https://epaper.timesgroup.com/olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIGO%2F2019%2F04%2F01&entity=Ar00607&sk=D2717DAA&mode=text
Indians talking blithely about “the next superpower” should visit China. The giant neighbor has complex problems, but there’s no doubt it leaves every country of the subcontinent way behind in all categories of economic and technological advancement, as well as human development. No visitor can maintain delusions to the contrary. In a similar regard, explorations of Kerala are required the reality check for Goans who want to understand how things have gone comprehensively wrong in their home state. Just a few hundred kilometres down the coastline, “God’s own Country” reaps the dividend of wise choices taken by able politicians and administrators, even while India’s smallest state is rapidly destroyed by incompetence and venality Malabar abounds with reminders and connections to the Konkan, including in Calicut and Wayanad (which this writer visited recently). The coastal city, now renamed Kozhikode, is where Vasco da Gama first touched India, on his historic voyage around the Cape of Good Hope. Meanwhile, the Western Ghats district surrounding Sulthan Bathery is markedly reminiscent of Goa’s own mountainous interior. That resemblance would be truly uncanny except for one crucial difference: no garbage. The towns, villages and roadsides gleam nearly spotless. The fields and waterways sparkle pristine. It feels like you are in an alternate universe to Goa, with nigh-identical topography and biodiversity, but lovingly maintained by responsible people who actually care about what they’re doing. For decades now, the world has marveled about “the Kerala model of development” emphasizing productive social infrastructure, with dramatic results in education, healthcare, infant mortality and life expectancy. But these sky-high “quality-of-life indicators” also come along with remarkable political and social awareness. After last year’s deadly Nipah virus outbreak, Prasanth Nair wrote, “Bigger the challenge, the better the response of the people…The soul of Kozhikode is something much more than mere goodness. In my experience as the District Collector, this place seems to have taught me much more than mere goodness. It is to do more with love, brotherhood and compassion. It's about the culture of sharing; sharing for the betterment of people and places.” Kerala is the standout star in Niti Aayog’s excellent Sustainable Development Goals Index. When the Ministry of Power released its first-ever State Energy Efficiency Preparedness Index last year, it was no surprise Kerala ranked first. Back in 2016, then-president Pranab Mukherjee declared Kerala the first digital state in the country, the first to complete the national fiber optic network project to provide high-speed internet to every gram panchayat, and successfully transition to paperless offices in crucial departments like motor vehicles and land registration. When it comes to renewable energy, here too the state charges ahead of the pack –the financial budget for 2019-2020 released last week is packed with incentives for solar projects and electric vehicles. This litany of Malayali achievements, with no end of spectacular highlights, provides useful benchmarks for every other state in India, and begs the question, why does Goa fare so very poorly by comparison? When the example of Kerala is so close to home, how does the resident cabal of politicians and their cronies get away with their astonishingly anti-people, anti-environmental agenda where “development” means little more than wholescale destruction? How did this public atmosphere become so pervaded with mediocrity and mendacity, so vulgar and thuggish? Kerala’s many successes are hard won, and of course no one could begrudge any part of India for doing well despite the odds. But surely there must be some lingering doubts in the comparison? For instance, how do Goa’s tourism stakeholders feel when contrasting what is being done here to Kerala, which won the World Travel Mart Gold Award for responsible tourism in 2018, and the International Center for Responsible Tourism consistently ranks amongst the finest destinations in the world? These are just more accolades for a state that reliably works in so many ways. But here in Goa, they’re awfully stark reminders of all that is terminally dysfunctional.