a ratio of the domestic price
that a farmer gets to the import parity
or export parity price of the same
product, and same quality, depending
on whether the commodity under
consideration is being imported (is
importable) or exported (is
exportable). Effective Subsidy
Coefficient (ESC) is a better measure
than Effective Protection Coefficient
(EPC), and in turn EPC is better than
NPC to measure the true degree of
competitiveness of the relevant
commodity.
The international community
needs to act urgently to strengthen the
credibility and resilience of the
international trade system. Short term
measures, such as export bans aimed
at protecting domestic consumers
being implemented in countries like
India, can further destabilise markets
and punish countries that depend on
imports for their food security. And
hence what is needed is the most
stable and transparent trade rules,
which can support the resilience of
food systems and promote durable
food security.
A true reform in agriculture is only
possible when the global community
accepts the guiding principle that
food for all is an international
obligation.„
The writer is Associate Director of
Research, Kerala Agricultural University,
Thiruvananthapuram
KERALACALLING
15
C O V E R STO RY
P Mara Pandian IAS
F
iscal autonomy brings multiple tax rates and narrow
base across Indian States, hence is an obstacle for a hasslefree tax administration. These differences cause resource
allocation distortions (productive inefficiency) and
consumer prices (consumption inefficiency). It also affects
the fiscal autonomy of the States. Administration of
different taxing statutes and multiple levies brings the need
for various checks and balances for effective co-ordination
to boost-up revenue augmentation of the State. These will
surely water-down imbalances in the economy of the
States, market fragmentation, and create a level play
ground for trading sector. It is particularly so, with
reference to the State of Kerala since we have a consumer
base and revenue structure largely dependant upon retail
trading market. The necessity for self policing and
voluntary compliance, call for a modern accounting
pattern from the trading sector in respect of goods
consigned into our State for trading. The border
Commercial Tax check posts in the State play a vital role
in this regard. These Check posts are established in the
State based on the statutory provision viz. Sec.46 of the
Kerala Value Added Tax, 2003.
Success of effective VAT enforcement largely depends
on the cross verification of goods consigned into the State
for sale and outflow of interstate sale of goods. In the
VAT scenario, a national platform was created named
"TINXYS" for sharing and tracking information of goods
vehicles with particular reference to the commodity
movement across the Indian States. The success of
information sharing from the national platform would
largely depend on uploading data into the TINXYS system
on real time mode. For e.g., an officer in Kerala can cross-
Preventing
Tax Evasion
check the genuineness of transactions effected by a dealer
in Kerala from Rajasthan on any particular day using the
TIN number of either Kerala or Rajasthan dealer. The
statutory forms issued by the consignor, dealer or
consignee dealer can be cross-matched or cross-verified,
if the system information is readily available. This will
stop unethical trade practices of using bogus statutory
forms, TIN numbers and false claims. In other words,
16
KERALACALLING
trade sector will be compelled to account all its business
transactions in the regular books of accounts. The State
Government will certainly switch over to this system in
the near future. Revenue collection from 1993-94 to
2007-08 shown below would loom large the importance
of strict cross matching of goods bought into the State
which would yield first point tax revenue on sale.
As a preventive measure to tax evasion, State
December 2008
All consignments intended for clearance
through the notified area shall possess a
tax invoice or delivery note or certificate of
ownership containing the particulars of
goods in the vehicle.
District wise Check post collection details
from 2005-06 to 2007-08 (in Lakhs)
No of Checkposts
District
TVM
KLM
IDK
MATTY
TSR
PKD
MLP
KKD
WYND
KNR
KSGD
TOTAL
2005-06
1188.18
1066.45
245.39
199.58
47.17
11055.5
240.2
226.79
743.29
393.24
4295.32
19701.13
2006-07
1458.14
1457.28
301.28
503.09
49.71
11295.7
239.44
298.59
1177.16
414.34
4270
21464.68
2007 -08
1663.12
1691.69
314.99
202.79
60.35
12132.09
170.60
225.25
1200.32
341.70
4482.71
22485.61
Governments are competent to set up
check posts in the notified area. All
consignments intended for clearance
through the notified area shall possess
a tax invoice or delivery note or
certificate of ownership containing
the particulars of goods in the vehicle.
Legislation also contemplates
additional documents such as report
issued by the scanning agency and
Border
13
2
4
1
13
1
1
11
6
15
67
Internal
1
1
2
4
Total
13
2
4
1
2
13
1
3
11
6
15
71
weighing agency, if any. Thus, checkposts play an important role in the
current tax enforcement systems. The
sales tax check-posts provide
information on imports by different
producers, preventing duty evasion
even after imports. Under VAT,
declassification of domestic sales as
exports needs to be curtailed. In tune
with modernisation and the time
December 2008
need, we are planning to introduce
check-post plazas, integrating Police,
Excise, Transport, Forest and Other
State Government agencies from time
to time. A state-of-the-art integrated
development programme planned by
the State is the first in the country to
go ahead with the modernisation for
revenue augmentation in the VAT
scenario. The designs essentially
consist of rationalised traffic flow
patterns, data capture via automatic
devices like computer linked
weighbridges and cameras, online
data capture at check-posts and
information
sharing
and
computerised selection of vehicles for
physical checks.
To improve cost recovery at
citizen's convenience, value added
service facilities such as food and
beverage services, toilets and baths,
retiring rooms, Internet and
telephone services, tourism and road
repair services etc. are being planned.
Contd. on page 29
KERALACALLING
17
Contd. from page 17
Contd. from page 23
These could be utilised even by non commercial
vehicles. Some services could possibly be outsourced.
This would lead to reduce budgetary costs, even
possibly self-financing check-posts.
Given the limited capacity at check-posts, selection
for checking could be for a risk-based sample by
instituting green and red channels. Furthermore,
selected firms and dealers with excellent track records
may be assigned a 'green dealer' status, resulting in the
automatic green channel treatment. This status will
be periodically reviewed to avoid tax fraud and misuse.
All consignments intended for export, advance
processing of paper work and documents would be
instituted on the basis of electronic documents from
transporters. This reduces the waiting time at checkposts leaving other enforcement checks unaffected.
Traffic bottleneck at the border check posts would be
fatal to the economic growth of the State and the
tourism industry in particular. In the VAT scenario,
checking of both incoming and outgoing vehicles is
required at the State borders. Consequently, an
40% of households lost 80 percent of their net worth.
The highly mobile finance capital has sucked up domestic
capital from all over the world through a variety of neoliberal
instrumentalities. Occasionally veiled threats too have been
employed. The differential profitability of global capital drives
it from place to place leaving behind a trial of economic crisis
in respective countries. The growth of information technology
has immensely benefited the capitalist fund managers. At the
click of a button, billions of dollars could be transferred from
one country to another or from one share to another.
New financial innovations like hedge funds and derivatives
have taken speculation to new heights, higher than the stockmarket trade. Derivatives are shadow financial instruments
that includes futures, options, forwards trading etc.
According to the Bank of International Settlement, as of
September 2008, the total value of derivative trade stood at
a staggering $600 plus trillion. It was only $100 trillion in
2002. Thus the ‘shadow economy’ is 12 times larger than
the global GDP ($50 trillion) and more than six times larger
than the actual trading in shares in the world’s stock exchanges
($100 trillion). If one takes into account the trading outside
the commodity exchanges, the total value of the finance
capital is 40 times as large as the global GDP.
It is unlikely that India would make a major policy shift
in the face of economic crisis. As part of the neoliberal
economic policy which the government uncritically accepted
in the early 1990s, across the board ‘reforms’ were made in
the financial, banking, commercial and other developmental
sectors. The state-centric welfare regime was dismantled
replacing it with a highly exclusive neoliberal governance
structure which provided the necessary legitimacy.
Despite the resistance from the Left, the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) was going ahead with the Tarapore Committee
recommendations regarding capital account liberalisation.
The RBI, by easing the regulatory regime, was taking the
nation to a precipice. Similarly the government has not
banned the use of Participatory Notes, a non-transparent
derivative instrument used by FIIs to invest in Indian capital
markets. The new Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, if
made into law will further increase the economic vulnerability.
The governments’ attempt at investing the pension funds
and provident funds in the stock market has invited wide
criticism. Our political leadership in Delhi repeatedly
reassumes the nation that the economic crisis has only
marginally touched India and that it would register a 7-8 per
cent growth in the current year. This is far from truth.
Indications have already come that there will be massive
retrenchment from the productive sectors. The crisis will
affect the rapid growth sectors like IT and tourism. This will
particularly be disadvantageous to Kerala. Similarly the State’s
exports will fetch a lower price in the international market.
The price of rubber has almost halved. Kerala’s export of
trained manpower to other countries too will be affected.„
Preventing Tax Evasion
How Risky even the symptom
Latest trends in tax audit depend on the
extent of adoption of modern accounting
methods by tax business community and
the constant use of bank mediated
payment mechanisms (clearing house,
book-transfers and credit cards).
arrangement with states sharing common borders to
undertake checking in any one direction and to share
information perhaps on a fee-for-service basis is also
planned. This will have all round cost reduction and
calls for corruption free environment in the border
check post. A corruption free check post was a dream
which has come into reality - Palakkad mission, a mile
stone in the historic annals of the Commercial Taxes
Department, Government of Kerala and a clean roll
model to other states in the build up of our Nation.
Latest trends in tax audit depend on the extent of
adoption of modern accounting methods by tax
business community and the constant use of bank
mediated payment mechanisms (clearing house, booktransfers and credit cards). Transactions leave an ‘audit
trail' which can be used effectively in cross-matching
the transactions of different traders through the check
post information as a primary tool. It also permits easier
detection and verification of payments. This dream
vision will turn into reality only if the checkpost
information is reliable and constantly applied by the
department for building a self-policing trade world for
the real term economic growth of Kerala.„
The writer is Secretary (Taxes) and Commissioner of Commercial
Taxes, Government of Kerala
December 2008
The author is Reader, Department of Political Science, University of Kerala
KERALACALLING
29
C O V E R STO RY
E M Najeeb
Tourism Traffic
Hopeful
the scene
T
here is no truth in saying the global
economic slowdown has not affected
us. It is surely having a slowing effect
on the Tourism Industry in India.
The Tourism source markets fall in
the regions of the developed countries
that are directly affected by the melt
down. We have even otherwise been
affected by the inflation, higher
airfares and such problems. To add to
the misery, recently few countries
including the United States, the
United Kingdom and Germany have
sent out advisories to their citizens to
avoid travel to India because of the
terrorist explosions and communal
unrest taken place at various locations
in the country.
The tourist inflow to India has
been reduced by 20 per cent. Kerala
is a popular destination in India and
the slowing down in the tourist traffic
to India has a proportionate negative
result in terms of arrivals.
But luckily for the industry many
feel that, this effect on Kerala’s
Tourism is much lesser than what was
expected. The slowdown is mainly
18
KERALACALLING
seen in the corporate travel and
incentives and at the lower levels of
the tourist strata. But the upmarket
segment is still on the move for leisure
and holidays.
Hotels in India are considered to
be highly priced, especially at the
metros and main tourist locations
including Kerala. For the hospitality
sector it is a tight situation during this
period of economic slow down. The
tourism industry feels that there is a
need for price correction to keep the
flow going.
The domestic airline scene is
facing a serious crisis. During the last
few months the number of domestic
passengers has slumped by 20 per
cent. The various airlines have
reduced the seat capacity by 20 to 25
per cent. Still many airlines are
operating with almost 40 per cent of
the seats vacant. But Kerala has not
shown a slump of that magnitude yet.
The reduction in passenger traffic is
only two to five per cent.
The primary reason for the
slowness in the airline travel is the
December 2008
increase in the airline fares. Within
the last one-year the fares have
increased even up to three fold. The
increase was primarily because of the
increase in price for the Aviation
Turbine Fuel. Taxes are also quite
high. Fuel charges are high in India
as compared to many other countries.
The airlines are struggling to keep
themselves afloat and in the process
they may pull out many flights,
especially those going to second and
third level cities.
In spite of all this gloom the
tourism industry in India and Kerala
are quite hopeful and optimistic. The
overall thinking in the industry is to
at least remain at par with the
productivity of the past year if not
having an increase. Some industry
players are even aiming at a 20 per
cent growth. The black smoke is only
a temporary phase and we should
learn to overcome this challenge.
Kerala is also a destination of FIT
latecomers, who book their travel a
short period before the trip.
Beginning of this season would be
In this patch of economic crisis, the Government should
make efforts to meet the industry players and extend
support in all measures to keep the industry going unscathed.
It could even provide support by allowing tax holidays and
financial assistance.
stable as the reservations belong to the
last cycle bookings. The season could
be still made better if the prices are
corrected, so that you get an inflow
out of it.
The economic slow down in
markets like the United States and the
United Kingdom, the negative travel
advisories issued by major tourism
originating countries to avoid India
and so on can hinder long haul traffic
from those countries. But we need to
have strategies to surmount these
problems by looking at new
markets, triggering off regional
tourism and domestic tourism.
During all crises hindering
tourism, regional tourism has
always flourished with short haul
flights and family holidays with
more people travelling and this
would help the industry greatly.
We also have a vast domestic
market within the boundaries of
our country, which can help
Kerala flourish with this segment
growing.
This could be
supported by the Indian Railways,
which has become an alternative for
the struggling airline sector in India.
Air-passengers are being lured by the
increasing facilities and comforts of
the Indian Railways.
To summarise, Kerala has not
been affected badly, at least in the first
half of the season. But the forecast
shows that Kerala Tourism will have
to face adverse times ahead. Our
marketing strategies and promotions
should aim at new markets closer to
us, which have connectivity to this
place. We should strategise to increase
marketing efforts from the Far East,
South Asia and the Middle East.
China also can be looked at as a
potential source market. The various
lucrative markets within India also
should be tapped for Kerala. Kerala
Tourism is already into domestic
tourism in a big way but still a more
focused effort can make it a huge
movement.
The higher value of dollar against
INR should be encouraging for
inbound tourism, but if we still raise
the dollar tariff or start quoting in
terms of dollars, we will forfeit that
opportunity.
In any crisis that affects the
industry we need to take charge of the
situation and evolve strategies jointly
to tide over the crisis. Creating a
positive image of the destination is
equally important. In fact the Tourism
Industry in Kerala has been greatly
December 2008
responsible for creating a ‘Brand
Kerala’ image. The continuous
promotions and marketing efforts by
the State have created an image of a
real paradise in the minds of people.
The nature, people, culture, heritage
and such wealth have already created
an awesome impression in the minds
of people around the globe. A
purposeful effort of image building
has to be mobilised by the industry
stakeholders, Government, media,
political parties and all concerned.
Many a times we tend to
project the negatives and
weakness of the state, ignoring
the scores of strengths we have.
Thereby destroying the good
image of the State and spoiling
the confidence and self-respect of
the people, especially the youth.
In this patch of economic
crisis, the Government should
make efforts to meet the industry
players and extend support in all
measures to keep the industry
going unscathed. It could even
provide support by allowing tax
holidays and financial assistance.
Media should also extend strength to
the industry in this difficult time.
If Kerala, in spite of the global
economic set back continues its
promotions and marketing, results
would be seen happening positively.
There will be new segments of tourists
emerging, showing interest on this
destination. The industry should
stand together at this juncture and
commit itself to self-corrections and
harder efforts.„
The writer is Chairman & Managing
Director, Air travel Enterprises India Limited &
The Great India Tour Company
KERALACALLING
19
C O V E R STO RY
B Rajendran
I
n the wake of recent global financial
crisis, the Union Finance Minister
made a statement in Parliament. He
said that India’s fundamentals are
strong because we have not embraced
capitalism to the extent that the
western countries did. This was an
indirect compliment to Left Front
Parties for their stand in opposing and
blocking the various liberal reforms
proposal by the Union Government.
The reforms advocated by the
Government were in the following
areas: Full Capital account
convertibility, investing a portion of
pension funds into the stock market,
reducing Government ownership in
PSU banks and allowing take over by
foreign banks, releasing the restriction
on Participating Notes leading to
excessive funds inflow into the stock
market and tax waiver to Foreign
Institutional Investors (FIIs).
The Left front parties have been
consistently opposing these policies.
The main reason for the resistance was
that it could lead to speculative
trading. Now with the financial crisis
sweeping the world, their prediction
Use head
not heart
20
KERALACALLING
December 2008
India has been able to avert a major disaster because of
the strength of Indian corporates and its structural base.
Our regulatory authorities like SEBI, RBI etc. have played
a positive role in minimising the damage caused
to the Indian economy.
have been proved right to a great
extent. This has led to a rethinking
within the Union Government.
India has been able to avert a
major disaster because of the strength
of Indian corporates and its structural
base. Our regulatory authorities like
Securities Exchange Board of India
(SEBI), Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
etc. have played a positive role in
minimising the damage caused to the
Indian economy. Before the crisis,
RBI had advised banks against over
exposure to the real estate, credit
economist as Vice Chairman of the
State Planning Board. He is the only
Asian to be included in the fourmember United Nations task-force
constituted to suggest remedies to
overcome the global financial crisis.
He has advised more investment
in rural infrastructure and agriculture
and strengthening of the Public
Distribution System, to help the
common men to tide over the crisis.
The proportion of amount
invested by Keralites in stock market
is still very low. The large portion of
cards, personal loans and speculative
markets.
savings of Keralites is in the form of
physical assets or financial assets such
as real estate, gold, bank deposits,
Chitties, PF deposit etc.
The investments in stock market
are mainly done in three ways. That
is direct share investment, Mutual
Funds and Unit Linked Insurance
Plan (ULIPS).
In Kerala, there are around four
lakh active direct investors in stock
The Kerala Scenario
The global economic slowdown is
expected to be a setback to Kerala’s
export and service industry. Kerala’s
future plans for the IT and Tourism
sector will also be affected.
In this context, Kerala is fortunate
to have Prof. Prabhat Patnaik, noted
December 2008
market. Their combined holding
value was estimated around Rs 12000
crores in January, 2008. Now the
value has dropped to around rupees
8000 crores.
Investment in Mutual Fund was
valued at approximately Rs 4300
crores. It has now declined to around
Rs 2800 crores. The holdings of Unit
Linked Insurance plan have slipped
to around 30 to 60 percent, compared
to stock market peak on January,
2008.
But the investors, who have been
investing in the stock market in a
systematic manner on long term basis,
are not worried about suffering losses.
They will not resort to panic selling.
They are willing to wait patiently for
the time the market will begin to show
an upward trend.
The present crisis is a time for
rethinking for both the State
Government and the investors.
Intelligent investment is always aimed
at the long term. One should guard
against speculative tendencies, which
will create unrealistic over-valuing of
the stock. The golden rule for the
stock market trading is “use your
head, not your heart”. Measures must
be taken by Government to regain
investor confidence in the stock
market. A healthy stock market need
to be encouraged as it has a significant
role in channelising savings to
productive sectors. This will in turn
increase employment opportunities.
It will also hopefully pave the way to
bring the State out of its present
economic backwardness.„
The writer is Research Scholar, Institute of
Management in Kerala, University of Kerala
KERALACALLING
21
C O V E R STO RY
Dr Shaji Varkey
How Risky
even the symptom
T
he world is currently in the grip of an
economic crisis whose real magnitude is
yet to unravel. However available trends
indicate that the current recession could
be much more severe than the Great
Depression of the 1930s. Even the World
Bank could not hide the fact in its latest
World Economic Outlook 2008, saying
that the “world economy is entering a
major downturn in the face of the
dangerous financial shock” and that the
“recovery not yet in sight and likely to be
gradual when it comes”. This sudden volt
face of World Bank, one of the major
architects of neoliberal globalism, is to be
contrasted with its own position in April
2007. The Bank’s Global Financial
Stability Report of 2007 reads: “Financial
stability risks have increased moderately
in some areas. While none of the
individual areas of risk identified
constitutes a direct threat to financial
stability”. The Report goes on to say that
22
KERALACALLING
the “overall U.S. mortgage market has
remained resilient”.
Subprime Crisis
The sudden cause of the recession was
attributed to the subprime mortgage crisis
that originated in the US and eventually
spread to other part of the world.
Subprime mortgages simply mean lending
to house borrowers with a risk of default
or a history of loan delinquency. The
banks were enthusiastic in lending the
money as the housing and property
market was bullish since early 2000.
Between 2004 and 2006, $1.5 trillion of
subprime mortgage were booked forming
25 per cent of the housing mortgage
market. Now comes the second stage. The
banks, which financed the mortgages, had
packaged their loans into tradable
securities (known as securitisation) and
sold to hedge funds and investment
banks. The US residential mortgage
related securities represent one of the
December 2008
The sudden cause of the recession was
attributed to the subprime mortgage crisis that
originated in the US and eventually
spread to other part of the world.
largest pools of fixed income securities
in the world totaling around $5-8
trillion. The selling of housing,
vehicular and individual loans as
securities is a common practice in the
US. The mortgage lenders hoped that
they could insulate against loan
defaults by spreading the risks
through complex derivatives.
The housing bubble burst finally
in 2008. The collateral is now worth
less than the loan. In 2006, 1-2
million household loans were
foreclosed, up 42 per cent from the
previous year. As markets crumbled
worldwide, governments had to step
in not only to save the sinking
financial institutions but reluctantly
to safeguard the fundamentals of the
economy. The massive equity
injections into the Wall Street had the
immediate effect of saving it from
liquidation. Though grudgingly, some
of the banks had to accept increased
governmental control in the
management. Citizen groups and
political parties had criticised the
“pumping of large dose of socialism”
into the Wall Street (to help save the
transnational financial giants) would
starve the main streets, as the money
being pumped belongs to the tax
payers. The financial giants can grab
this opportunity to swallow smaller
giants as Bank of America and J C
Morgan Chase did when they
acquired Merrill Lynch and Wachovia
respectively. Who will take care of the
economic woes of the ordinary
people, caught in the trap of
recession?
Ascendancy of Finance Capital
The current economic crisis is
symptomatic of a deeper structural
problem so characteristic of
December 2008
capitalism. It is the subsumption of
real economy under highly speculative
finance capitalism. Interest rate is the
deciding factor in any economic
endeavour. As long as the real interest
rate is lower than the real growth rate
of GDP and of the marginal efficiency
of capital returns from productive
investments will exceed the monetary
price of capital, and therefore
borrowers in financial markets are
likely to invest their loans in the real
economy. Since the 1980s the real
interest rates on global financial
markets have exceeded the average real
growth of GDP. Various factors
contributed to the changeover.
Ending of the Bretton Wood system,
establishment of a floating exchange
rate in place of a fixed exchange rate,
US abolition of restrictions on
international capital movement, fall
of communism and ascendancy of
neoliberal ideology etc. are some of
the major reasons.
In less than two decades from
1980, the global financial capital has
completely disembedded from its
national moorings and productive
functions. In the early 1970s daily
foreign exchange trading amounted
to $10 billion-$20 billion. By 2000,
it went up to $1.6 trillion or 75 times
world trade. This increasingly high
volume of trade did not bring in a
corresponding
economic
development. US figures indicate that
between 1989 and 1997, 86 per cent
of stock market gains went to the top
10 per cent households, while
between 1983 and 1995 the bottom
Contd. on page 29
KERALACALLING
23
Contd. from page 17
Contd. from page 23
These could be utilised even by non commercial
vehicles. Some services could possibly be outsourced.
This would lead to reduce budgetary costs, even
possibly self-financing check-posts.
Given the limited capacity at check-posts, selection
for checking could be for a risk-based sample by
instituting green and red channels. Furthermore,
selected firms and dealers with excellent track records
may be assigned a 'green dealer' status, resulting in the
automatic green channel treatment. This status will
be periodically reviewed to avoid tax fraud and misuse.
All consignments intended for export, advance
processing of paper work and documents would be
instituted on the basis of electronic documents from
transporters. This reduces the waiting time at checkposts leaving other enforcement checks unaffected.
Traffic bottleneck at the border check posts would be
fatal to the economic growth of the State and the
tourism industry in particular. In the VAT scenario,
checking of both incoming and outgoing vehicles is
required at the State borders. Consequently, an
40% of households lost 80 percent of their net worth.
The highly mobile finance capital has sucked up domestic
capital from all over the world through a variety of neoliberal
instrumentalities. Occasionally veiled threats too have been
employed. The differential profitability of global capital drives
it from place to place leaving behind a trial of economic crisis
in respective countries. The growth of information technology
has immensely benefited the capitalist fund managers. At the
click of a button, billions of dollars could be transferred from
one country to another or from one share to another.
New financial innovations like hedge funds and derivatives
have taken speculation to new heights, higher than the stockmarket trade. Derivatives are shadow financial instruments
that includes futures, options, forwards trading etc.
According to the Bank of International Settlement, as of
September 2008, the total value of derivative trade stood at
a staggering $600 plus trillion. It was only $100 trillion in
2002. Thus the ‘shadow economy’ is 12 times larger than
the global GDP ($50 trillion) and more than six times larger
than the actual trading in shares in the world’s stock exchanges
($100 trillion). If one takes into account the trading outside
the commodity exchanges, the total value of the finance
capital is 40 times as large as the global GDP.
It is unlikely that India would make a major policy shift
in the face of economic crisis. As part of the neoliberal
economic policy which the government uncritically accepted
in the early 1990s, across the board ‘reforms’ were made in
the financial, banking, commercial and other developmental
sectors. The state-centric welfare regime was dismantled
replacing it with a highly exclusive neoliberal governance
structure which provided the necessary legitimacy.
Despite the resistance from the Left, the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) was going ahead with the Tarapore Committee
recommendations regarding capital account liberalisation.
The RBI, by easing the regulatory regime, was taking the
nation to a precipice. Similarly the government has not
banned the use of Participatory Notes, a non-transparent
derivative instrument used by FIIs to invest in Indian capital
markets. The new Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, if
made into law will further increase the economic vulnerability.
The governments’ attempt at investing the pension funds
and provident funds in the stock market has invited wide
criticism. Our political leadership in Delhi repeatedly
reassumes the nation that the economic crisis has only
marginally touched India and that it would register a 7-8 per
cent growth in the current year. This is far from truth.
Indications have already come that there will be massive
retrenchment from the productive sectors. The crisis will
affect the rapid growth sectors like IT and tourism. This will
particularly be disadvantageous to Kerala. Similarly the State’s
exports will fetch a lower price in the international market.
The price of rubber has almost halved. Kerala’s export of
trained manpower to other countries too will be affected.„
Preventing Tax Evasion
How Risky even the symptom
Latest trends in tax audit depend on the
extent of adoption of modern accounting
methods by tax business community and
the constant use of bank mediated
payment mechanisms (clearing house,
book-transfers and credit cards).
arrangement with states sharing common borders to
undertake checking in any one direction and to share
information perhaps on a fee-for-service basis is also
planned. This will have all round cost reduction and
calls for corruption free environment in the border
check post. A corruption free check post was a dream
which has come into reality - Palakkad mission, a mile
stone in the historic annals of the Commercial Taxes
Department, Government of Kerala and a clean roll
model to other states in the build up of our Nation.
Latest trends in tax audit depend on the extent of
adoption of modern accounting methods by tax
business community and the constant use of bank
mediated payment mechanisms (clearing house, booktransfers and credit cards). Transactions leave an ‘audit
trail' which can be used effectively in cross-matching
the transactions of different traders through the check
post information as a primary tool. It also permits easier
detection and verification of payments. This dream
vision will turn into reality only if the checkpost
information is reliable and constantly applied by the
department for building a self-policing trade world for
the real term economic growth of Kerala.„
The writer is Secretary (Taxes) and Commissioner of Commercial
Taxes, Government of Kerala
December 2008
The author is Reader, Department of Political Science, University of Kerala
KERALACALLING
29
C O V E R STO RY
Dr G Simon Thattil, Bobby Simon
US Credit Crisis
T
Fall inevitable
he housing bubble and the
subsequent financial crisis in the
United States of America is a matter
of concern for any nation. The
housing bubble created by sub-prime
credit weakened the US financial
sector. Since July 2007 onwards the
US credit market started to collapse.
The casualty became severe with the
bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and
the Bank of America taking over
Merrill Lynch. The recent
development of Citi Group Inc.
taking over Wachovia Corporation is
an addition to the casualty. The
impact of Sub prime is not confined
to US alone, the investment banking
giant of Europe viz. Fortis is looking
out for a bail out package through the
intervention of three nations namely
Belgium, Luxembourg and the
26
KERALACALLING
Netherlands involving 11.2 billion
Euros.
US Credit Crisis
For the last one year, we have
heard a lot of terms like 'credit crunch'
and 'sub-prime mortgage crisis'. US
banks as usual accepts deposits and
lend money for an interest margin.
Since 2000, there was huge
accumulation of money with US
banks and interest rates fell
dramatically because of excess
liquidity. Decline in industrial
investment due to economic recession
and low level of production were
primarily responsible for this. Banks
found it difficult to park their funds
and the answer in sight was retail
finance- home loans, car loans and the
like. Lending without assessing
December 2008
creditworthiness and risk rating
became common. Easy credit created
great demand for land to build home.
As a result, prices of real estate rose
sharply. Banks were desperately in
need for avenues for investments and
they were ready to lend to more risky
ventures. Americans took it as an
opportunity and obtained liquidity at
very high prices of homes.
Banks labelled their less credit
worthy borrowers as sub prime and
for the increased risk, charged higher
rates of interest, thus sub prime
lending was more profitable than
prime and the profit made this a
reckless form of lending. Most of the
banks offered loans to people who had
bad credit history or less income, to
purchase houses. Such loans were
called NINJA Loans or loans to
The low income and earning capacity of many
borrowers made it difficult to repay the loans,
the collateral offered were not forth realising and
financial institutions went into the red and eventually
on to bankruptcy.
people with No Income, No Jobs, and
No assets. This increased lending lead
to a very sharp rise in consumer
spending and led to an increase in
inflation. Inflationary pressure led to
a gradual hike in interest rates. As a
result, the cycle of taking loans
stopped and the demand for homes
started slowing down. As house prices
went down most of the borrowers
could not provide cover for their
mortgage loans. The low income and
earning capacity of many borrowers
made it difficult to repay the loans,
the collateral offered were not forth
realising and financial institutions
went into the red and eventually on
to bankruptcy. It is likely that most
of the US banks may write off these
loans as bad.
Factors Contributed to the
Crisis
As we know like in the business
cycle, a financial system also has
boom, depression or recessionary
periods. In the periods of boom, as
we saw, there is increased financial
activity and we experienced it globally.
Such a boom period will motivate the
investors; the public or even
institutions to believe that the
beautiful boom period will not end
immediately. This baseless optimism
is mainly associated with their shortsightedness. This false belief really
adds on to the boom by way of
extension of credit and more leverage
on the expectation of more growth.
These actually prolong the bubble
and augment the boom period. An
associated feature is the under
estimation of risk and an aggressive
speculative tendency. This moral
hazard or in other words the euphoric
or over jubilant race by financial
institutions ignoring standards in the
financial system was one of the major
reasons for the current crisis.
December 2008
Another important factor that
aggravated the crisis is the role of the
Government as a regulator and
manager of the system; they do not
control financial institutions that err
on standards. Because Governments
are in the pursuit of eliminating
unemployment and they believe that
a financial crisis will adversely affect
their efforts on employment
generation. Thus the banks or
institutions, which were imprudent in
their operations are saved from
collapse and the burden of their
carelessness is passed on to the tax
payer. The Government taking over
such units and their nationalisation
efforts have indirectly become an
incentive to those banks and financial
institutions, which were irresponsible
during the boom. As we see today, the
US Government supports the
sustenance of the boom by protecting
the finances, which were speculative.
KERALACALLING
27
And such speculative finance acts as
an accelerator to financial crisis.
The third major reason for the
current credit crisis is the growth of
derivatives market with poor quality
underlying assets. Derivates are good
but the quality of the underlying asset
is significant. In haste for profits,
institutions accepted mortgages that
were of low worth and created
derivatives out of the same. As we
have seen in the case of sub prime
lenders, they thought that they are
free from the risk of potential non
performing assets (sub prime loans)
by securitisation. Here what
derivatives did is not hedging the risk,
but created an environment where no
one knows who is actually bearing the
risk associated with a security and the
holder of the security thought that he
is immune from the burden of
default. The expansion of the
derivatives market, without standards
for the underlying asset will only
increase the magnitude of risk.
Issues of Concern for Indian
Financial sector
There are numerous lessons to
learn from the sub prime crisis;
basically we need to appreciate the fact
that all that glitters is not gold.
Induced demand and abnormal
consumption cannot sustain a market
or a system. India is insulated from
the sub prime crisis due to prime
lending norms and a good regulatory
system, thanks to our regulators like
RBI and IRDA. But anything that is
global will have its impact here,
directly or indirectly. The FIIs in our
capital market are net sellers because
of the US impact. Our policies on
standards and systems need to be fine
tuned to meet global shocks. Suitable
options for the country and imposing
conditionalities is the need of the hour
It is evident that the US financial
system is almost fragile for a greater
financial crisis even if efforts are there
to prolong the financial crash. This
will definitely affect those financial
systems, which are closely integrated
with the US financial system. So what
we should consider very seriously is
the fact that the highly unregulated
US financial system is fascinating the
Indian financial policy makers to
make its financial system more and
more deregulated and to make it
further integrated with the global
It is evident that the US
financial system is
almost fragile for
a greater financial
crisis even if
efforts are there
to prolong the
financial crash.
This will
definitely
affect those
financial
systems, which
are closely
integrated with the US
financial system.
28
KERALACALLING
December 2008
economy. We were insulated from the
East Asian crisis mainly because we
had no capital account convertibility
and our financial sector was some
what regulated. Today we say with
great pride that Indian economy is
safe and there is nothing to worry.
Those statements are good in a sense
to prevent a panic and to keep the
investors confidence high. We need
to know how much of liberalisation
is affordable and how to safeguard the
nations interest. We cannot say No
to all forms of open operations, let us
be open but with good systems.
So now it is the time for us to
revisit our deregulation and
liberalisation initiatives in the
financial sector so as to make it safe
for the country and sound in
operational efficiency. Let us not take
one step forward and two steps
backward. The promoters of a fully
liberalised economy where market is
supposed to work now call for better
disclosure, better protocols for public
use of data and better lending
institutions. What we should do now
is to make the Indian banking sound
and cautious. Proper measures are
needed to monitor the housing,
personal and vehicle loans as they have
the potential to plunge the Indian
banking sector into a crisis. Prudential
standards for Investments abroad are
to be set up by the authorities in order
to minimise the exposure of Indian
financial institutions by investing in
the overseas derivative market.
Measures are also required to strict
monitoring of FIIs and attract more
enterprising FDI in an economy like
ours. Above all the need for an
international regulatory system that
acts as a watchdog for the global
financial system is now being felt.
Let us remain open to global
developments in terms of Financial
system impact, Spill over impact,
Inflationary impact and Global and
Regional recessionary impact. In
short, we need Market regulatory
mechanisms, Transparency in
dealings, Risk management including
credit appraisal, risk analysis and
wealth management and above all
informed decision making.„
M E D I A
A Prabhakaran
Let
T
here is a well known saying that
childhood shows man, as the morning
shows the day. It is true that every
adult has been a child once. It is a sin
to adultify the needs rather than the
psychological needs of a child. We can
speak of that sort of need as love,
affection, security, success, freedom
and approval. There are physical,
emotional and intellectual needs.
Nowadays, children acquire
knowledge at an earlier age than in
the past due to the exposure to pre
school and umpteen media especially
Radio, TV and Film. Every sphere of
human life is liable for change. It is
true that all human beings are prone
to the phenomenon of changes, but
we should say that the younger
generation is more vulnerable to the
transformation whatever be the
experience. This reminds us of the
absolute aim of caring for the
childhood properly. The respon
sibility in order to build up the future
of the young ones lies with the elders
who fall in two categories i.e. parents
and teachers. It is well stated that
various forms of art exert unlimited
30
KERALACALLING
impact on the child. The creative
world opens up by dance, drama,
literature etc which will emancipate
the child’s mind and help the child to
attain and recognise the free
individuality which is considered to
be the need of the hour.
Around the magic world
In order to widen the horizon of
the child’s mind, he should be in a
position to get the light of the letters.
He can imbibe the beauty of life
stimulated by science literature and a
variety of art forms through letters.
What is literature? It includes both
the book and the reader. It might be
said that a child’s literature is a book
the child reads. In olden days,
children’s literature was not developed
as we see it today. The words and
syntax of adults may not be suitable
for the child. Adults seek for logical
presentation but children are fond of
a world of fantasy, not reality. We
must say the world of children is
irrational mostly. The objective of
children’s literature irrespective of
creative or informative need be woven
around some magical events and the
December 2008
children’s writer needs to enter their
world whole heartedly. It is to be
borne in mind that the elders should
give their children a literature which
may help them to be more useful for
the society. If a writer claims to be a
children’s writer he should open his
eyes and see as the child sees things.
The language and style of a good
literature for children creates a love
for reading in children. The child
likes to read loud because he grasps
the meaning by the quality of sound
Vocabulary of the child has to be
taken into account while presenting
the work. It is said that the vocabulary
of a 10 year old child is estimated to
be 5400 words and that of a 12 year
old is 7200 words. The writer also
should have the general awareness
about the vocabulary potentiality and
the level of the child.
The most significant element of
the language for writing for children
is words. Tagore has said that the child
primarily wants sound. They are
deeply moved by hearing sounds
particularly of animals which
reverberates in their growing mind.
the kids
see new ways
The writer should narrate the
fundamentals with easy language with
suitable examples added with
colourful illustrations. The examples
should be taken from the day- to day life of the child. Informative
literature for children has to be finally
analytical, systematic and logical. It
is an undeniable fact that printed
books go a long way in imparting
education. Knowledge can be
imparted to the children through
children’s literature and it is the duty
of every parent and teacher to
inculcate love for books into the
minds of young children which in
turn will attract their eyes and heart.
Media has vital role
The role of mass media promoting
Children acquire knowledge
at an earlier age than in the
past due to the exposure to
pre school and umpteen
media especially Radio, TV
and Film. Every sphere of
human life is liable for
change. It is true that all
human beings are prone to
the phenomenon of
changes, but we should say
that the younger
generation is more
vulnerable to the
transformation whatever
be the experience.
December 2008
children’s literature should not
be underestimated. It is a
plain truth that the audiovisual mass media and the
cyber media are of great use
in communicating literary,
scientific and art pieces to the
coming generation. An array
of media gadgets are being
utilised for the good of
humanity as a whole and
children’s education and
training in particular.
Not only the ears but also
the deep penetrating eyes are
taken care of in the perception
of media which are employed
to enhance the curiosity of
children. With the latest
developments in audiovisual
materials, literature does not
mean books and periodicals
alone, but we have to also accept
several different forms of educative
experience like slide shows, models,
small kits, posters exhibition materials
etc. which opens to a growing
treasure of knowledge and
understanding of the world. We
should bear in mind that the children’s
literature should go hand in hand
with interest pleasure, and freedom to
choose or discard. In this context it is
quite unfortunate to realise that our
printed books based on curriculum
poorly made in terms of content and
style seldom promotes the interest of
the child. Time has ripened enough
to equip our school libraries with
active communication interactions
and media resources which enable
them to extent their interest towards
KERALACALLING
31
media savvy literature and its
manifestations. Modern genera of
media combination with promising
multi media facilities has grown to
such an extent to replace the
traditional knowledge based society
by digitally competent society as we
witness today. This results in the
springing up of information rich and
information poor societies or digitally
divided societies. It is doubtless that
today’s children invariably undergo a
dynamic transformation from the
printed literature to another form of
literature which is media based. The
The very first word or
visual in the
audiovisual medium
should hold the
interest of the
audience. Long
explanation and
preaching down to
them will bore the
children regardless of
how beautiful the
language may be.
children of tomorrow may not be
willing to sit before large volumes of
books.
A number of miraculous ideas
which lie crippled presently, among
letters are very much liked by the
young minds. The imaginative faculty
of letters has to be released free to the
lively media. We cannot remain
unaware when a change of taste,
prevalent among knowledge seekers
take place when they utilise the audio
cassettes of poetry to assimilate the
innate feeling through subtle
expressions. The role played by the
modern electronic media like Radio,
Television, Audio- Video cassettes,
Interactive multimedia and Internet
content have to be taken into serious
considerations when media
32
KERALACALLING
intervention of literature is thought
of.
C I N E M A
Media writing for easy
consumption
It is quite true that we must strive
to reconcile with the technological
break-through which is likely to
culminate in the utility of modern
media in the place of good old letters,
words and language style which are
the back bone of both the literature
pertaining to fiction and non-fiction.
The phenomenal expression of the
technique of Programming through
Electronic or Digital media
necessitated serious efforts for content
development to be disseminated to
the children. Radio seems to be the
prime sector of mass media which
have been promoting children’s
literature to a great extent. The
supreme significance of sound both
articulated and non-articulated has to
be recognised. It is entirely possible
to combine the main objectives of
children’s literature with whole some
entertainment and with proper
amount of instruction and
information. The very first word or
visual in the audiovisual medium
should hold the interest of the
audience. Long explanation and
preaching down to them will bore the
children regardless of how beautiful
the language may be. In short, script
for radio and television are essentially
different from other media like
magazines because it engages both the
ears and the eyes.
As mentioned earlier, the pivot of
any media literature whether it is for
children or adults is spoken word in
written forms. This particular writing
is for easy consumption, hence it
should be as transparent as possible.
How do we get started on writing for
sound media or visual media or both?
Let us have a tip here. First pick up
an idea then speak it out as if you are
chatting with somebody and then
write it down in conversational style.
Now read it aloud to someone who
care. If he shows keen interest on what
you have said, good, you have won in
the art.„
The writer was with Prasar Bharathi
December 2008
W
ar films that instill patriotism
among masses are always in
demand. People will be mad to see
it. And if the popular artistes are
in the front role, the enthusiasm
of the spectators will be doubled.
This could have been the thought
of Major Ravi; an Army Officer
turned film director, when he made
Kurukshetra. The film produced by
Santhosh Damodar under the
banner of Damor films
interestingly reminds us of the
original Kurukshetra war where the
soldiers fought face to face, killing
each other. But there is one
dissimilarity, the original one was
‘Dharmayuddha’, but Major’ Ravi’s
Kurukshetra is not.
Following the footsteps of
Keerthichakra, his first box office
hit, Major Ravi chose the
unfortunate Kargil War as the body
of his second film. Scripted by him,
Kurukshetra also deals with the
sentiments of the soldiers and their
households, the ever-repeating
depressing stories of the war front,
the inevitable deaths, the coffins
covered with the tricolour flags that
reaches their homes on a fine
morning and the core political
manipulations and corruption.
They are exactly added in the film
in predetermined ratios so as to
satisfy the popular palate.
A group of soldiers (from
Kerala!) under the dynamic
media savvy literature and its
manifestations. Modern genera of
media combination with promising
multi media facilities has grown to
such an extent to replace the
traditional knowledge based society
by digitally competent society as we
witness today. This results in the
springing up of information rich and
information poor societies or digitally
divided societies. It is doubtless that
today’s children invariably undergo a
dynamic transformation from the
printed literature to another form of
literature which is media based. The
The very first word or
visual in the
audiovisual medium
should hold the
interest of the
audience. Long
explanation and
preaching down to
them will bore the
children regardless of
how beautiful the
language may be.
children of tomorrow may not be
willing to sit before large volumes of
books.
A number of miraculous ideas
which lie crippled presently, among
letters are very much liked by the
young minds. The imaginative faculty
of letters has to be released free to the
lively media. We cannot remain
unaware when a change of taste,
prevalent among knowledge seekers
take place when they utilise the audio
cassettes of poetry to assimilate the
innate feeling through subtle
expressions. The role played by the
modern electronic media like Radio,
Television, Audio- Video cassettes,
Interactive multimedia and Internet
content have to be taken into serious
considerations when media
32
KERALACALLING
intervention of literature is thought
of.
C I N E M A
Media writing for easy
consumption
It is quite true that we must strive
to reconcile with the technological
break-through which is likely to
culminate in the utility of modern
media in the place of good old letters,
words and language style which are
the back bone of both the literature
pertaining to fiction and non-fiction.
The phenomenal expression of the
technique of Programming through
Electronic or Digital media
necessitated serious efforts for content
development to be disseminated to
the children. Radio seems to be the
prime sector of mass media which
have been promoting children’s
literature to a great extent. The
supreme significance of sound both
articulated and non-articulated has to
be recognised. It is entirely possible
to combine the main objectives of
children’s literature with whole some
entertainment and with proper
amount of instruction and
information. The very first word or
visual in the audiovisual medium
should hold the interest of the
audience. Long explanation and
preaching down to them will bore the
children regardless of how beautiful
the language may be. In short, script
for radio and television are essentially
different from other media like
magazines because it engages both the
ears and the eyes.
As mentioned earlier, the pivot of
any media literature whether it is for
children or adults is spoken word in
written forms. This particular writing
is for easy consumption, hence it
should be as transparent as possible.
How do we get started on writing for
sound media or visual media or both?
Let us have a tip here. First pick up
an idea then speak it out as if you are
chatting with somebody and then
write it down in conversational style.
Now read it aloud to someone who
care. If he shows keen interest on what
you have said, good, you have won in
the art.„
The writer was with Prasar Bharathi
December 2008
W
ar films that instill patriotism
among masses are always in
demand. People will be mad to see
it. And if the popular artistes are
in the front role, the enthusiasm
of the spectators will be doubled.
This could have been the thought
of Major Ravi; an Army Officer
turned film director, when he made
Kurukshetra. The film produced by
Santhosh Damodar under the
banner of Damor films
interestingly reminds us of the
original Kurukshetra war where the
soldiers fought face to face, killing
each other. But there is one
dissimilarity, the original one was
‘Dharmayuddha’, but Major’ Ravi’s
Kurukshetra is not.
Following the footsteps of
Keerthichakra, his first box office
hit, Major Ravi chose the
unfortunate Kargil War as the body
of his second film. Scripted by him,
Kurukshetra also deals with the
sentiments of the soldiers and their
households, the ever-repeating
depressing stories of the war front,
the inevitable deaths, the coffins
covered with the tricolour flags that
reaches their homes on a fine
morning and the core political
manipulations and corruption.
They are exactly added in the film
in predetermined ratios so as to
satisfy the popular palate.
A group of soldiers (from
Kerala!) under the dynamic
Madhu Eravankara
Patriotism
for Sale
headship of the Officer Commanding
Colonel Mahadevan fight the Kargil
war and win commendably. In a
nutshell this is the story of
Kurukshetra. The scenes of
sentimental outpours are interspersed
in between the towering sounds of
firing. The silent affair between the
native Abbas and his love, the love line
of a soldier towards a military nurse,
the marital disputes between the
military officer Rajesh and his wife, a
soldier dreaming of his nearly
completed house in his homeland, a
soldier’s attachment to his father and
the watch are some of the scenes
worked out to draw the life of the
soldiers apart from the war. But most
of the footages are utilised to portray
the actual war itself.
Of course, we are happy to see
the Kargil hills where we fought a
triumphant war. A commanding
officer with only Malayali soldiers
in his battalion! And a border
outpost where the Indian soldiers
speak Malayalam to their Pakistani
counterparts! Look at Colonel
Mahhadevan who shouts at the
Pakistani army officer in pure
Malayalam! Do we have to
deem that Malayalam
language
has
no
‘international status ‘?
The constant speedy
camera movements and fast
cutting are, no doubt,
inevitable in a war film like
Kurukshetra. But neither the
cinematographer Lokanathan nor the
editor Jaysankar can be excused for
the monotony of the frames seemingly
repeated with the same zoom
movement and editing pattern. And
the fragmented shots are even less
attractive in the song sequences. One
would consider Kurukshetra is made
for Colonel Mahadevan enacted by
the superstar Mohanlal. Biju Menon
and Siddique accompany him in the
lead roles.
We should not forget that
Kurukshetra is based on a real war
fought for 40 days with a casualty of
522 lives. Most of the incidents in the
scenario had really happened. But in
the process of recreation it
has turned out to be a
mockery of the original
war. Frankly speaking,
December 2008
Major Ravi has tried to befool the
spectators by projecting the
unconquerable Kargil heights, but
with a treatment quite amateurish.
Think of the celebrated war films
like ‘Bridge on the River Kwai’ or ‘
Burmese Harp’.
Built on the ever-continuing
realities of life and death, these films
touch our heart with a fingertip quite
unknown, but so near. Even without
the depiction of the warfront, we
experience the trauma and whimper
of the redundant wars. They prompt
the people repeatedly to say a ‘no’ to
the war. But, sad to say, Kurukshetra
lacks the credibility and authenticity
of a war film, instead fell into the rock
bottom of a third rated commercial
cinema.„
KERALACALLING
33
T E C H N O LO GY
T
he term Artificial Intelligence
cannot be explained in a few words
or sentences. It is an amalgamation
of logic, philosophy and computer
technology. Even though man has
been included under the category
mammals, his status is an elevated
one. This is primarily because human
beings are blessed with intelligence.
A human being has personality,
habits, traits, memory etc, which
could be horned to a higher degree.
This is where humans differ from
other creatures. The memory can be
triggered which produces brain waves
to bring the image or thoughts that
may have been stored over a long
time. This is an extremely complex
process, which happens in the brain.
This explains why advances in the area
of artificial intelligence are yet to
produce a machine, which can
simulate the human brain.
Chess playing
Chess is a game that uses artificial
intelligence to produce better systems
in game playing. Computer is
basically an electronic device that
accepts instructions from the user and
works on data to produce outputs. In
traditional computing, databases are
used to store chunks of data that gives
useful information. In AI, knowledge
bases are used to store information
through inferences and dialogues with
the user and to update themselves.
Chess is a game where moves and
positions are very important. A
human chess player makes the moves
based on previous knowledge
acquired or by intuition. Where as in
computer simulated games,
thousands of moves are calculated
using brute force method where the
most appropriate move is chosen.
34
KERALACALLING
C K Venugopal
Artificial
Intelligence
Decides
the future
A human plays chess based on
expertise and skills, where as a
computer plays based on calculations.
The most famous of man versus
computer chess matches were played
between Deep Blue developed by
IBM in 1997 and grandmaster Garry
Kasparov. The computer won the
series 2-1, with three matches being
drawn. This spawned a great deal of
interest in this area and other
machines followed. Deep Blue, with
its capability of evaluating 200 million
positions per second, was the
strongest computer that ever faced a
world chess champion. Today, in
computer chess research and matches
of world class players against
computers, the focus is on software
controlled chess programmes,
rather than dedicated chess
hardware. Modern chess
programmes such as
Rybka, Deep Fritz or
Deep Junior are
efficient than the
programmes during Deep Blue's era.
Speech Recognition
In the 1990s, computer speech
December 2008
recognition reached a practical level
for limited purposes. United Airlines
has replaced its keyboard tree for flight
information by a system using speech
recognition of flight numbers and city
names during this time that proved
very convenient. Speech Recognition
is an area where intense research is
going on. During earlier days
of computing, speech
recognition was considered
a stiff challenge. This
process has been simplified
now. The software that
converts speech to text
essentially relies on the
repository which stores commonly
used words and its pronunciation.
This process is intricate in the sense
that the accent may vary from person
to person. Hence before it is used, it
must be trained with the user’s way
of talking. Once this is done, the user
can talk on a microphone connected
to the computer that translates his
words into text.
Understanding Natural
Language
Natural language understanding is
an area where lot of ambiguity still
exists. This involves recognising the
whole text and interpreting its
meaning The computer has to be
provided with an understanding of
the domain the text is about, and this
is presently possible only for very
limited domains. Natural language
processing (NLP) is an area of
computational linguistics concerned
with the processing of naturally
occurring (human) language by
computer.
Natural-languagegeneration systems convert
information from computer databases
into normal-sounding human
language.
Natural-languageunderstanding systems convert
samples of human language into more
formal representations that are easier
for computer programmes to
manipulate. Natural language
A human plays chess based
on expertise and skills,
where as a computer plays
based on calculations. The
most famous of man
versus computer chess
matches were played
between Deep Blue
developed by IBM in 1997
and grandmaster Garry
Kasparov.
processing by computers is still in its
infancy.
Computer Vision
The world is composed of 3D
objects, but the inputs to the human
eye and computers' TV cameras are
2D. Some useful programmes can
work solely in two dimensions. A full
computer vision requires partial threedimensional information that is not
just a set of two-dimensional views.
At present there are only limited ways
of representing 3D information
directly, and they are not as good as
human eye. In robots, cameras
convert images into digital format.
Expert Systems
One of the largest areas of
applications of artificial intelligence is
in expert systems, or knowledge based
December 2008
systems. This is well developed and
has proved useful for real time
applications. This type of system seeks
to exploit the specialised skills or
information held by a group of
people on specific areas. It can be
thought of as a computerised
consulting service or an information
guidance system. Such systems are
used for medical diagnosis or as
educational aids. The skills and
knowledge of an expert is simulated
in a computerised environment
providing effective solutions to a
problem. The areas where expert
systems are used range from disaster
warning systems to medical
diagnostics. The earliest expert system
was MYCIN, which was used for
treating blood related diseases as early
as 1974. When creating an expert
system, a ‘knowledge engineer’
interviews experts in a certain domain
and tries to embody their knowledge
in a computer programmes for
carrying out some tasks.
Heuristics classification
This is an area where information
and knowledge from various sources
are classified and focused to provide
results in a particular area. For
example in the modern world
economic crisis is rampant. One of
the major reasons why several banks
in U.S have collapsed is due to
excessive credit payments. Expert
systems have been used in a limited
way to arrive at a consensus whether
a particular person may be issued a
credit card or not. His traits and
habits are to be studied and recorded
so that it may be concluded whether
he is capable of repayment. Expert
systems using such heuristics in
banking areas could have provided a
solution to this global crisis. Other
areas include decision support
systems, public information systems
etc.
On the whole it can be concluded
that Artificial Intelligence applications
will play a decisive role in providing
real time solutions to various
problems humans face. A humane
touch along with a technological
interface will play a major role in
shaping the future.„
KERALACALLING
35
H O RT I C U LT U R E
Venda
Standing Tall
V
enda
(Botanical
name:
Abelmoschus esculentus) known as
lady’s finger or okra in English and
bhindi in Hindi is one of the popular
vegetable crops standing tall in the
kitchen gardens of Kerala. It is grown
for its tender, nutritious, pointed,
ribbed fruits called vendakka, used as
culinary vegetable all over the world.
India is the largest producer of
vendakka in the world and exports
this to Middle East, South-East Asian
and European markets. It is used in a
wide array of stewed, steamed, boiled,
curried, roasted, stir fried and pickled
dishes. Hundred grams of vendakka
contain 3.2 gm dietary fibre, 7.6 gm
carbohydrates, 1.8 gm protein, 90 mg
calcium, 57 mg magnesium, one mg
iron, 0.1 mg carotene, 0.07 mg
thiamin, 0.08 mg riboflavin, 0.08 mg
niacin and 18 mg vitamin C.
The abundant dietary fibre and
mucilage in the fruits have important
health oriented functions. The fibre
helps stabilise blood sugar levels by
delaying sugar absorption from the
gut and also nourishes the beneficial
bacteria in the intestines. Apart from
preventing constipation, the slimy
mucilage binds and inhibits the
absorption of cholesterol, toxins and
bile acids. Venda seeds contain 13 22 percent edible oil and 20 - 24
percent protein. The refined seed oil
36
Dr T E George
KERALACALLING
is used as a substitute for common
edible oils and the seed cake is used
as animal feed. The dry fruit and stem
containing crude fibre can be used for
manufacture of paper.
A broad spectrum of variability
exists in this crop with respect to
colour, length, shape and fibreness of
fruits. Kerala Agricultural University
has released six high yielding varieties
of venda namely, Kiran, Salkeerthi,
Aruna, Susthira, Anjitha and
Manjima with a production potential
of around 15 tonnes/ha. Of these,
Aruna is unique with its red coloured
fruits while all other varieties produce
light to dark green fruits. Susthira, a
perennial variety ideal for kitchen
gardens, is resistant to yellow vein
mosaic virus. Arka Anamika of IIHR,
Bangalore and Varsha Upahar of
HAU, Hissar are two other mosaic
resistant varieties that come up well
December 2008
in Kerala.
Venda excels in warm humid
tropical condition prevails in Kerala.
Though it can be grown in all the
three seasons, best performance is
observed during the kharif season.
Venda is a direct sown crop. The seed
rate and spacing vary from season to
season. During kharif, seed rate is
seven kg/ha and seeds are sown on
ridges at a spacing of 60 cm between
ridges and 45 cm between plants. For
the summer crop, 8.5 kg seeds are
required per hectare and these seeds
are soaked in water for 24 hours and
then sown in shallow trenches at a
spacing of 60 cm x 30 cm. Land is to
be prepared to fine tilth by thorough
ploughing. Well rotten farmyard
manure and basal fertilisers are
incorporated into the soil in the ridges
or trenches before taking up sowing.
The nutritional requirement for
this crop is 50 kg nitrogen, eight kg
phosphorus and 25 kg potash per
hectare, apart from 12 tonnes of
farmyard manure. Full quantity of
farmyard manure, half dose of
nitrogen and full dose of phosphorus
and potash have to be applied as basal
dose. Remaining half dose of nitrogen
is to be applied as top dressing one
month after sowing. During dry
periods, the crop is to be irrigated at
three to four days interval. At least
two rounds of weeding have to be
done before the crop canopy covers
the soil surface. Earthing up of the
crop is carried out after top dressing
of fertilisers. Harvesting is done when
the fruits are young and tender. The
fruits will attain harvest maturity four
to six days after flowering and become
fibrous beyond seven days. It is better
to carry out harvesting on every
alternate day in order to ensure
harvesting of all fruits at the right
stage of maturity. Fruits are harvested
by bending the pedicel with a jerk.
The major pests of Venda are jassids,
fruit and shoot borer and root knot
nematode and the most serious disease
is yellow vein mosaic. An integrated
pest and disease management strategy
involving use of mosaic resistant
varieties, field hygiene, bio-control
agents and pesticides of plant origin
will adequately protect the crop from
these pests and disease.
The writer is Professor and Head, Dept of
Olericulture, Kerala Agricultural University
FLORICULTURE
Suresh Muthukulam
Wonder
in the
summer garden
G
rowing aster flower is one of the wonders of the summer garden.
Asters are an easy to grow perennial that grow well in average soils, but
needs good sunlight. They come in blues, purples, whites, yellows and
a variety of pinks. All asters are yellow in the centre. . Even though
they belong to the sunflower family, they look similar to the daisy flower.
The yellow centre of Asters is actually composed of tiny florets. Asters
come in a wide variety, with some less than a foot tall and others two
feet taller.
The name Aster comes from the ancient Greek word 'Astron'
meaning 'star', referring to the shape of the star-like flower head. There
are more than 600 known aster species; but just a few varieties enjoy
popularity as cut flowers.
Like all plants, aster will reward us with bigger blooms and a healthier
plant if plenty of compost is added. Soil should be moist, but not wet.
They can withstand dry periods. Water them during dry periods, once
or twice per week, to keep growth vibrant. Add much around the plants
for appearance and to keep weeds down.
The plant can be propagated by division of roots during the rainy
season. It is commercially propagated by seeds also. The seeds are sown
thinly and covered with compost. The seeds beds are irrigated and the
seedlings will be ready for transplanting in about four weeks. Aster
blossoms will be ready for harvest within 10-12 weeks of transplanting.
Around mid to late summer the plants will begin to produce flowers.
Asters make excellent cut flower and can be harvested just when the
flowers begin to blossom.
With proper care asters enjoy a vase life of 5-10 days. Both large
and small varieties make good cut flowers for vases and arrangements.
It is used as an addition to a variety of bouquets and floral arrangements
due to its abundant flower cluster and wide range of colours.
December 2008
KERALACALLING
37
this crop is 50 kg nitrogen, eight kg
phosphorus and 25 kg potash per
hectare, apart from 12 tonnes of
farmyard manure. Full quantity of
farmyard manure, half dose of
nitrogen and full dose of phosphorus
and potash have to be applied as basal
dose. Remaining half dose of nitrogen
is to be applied as top dressing one
month after sowing. During dry
periods, the crop is to be irrigated at
three to four days interval. At least
two rounds of weeding have to be
done before the crop canopy covers
the soil surface. Earthing up of the
crop is carried out after top dressing
of fertilisers. Harvesting is done when
the fruits are young and tender. The
fruits will attain harvest maturity four
to six days after flowering and become
fibrous beyond seven days. It is better
to carry out harvesting on every
alternate day in order to ensure
harvesting of all fruits at the right
stage of maturity. Fruits are harvested
by bending the pedicel with a jerk.
The major pests of Venda are jassids,
fruit and shoot borer and root knot
nematode and the most serious disease
is yellow vein mosaic. An integrated
pest and disease management strategy
involving use of mosaic resistant
varieties, field hygiene, bio-control
agents and pesticides of plant origin
will adequately protect the crop from
these pests and disease.
The writer is Professor and Head, Dept of
Olericulture, Kerala Agricultural University
FLORICULTURE
Suresh Muthukulam
Wonder
in the
summer garden
G
rowing aster flower is one of the wonders of the summer garden.
Asters are an easy to grow perennial that grow well in average soils, but
needs good sunlight. They come in blues, purples, whites, yellows and
a variety of pinks. All asters are yellow in the centre. . Even though
they belong to the sunflower family, they look similar to the daisy flower.
The yellow centre of Asters is actually composed of tiny florets. Asters
come in a wide variety, with some less than a foot tall and others two
feet taller.
The name Aster comes from the ancient Greek word 'Astron'
meaning 'star', referring to the shape of the star-like flower head. There
are more than 600 known aster species; but just a few varieties enjoy
popularity as cut flowers.
Like all plants, aster will reward us with bigger blooms and a healthier
plant if plenty of compost is added. Soil should be moist, but not wet.
They can withstand dry periods. Water them during dry periods, once
or twice per week, to keep growth vibrant. Add much around the plants
for appearance and to keep weeds down.
The plant can be propagated by division of roots during the rainy
season. It is commercially propagated by seeds also. The seeds are sown
thinly and covered with compost. The seeds beds are irrigated and the
seedlings will be ready for transplanting in about four weeks. Aster
blossoms will be ready for harvest within 10-12 weeks of transplanting.
Around mid to late summer the plants will begin to produce flowers.
Asters make excellent cut flower and can be harvested just when the
flowers begin to blossom.
With proper care asters enjoy a vase life of 5-10 days. Both large
and small varieties make good cut flowers for vases and arrangements.
It is used as an addition to a variety of bouquets and floral arrangements
due to its abundant flower cluster and wide range of colours.
December 2008
KERALACALLING
37
HEALTHWATCH
Dr Sushil Chandran
Ensure
the Quality
A
bout three decades ago, while
starting my career in Medicine as a
medical student, there was a slogan
which we used to hear and learn,
“Health for All by the year 2000”.
Many years of trial and error and
dissatisfaction in meeting people’s
basic health needs prompted the 30th
World Health Assembly in 1977 to set
a target to be achieved by the
Governments and World Health
Organization before the turn of the
century.
According to this the level of health
to be attained should be that which
will permit all people to lead a socially
and economically productive life. The
background to this philosophy was the
growing concern about the
unacceptably low levels of health status
of majority of the World’s population,
especially the rural poor and the gross
disparities in health between the rich
and the poor, urban and rural
population both between and within
countries. The prime concept was
“Equity in Health”.
In 1978 the Alma-Ata declaration
adopted Primary Health Care as the
basis for achieving the goal of Health
for all by 2000. Emphasis was on social
equity, nation wide coverage, self
38
KERALACALLING
reliance and people’s involvement in
planning and implementation of
health programmes. This health by the
people and placing people’s health in
people’s hands concept identified the
following key points. Education about
prevailing health problems, strategies
for their prevention and control,
proper nutrition, safe drinking water
and sanitation, maternal and child
health, immunization, prevention and
control of endemic diseases,
appropriate treatment of common
diseases and injuries, and provision of
essential drugs to the needy.
As a signatory to the Alma - Ata
declaration we also formed our
national health policy approved by
Parliament in 1983 and the States were
given greater involvement in
management of the health services.
Health is multidimensional and
influenced by numerous known and
unknown factors. Health has a
subjective element and is difficult to
confine within a single definition.
Measurement of health has been
framed in terms of illness or lack of
health, consequences of ill health and
various factors that lead to ill health.
To measure the health of the
community or that of a population,
December 2008
various parameters are used like Birth and
Death rate, Infant and Maternal Mortality
rate, life expectancy, and literacy rate in
general and in women in particular.
Health professionals and policy makers
also use other indices like Nutritional status,
Immunisation, per capita income, housing,
and unemployment to objectively assess the
health of the community.
Political commitment, resource allocation,
equity in distribution of health services, and
community involvement are the prime
indicators of a good Health policy.
Doctor - Population ratio, Doctor - Nurse
ratio, and Population - Hospital Bed ratio are
used as indicators for health care.
Health care system of our State attained
high standards in terms of basic health needs
of the society through a well established
Primary Health Care system. The targets like
immunization, family planning, reduction in
maternal and infant mortality set for the
millennium were achieved well in advance.
Education and Health were given high
priority in Government’s expenditure and this
factor helped to achieve this status. We have
a long history of organised health care.
Development of health services were
complemented by provision of safe drinking
water and sanitation facilities, promotion of
education, and setting up of hospitals even
in remote areas.
Eight years after the turn of the century, I
would like to look at our health care system
from a different perspective. Last decade
witnessed changes at a very fast pace in many
fields like Information technology, Industries,
Communication, Travel and tourism,
presence of multinational companies in
various fields and the so called Globalisation.
Health care sector is no exception to this
changing scenario. The development in
Health Care system started to shift from
Public sector to Private sector after the mid
eighties surpassing the public sector by a wide
margin. Now the scene is more complex than
it was two decades ago.
Like the Army, Health care system is highly
dependent on its man power. Doctors and
nurses are not the only people who support
and maintain the services of the health care
system. Paramedical staffs including nursing
assistants, lab technicians, radiographers,
pharmacists, physiotherapists, ambulance
service, staff in cleaning and maintenance are
December 2008
as important as the highly skilled professionals
at the upper strata. In fact the strength and
coordinated work and service of the chain of
personnel are reflected as the quality of the
health service. Any weak link in terms of
number or quality in this complex chain will
affect the final outcome.
Even as early as the nineteen sixties girls
from Kerala were motivated to take up nursing
profession. Large numbers of nurses from
Kerala are employed in developed countries.
The increasing demand for nurses has resulted
in the mushrooming of nursing schools within
and outside the State but with a decline in
quality of teaching and training.
Statistically our doctor to patient ratio is
better than the national values. But we do not
have sufficient number of doctors in rural
areas. Doctor to doctor ratio is also
inadequate. There are interdependent
specialities where a doctor in one speciality
needs the support and service of sufficient
number of doctors from another speciality.
For example, the ratio of Anaesthesiologists
to Surgeons is inadequate. Highly skilled
manpower like critical care nurses and doctors
are not available as per requirement. With
more and more hospitals coming up it is
important to solve this problem through
proper manpower planning.
The investment and the infra structure
behind big hospital projects are huge. It may
be shocking but true that majority of these
institutions is understaffed and forced to
depend on inadequately trained staff. There
are no guidelines or transparent mechanism
with authority for proper surveillance of the
system.
Nutritional deficiency conditions like
Marasmus and Kwashiorkor almost
disappeared from our State. We are facing a
new challenge of inappropriate nutrition in
the form of obesity. Obesity is becoming a
problem in our society with associated comorbid conditions like diabetes,
hypertension, and heart diseases. A significant
number of our children are obese and the
situation has breached the socioeconomic
barrier.
There is an increasing incidence of road
traffic accidents in Kerala. Mortality rate
following road traffic accidents is among the
highest in the country. The magnitude of the
problem is underestimated. Strain on the
health care system and the burden on the
KERALACALLING
39
society for trauma care is significant.
We are yet to have a comprehensive
trauma care facility. Trained
paramedical team, rescue and
resuscitation at the site of accident,
infrastructure to handle mass
casualties and facilities for safe and
fast transportation of critical
patients to hospitals are grossly
inadequate.
It is an alarming observation that
Kerala has the highest suicide rate
and highest per capita consumption
of alcohol in the country.
There is scope for improving
organ transplantation facility in our
State. Modern hospitals must give
due consideration to this field.
for modern blood banking.
Significant improvement is urgently
required in this field.
The State is facing very serious
problems with waste disposal
facilities. With the growth in Urban
population the problem has grown
out of control contributing to the
prevalence and re-emergence of
epidemics and vector borne diseases
like dengue, leptospirosis and
chikungunya.
Kerala has the highest hospital
density in India. 25 percent of the
hospitals in the country is in our
State. The quantity of Bio medical
waste produced from hospitals is on
the increase. Considering density of
Kerala has the highest hospital
density in India. 25 percent of
the hospitals in the country is in our State.
Geriatric care or caring for the
aged is another field where we are
facing problems. Care of the aged
people, is often inadequate or
neglected. Nuclear families and
absence of a home care delivery
system are the main factors
Recently there is increasing
awareness in providing Palliative
care to patients who are terminally
ill or suffering from malignancy or
cancer. But we are far behind
international standards in palliative
care.
There are about 140 blood
banks in our State. One fourth is in
government sector and only 20 per
cent have state of the art facilities
40
KERALACALLING
population and the geographical
profile of our land, we have to
evolve a proper waste handling
policy. There is only one common
bio medical waste treatment facility
in Palakkad for the whole State.
Safety of the hospital staff and
their exposure to occupational
hazards is another area which has
not received sufficient attention.
Health care service is being
replaced by Health care Industry.
When a service sector gets
transformed in to an industry,
commercial interests will dominate.
It is not practical to offer free
treatment to the Public. But we can
offer cost effective treatment. There
December 2008
must be a definitive move to control
the prices of medicines and
consumables. Some medicines and
medical products are sold at 200 per
cent to 300 per cent margin of
profit. A syringe costing less than
two rupees carries a retail price of
about six rupees. Price regulation
can be achieved only through Public
awareness, and government policy
decisions.
We are still far behind
computerisation of various services
in hospitals. Majority of hospitals
still lack an electronic data entry and
retrieval system.
It is unfortunate that many
Government institutions could not
grow in number and quality at a rate
to meet the demand of the State.
But the Public institutions still play
a vital role in man power training.
The government sector must take
the lead role by setting the highest
standards in quality health care.
So far we were trying to achieve
targets set by organisations for
International needs.
It is time to set our own targets
based on the need of the society. A
healthy society in every aspect must
be the set goal rather than just
treating the sick.
Earlier, when religion was strong
and science weak, people mistook
magic for medicine; now, when
science is strong and religion weak,
people expect medicine to be like
magic. The limitations of this
science must be well understood by
the public and the media must
refrain from creating a conflict in
the minds of the people.
It is time to re-analyse the
problems in our health care system,
identify the pit falls and approach
the problems with a more realistic
attitude.
Finally, in my opinion the
greatest challenge that we are facing
today is to get back the human
touch that is lost and to overcome
our failure to consider our patients
as fellow human beings.„
The writer is Cardiothoracic Surgeon,
Railway Hospital, Chennai.
E T H N I C F O O D
Indu Narayan
Duck Roast
Appam
Raw rice - 2 cups | Coconut
scraped - half cup | Coconut
water - half cup | Cooked
rice - half cup | Cooking soda
- one teaspoon | Oil - to
smear the tawa | Sugar - 2
tablespoon or as required
Method
Wash and soak rice for three
hours and wash again. Grind
rice, coconut, cooked rice well
by adding coconut water and
enough water. Add salt, sugar
and keep the batter for one
night to fermentate. The
batter should neither be too
thin nor too watery. The
next day Add cooking soda
and mix wellon the batter
next day. Heat a greased
appam kadai and pour ladle
of the batter in the centre and
hold the ends of the kadai,
gently rotate and spread the
batter. Cover it with a lid.
After two minutes, transfer
the appam to a plate. Repeat
the procedure with the
remaining batter.
Duck - one | Turmeric - half teaspoon | garlic- six cloves | Red chilli - three
numbers | Salt - to taste | Pepper – eight numbers | Coriander - one
tablespoon | Cinnamon- one inch stick | Cloves – three numbers | oil to fry
Method
Fry the ingredients except salt and duck in one
tablespoon oil and grind. Smear this to the
duck. Add salt and marinate for two hours.
Cook this in enough water. When it dries up
and the duck is well cooked, transfer this to the
boiling oil and fry till both sides become brown
in colour.
Chicken Stew
Chicken (cut into big pieces) - four cups |
Potato (cut into big pieces) - two cups |
Onion (cut
into big pieces)
- two cups |
Tomato (cut
into big pieces)
- half cups |
Green slitted
chilly- two
numbers |
Coconut milk
(first extract) half cup
For the masala
Turmeric powder - half teaspoon |
Cloves- two | Cinnamon - one small stick
| Garlic- four cloves | Coriander- one
tablespoon
Method
Cut the chicken into fairly big pieces.
Grind the masalas into fine paste, adding
enough water. Squeeze the water from
chicken pieces and marinate with the
masala. Cook this with vegetables and
enough water. When the water dries up,
off the gas and pour the coconut milk.
December 2008
Egg Aviyal
Eggs - four numbers | Salt to taste |
Turmeric powder- 1/4 teaspoon |
Coconut oil- one teaspoon | Curry
leaves- two sprigs
To grind
Coconut scraped - 1 ½ cups |
Coriander seeds- one tablespoon |
Green chilli- two numbers | Small
onion – two numbers
Method
Hard boil the eggs and shell. Cut each
into four pieces. Grind the ingredients
mentioned for grinding, add it to the
egg pieces and transfer this to the mud
pot. Add turmeric powder and enough
water. Also add curry leaves. Boil for
three minutes and switch off the
burner. Pour coconut oil and cover for
two minutes before serving.
KERALACALLING
41
N A T U R E
T
P Radhakrishnan Nair
he planet earth, having a
fascinating background for life to
survive, is equally the home of endless
problems, ranging from spread of
diseases and global warming to
hurricane and volcanic eruptions. In
the history of the planet, problems
were not new. They existed in the past
as well, perhaps worse than those we
face today. But there is a marked
difference between the problems
occurred about half a century ago and
those we face now. Most of the
problems we face now are human
induced, whereas the earlier ones were
mostly nature induced. The present
environmental hazards arise from a
number of issues such as growing
population, increasing use of energy,
higher pace in urbanisation, and rapid
industrialisation. Obviously, today the
environmental problems are the most
severe threat to the human
community and other forms of life in
the planet.
Environmental protection
a global issue
Most of the environmental
problems we face today are not local
in nature. Studies and observation
have revealed that a forest fire in Asia
could transport the polluting aerosols
to United States or Australia.
Similarly, deforestation in Australia
can ultimately lead to a rise in the sea
level in Kochi. Now the fact that the
environment is more a global issue has
been greatly realised by the scientific
society,
governments
and
international agencies. The world
over, there is a growing awareness that
participation and cooperation of the
global community as a whole, is
Earth
in our Hands
42
KERALACALLING
December 2008
important in the success of any
programme to address the
environmental problems. There are
many more problems, which need our
immediate attention. It is true that
the problems are mostly human
induced, but the evaluation of the
effect of the human interventions to
the environment is a challenge. Any
attempt to assess the same, would call
for a multidisciplinary approach. Now
the human interventions on nature
have gone to new levels, threatening
earth’s dynamic equilibrium. To face
these problems and to initiate effective
measures to mitigate them,
cooperation and contribution of the
global community is essential. To
achieve this, it is important that the
people are properly educated and
motivated to care for the
environment.
Objectives
Major objectives of the programme as announced by the UN are the following: -
• Reduce risks for the human community caused by natural and human induced hazards
• Reduce environment related health problems
• Enhance understanding of the occurrence of natural resource and locate new natural resources
•
•
•
•
and make them available in a sustainable manner
Build safer structures and expand urban areas
Help to determine the non- human factors in climate change
Locate and evaluate deep and poorly accessible groundwater resources
Increase interest in the Earth science in society at large, to care for the environment
U N proclamation
This realisation that the impact of
environmental deterioration would be
maximum on the poor section of the
population in the developing
countries has prompted many
international agencies to define the
problems in accurate terms, and so far
as is humanly possible, to work out
effective measures to mitigate the
issues with the support of relevant
scientific information. International
organisations such as International
Union of Geological Sciences
(IUGS), International Union of
Geology and Geophysics (IUGG),
and few other Earth science
organisations decided to participate
in the efforts making use of the
information available with half a
million Earth scientists in the world
for the purpose. The UNESCO
supported the decision and
accordingly the United Nations
General Assembly proclaimed one or
all the three years in the triennium of
January 2007 to December 2009 as
the International Year of Planet Earth
(IYPE).
UN is observing 2008 as the
International Year of Planet Earth,
which was officially launched in Paris
on 12, and 13 Feb. 2008. The UN
declares that the ultimate goal of the
year is to make use of the knowledge
we possess about the planet to make
the Earth a safer, healthier, and
wealthier place for our children and
grandchildren.
Major activities
Each nation taking part in the
programme will constitute a national
Committee for the purpose, and the
said committee is free to select from
the triennium the year of their
national programme and organize it
in the announced line of the UN
programme contained in their Science
brochure. The activities announced
include developing scientific research
programmes and outreach activities
making use of the widely available
wealth of information with the Earth
science community of the respective
country, so as to generate interest and
greater awareness among the general
public, decision makers, and
politicians about the effective
application of these knowledge for the
betterment of the human society. The
National Committee can select and
propose research and outreach
projects of supranational level to the
International Year of Planet Earth
Corporation for sponsoring. A sum
of $ 20 million is earmarked for the
research and outreach activities, to be
shared equally. The thrust area of all
the activities is creation of awareness
among the human population, on the
scope of effective use of earth scientific
knowledge to save the environment
of the planet and to satisfy in a
sustainable manner, the growing
needs of the Earth resources.
Indian initiatives
India is one of the nations, which
actively participates in the
international programme, giving due
importance to its message. The
programmes of the IYPE in India were
coordinated by the Indian Science
Academy, New Delhi, which
December 2008
constituted a National Coordination
Group, as early as 2006. The
programmes for the international year
in India, commenced in January,
2007, by adopting Planet Earth as the
focal theme for the Indian Science
Congress, 2007, held in Annamalai
University, during 3 to 7 Jan, 2007.
Ensure social benefits
As the subtitle of the programmes
– Earth Science for Society – suggests,
its ultimate objective is the welfare of
the human community by providing
a safer and healthier environment.
This programme consists, essentially,
of two components, one, a donor
component and the other, a receiver
component. The Earth scientist
community, all over the world
constitute the donor, who has a very
important responsibility in this
regard; to collect and organise
appropriate information and educate
the public, decision makers, and
politicians about the planet Earth,
and it’s environment and how it
should be managed to maintain it’s
equilibrium. The role of the receiver
in the programmes is to extend
cooperation and participate actively
in it and obtain information on the
planet Earth, and its resources, and
how to use the Earth resources
without causing damages to the
environment. Having realised the
significance of the programmes and
their relevance, it is important that
both the donors and receivers
participate with dedication in the
programmes and make them
fruitful.„
KERALACALLING
43
Mammoth
Large
DNA mapped waist and
premature
death
The DNA of the extinct woolly
mammoth, a relative of the
elephant that roamed northern
climes thousands of years ago, has
been mostly deciphered in a
scientific effort that could lead
one day to creating a live copy of
the beast.
This groundbreaking achievement
has been contemplating a once
unimaginable future when certain
prehistoric species might one day
be resurrected.
The project is led by Stephan
Schuster, a professor of microbial
ecology at Pennsylvania State
University. A full mammoth
genome would raise the possibility
of resurrecting the species through
genetic experimentation, he said.
That would involve making about
400,000 changes in 20,000 genes in
a modern elephant's DNA and
implanting an altered embryo in
an elephant to develop, he said.
The million-dollar project is a first
rough draft, detailing the more
than three billion DNA building
blocks of the mammoth, according
to the study published in the
journal Nature. It's about 80 per
cent finished. But that's enough to
give scientists new clues on the
timing of evolution and the deadly
intricacies of extinction.
Having a large waistline can almost
double the risk of dying
prematurely even if the body mass
index is within the 'normal' range,
according to a new study of over
350,000 people across Europe,
published in the New England
Journal of Medicine.
The study provides strong evidence
that storing excess fat around the
waist poses a significant health risk,
even in people not considered to be
overweight or obese. It suggests
that doctors should measure a
patient's waistline and their hips as
well as their body mass index as
part of standard health checks,
according to the researchers, from
Imperial College London, the
ITCHING
Gene discovery may aid treatment
It may not be that serious
compared to other health
problems of man. But Scientists
are baffled by the universal
misery called itching (the
scientific term is pruritus) for
which there is, as yet, no
adequate explanation or
treatment.
Wish for an anti-itch remedy may
soon be granted now that
44
KERALACALLING
German Institute of Human
Nutrition, and other research
institutions across Europe.
The risk of premature death was
around double for subjects with a
larger waist (more than 120cm or
47.2in for men and more than
100cm or 39.4in for women)
compared to subjects with a
smaller waist (less than 80cm or
31.5in for men and less than 65cm
or 25.6in for women). Body mass
index is commonly used to assess if
a person is of 'normal' weight.
Each 5 cm increase in waist
circumference increased the
mortality risk by 17 per cent in men
and 13 per cent in women.
December 2008
scientists at Washington
University School of Medicine in
St. Louis have identified the first
gene for the itch sensation in the
central nervous system. The
discovery could rapidly lead to
new treatments directly
targeting itchiness and providing
relief for chronic and severe
itching.
According to these scientists,
there are two major types of
itch:
• A mild form often caused by
histamines, itch-inducing
chemicals found in poison ivy,
mosquito bites, pollens, etc.
Antihistamines provide
temporary relief from them.
• A severe form that may result
from kidney, liver or blood
disease, HIV, shingles, eczema or
many other causes.
S. Radhakrishnan
Extinct penguin
uncovered
Why mammoth alone? Let
there be something small.
Researchers in New Zealand
studying a rare and
endangered species of penguin
have uncovered a previously
unknown species that
disappeared about 500 years
ago.
The research suggests
that the first humans
in New Zealand hunted
the newly found
Waitaha penguin to
extinction by 1500,
about 250 years after
their arrival on the
islands. But the loss of
the Waitaha allowed
another kind of
penguin to thrive -- the
yellow-eyed species
that now also faces
extinction, Philip Seddon of
Otago University, a coauthor
of the study, said in
Wellington.
The yellow-eyed penguin is
considered one of the world's
rarest.
An increased risk of
mortality may be
particularly related to
storing fat around the
waistline because fatty
tissue in this area
secretes cytokines,
hormones and
metabolically active
compounds that can
contribute to the
development of
chronic diseases,
particularly
cardiovascular
diseases and cancers,
suggest the authors.
Moms favour
outgoing pups, with
consequences
Love spark can
last forever
New brain scans of people who say they are still
in love after decades of marriage are similar to
scans of those who have just fallen in love,
leading researchers to conclude that long-term
relationships can be just as passionate and
romantic as new love.
State University of New York’s psychologist
Arthur Aron is confident enough in the pursuit of
the love mechanism as he says that in his new
book. "That's what the brain scans are telling
us. People can't fake that", he adds.
The study was presented at a meeting of the
Society for Neuroscience in Washington.
December 2008
A new study of rats shows that outgoing
offspring got more attention from their
mothers than did their more shy siblings.
Scientists are on the search whether this can
be applied to humans also.
Brothers and sisters have similar genes and
grow up in a similar environment, but have
differently personalities. Christina Ragan of
Pennsylvania State University and her
colleagues wanted to know if parental
favouritism could affect personality. Previous
research has shown that rat pups whose
mothers licked them a lot were less
susceptible to stress than pups from mothers
that didn’t spend as much time grooming
them.
Ragan watched mother rats interact with
their pups and counted how often each pup in
a litter was licked in the first week of life. She
found large differences in maternal attention,
with the most-groomed pups in a litter getting
two to three times more attention from mom
than the least licked sibling, Ragan showed in
a presentation at the neuroscience meeting.
KERALACALLING
45
P H OTO F E AT U R E
Surrounded by
the misty mountains,
wet leaves with
oozing dews...
Every soul concentrated on
one target... chanting Sarana
mantras...
The 18 holy steps awaiting
millions of devotees to bring
them to the bliss of Ayyappa.
Shots taken during the
Mandala Festival Season of
Sabarimala.
Photos: I&PRD
Sparkling Park at Pathiramanal
THE 500 BOATS packed
with fishermen and shell
collectors surrounded the
island. Then they planted
mangroves around the
island. The island glittered
amidst, having proud of its
uniqueness.
All were as part of a
welcome procession for
the inaugural function of
the Pathiramanal Biopark
related projects.
Without disturbing the
delicate ecological
balance, Tourism
Department is trying to
promote the Pathiramanal
Island as a tourist
destination. Chief Minister,
V.S. Achuthananthan,
inaugurated the Biopark
and also laid the
foundation stone of the
Natural History Museum.
The foundation stone of
the Biopark and Kayipuram
Jetty was laid by Kodiyeri
Balakrishnan and K.P.
Rajendran respectively.
An apt example for
responsible tourism, the
Pathiramanal Biopark is
situated in Muhamma
Village Panchayat. This
island is only 4 km away
from Kumarakom. The
Pathiramanal island which
extends to about 24
hectors is rich in
biodiversity. New projects
have been started
realising the importance of
conservation of the island
which is rich with
migratory birds and varied
plant lives.
There are two stages of
46
KERALACALLING
development in the
Pathiramanal Biopark. The
butterflies, fish and sea
plants will be protected in
the first stage. It also
includes preparing the
ponds and lakes for
boating and improving
basic facilities.
The second phase includes
construction of Natural
Heritage Museum and
Aquarium near Kayipuram
harbour. The Natural
Heritage Museum aims at
Environmental Protection
studies and related
activities. The Central and
State Government have
give approval for this
Rs.550 crore project.
Moonrise at Chandragiri Fort
HISTORY is that the Vijaya
Nagara Empire attacked
the northern parts of
Neeleswaram while
Kolathiri Kingdom had
Neeleswaram as their
capital. When the
Vijayanagara Empire
declined in the 14th
century, the Ikkery Naikars
took over the charge of
that region. In 1645,
Shivappa Naik undertook
the rule and shifted its
capital to Badhanur. Since
then, they were known as
Badhanur Naiks. They
founded eight forts in
Kasaragod district that
include Chandragiri which
has witnessed many
battles and warfare will
have many stories to tell.
Now this lofty Fort that
stands exalted in Kalanadu
Village in Kasaragod
district has been opened
up for the people by the
Education and Culture
Minister, M.A. Baby. The
State Archaeological
Department has restored
the Fort with the financial
aid of Tourism
Department. It was at the
brim of deterioration due
to land encroachment and
earth digging. It was to
regain its lost glory that
the Archaeological and
Tourism Departments
started steps to restore
the Fort.
An information counter
has been started for the
December 2008
interest of the public.
Facilities like cementumbrellas, seating, etc.
have been made. Rs.50
lakh has been spent in
three phases for the
restoration process.
Linking the various forts in
the district, tourist bus
services would be
arranged in the city, the
Minister said.
Many forts which have
historical importance are
located at Malabar. Out of
which eight forts are in
Kasaragod. Many do not
realise the historical
importance of these forts
so that a few of them are
on the verge of
deterioration. These too
will be restored into
tourist destinations.
Hats off to Red Hat
Chief Minister, V.S.
Achuthanandan, said that a
centre of excellence for
coordinating activities in the
free software sector would be
established in the State to resist
the capitalist forces trying to
monopolise knowledge. An
international conference will
to take control over traditional
values. He said the success of
the free software movement was
a strong reply to those who
voiced support for monopoly of
knowledge.
Another important suggestion
was made by Depesh Das,
also be held in connection with
the setting up of the centre. He
was inaugurating the second
national conference on free
software at the Cochin
University of Science and
Technology.
The Chief Minister said that
capitalist forces are campaigning
that development is possible
only by establishing monopoly
over knowledge. But the
markets should not be allowed
Minister for Information
Technology in West Bengal,
about using free software as a
platform to develop software
products. He also suggested
developing of talent pool in the
country by free software. By
developing this talent pool,
more industries could be
attracted.
Industries Minister Elamaram
Karim delivered the keynote
address.
Waves of
development lulls
our coast
The sea is back into the hands of its own
children. The fisheries sector of the LDF
Government, headed by Minister
S. Sarma, has planned various projects and
schemes for the development of the coastal
areas and the fisheries sector. The
Government has passed new laws to give
life to them. Moreover, the Government is
planning to spend Rs.3000 crore for the
coastal area development. During the past
50 years only Rs.324 crores are spent for
this purpose.
When we could witness only two laws being
passed for the conservation of the coast in
the past 50 years, this Government
successfully passed three laws within two
and a half years. The importance of
harbours has been recognised and
construction of six harbours have already
commenced.
The Coastal Development Corporation has
been formed for the development of
coastal area. Out of the Rs.416 crore
proposed for the development of coastal
region in Alapuzha, Rs.351 crore has
already been used.
The Government has introduced special
projects like ‘Aarattupuzha Special
Package, Andhakaranazhi special package
etc. amounting to Rs.327.24 crore for the
rehabilitation of Tsunami victims.
Apart from these, many other projects like
making the Chellanam-Ambalapuzha road
into state highway, renovation of the
Thottapally fishing harbour, etc. are also in
progress.
MoU with IOC
NATIONALLY, Kerala
stands ahead in games.
But this is after a long
time that Kerala is going
to host the mega event
namely, the 35th National
Games in which
Kalaripayattu and snakeboat racing will be held as
demonstration sports for
the first time. Kerala
Government has signed a
Memorandum of
Understanding with the
Indian Olympic Association
for conducting the
National Games in the
State in 2010. Sports
Minister, M. Vijaya Kumar
represented Kerala.
As per the agreement,
Kerala will raise
infrastructure by March
2010 at Kochi,
Thiruvananthapuram and
Kozhikode for conducting
the Games later that year.
Kerala had last hosted the
Games in 1987.
The Kerala Government
had set aside Rs. 100 crore
for the Games project,
including that for the
development of
infrastructure. The
December 2008
Government will soon be
submitting a detailed
proposal seeking financial
assistance from the Union
Government to the tune of
Rs. 1,000 crore.
It is expected that hosting
of the 35th National
Games will materialise
huge investment in
developing the sports
infrastructure of Kerala.
KERALACALLING
47
Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Minister for Home, views the monitors connected to the
surveillance cameras installed in Thiruvananthapuram city
Rendering High Quality Service
WHILE some North Indian
counterparts have often been
alleged as organised criminals, the
State Police has always been
compared with that of Scotland
Police in efficiency. Now, it has
once again proved its stature by
having command-cum-operation
centre equipped with modern
communication devices and an
automated control room system for
Thiruvananthapuram city.
The Command Centre is the facility
only the world’s topmost police
forces have. In India, very few
forces like CBI Directorate, have
such facility. This facility enables
the force to watch important
events in live and the DGP can give
necessary instructions immediately
F O C U S
P K Sreemathi Teacher, Minister for Health, decking
R S Gavai, Governor of Kerala with Aids Red Ribbon at Raj Bhavan
48
KERALACALLING
December 2008
to the concerned police station or
force from the Command Centre.
Facilities such as wireless,
telephone, high speed e-mail
system, Web based services of
police, video conferencing, warning
set ups etc. are arranged here.
The control room system which
comprises of global positioning
system enabled vehicles, tetrabased messaging service and
surveillance cameras at important
points in Thiruvananthapuram city,
would be introduced in Kochi and
Kozhikode cities soon.
DNA finger printing facility has also
set up on the premises of the Police
Headquarters for examination of
various biological trace evidences.
So far the State police was
depending on labs outside the state
for DNA examination.
Similarly, a Cyber Forensic Division,
fully equipped with all types of
software and other tools to gather
digital evidence on crimes involving
electronic gadgets like computers,
e-mails and mobile phones has also
set up here.
Beware offenders, no more hide
and seek play!
Hari
Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Minister for Home, views the monitors connected to the
surveillance cameras installed in Thiruvananthapuram city
Rendering High Quality Service
WHILE some North Indian
counterparts have often been
alleged as organised criminals, the
State Police has always been
compared with that of Scotland
Police in efficiency. Now, it has
once again proved its stature by
having command-cum-operation
centre equipped with modern
communication devices and an
automated control room system for
Thiruvananthapuram city.
The Command Centre is the facility
only the world’s topmost police
forces have. In India, very few
forces like CBI Directorate, have
such facility. This facility enables
the force to watch important
events in live and the DGP can give
necessary instructions immediately
F O C U S
P K Sreemathi Teacher, Minister for Health, decking
R S Gavai, Governor of Kerala with Aids Red Ribbon at Raj Bhavan
48
KERALACALLING
December 2008
to the concerned police station or
force from the Command Centre.
Facilities such as wireless,
telephone, high speed e-mail
system, Web based services of
police, video conferencing, warning
set ups etc. are arranged here.
The control room system which
comprises of global positioning
system enabled vehicles, tetrabased messaging service and
surveillance cameras at important
points in Thiruvananthapuram city,
would be introduced in Kochi and
Kozhikode cities soon.
DNA finger printing facility has also
set up on the premises of the Police
Headquarters for examination of
various biological trace evidences.
So far the State police was
depending on labs outside the state
for DNA examination.
Similarly, a Cyber Forensic Division,
fully equipped with all types of
software and other tools to gather
digital evidence on crimes involving
electronic gadgets like computers,
e-mails and mobile phones has also
set up here.
Beware offenders, no more hide
and seek play!
Hari