THE 'SAVE KERALA' INITIATIVE

THE 'SAVE KERALA' INITIATIVE

Saturday, December 31, 2005

2006 - A New Beginning


Copyright © Mind curry

Across Kerala, 2006 was ushered in with lots of celebration. And spirit too, literally!
Happily, the parties were all peaceful, thanks to the efforts of cops and authorities across the state and nation.

Let us hope the year is good for Kerala and India, and the people living here. As the nation grows, surely there will be cowardly attacks like the one at IISc Bangalore, but I am sure collectively we can reject such threats and take India forward.

Above, welcoming a Great New Year at the beachside party, The Leela, Kovalam, Trivandrum.
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Friday, December 23, 2005

Positive Thoughts

I have been in Trivandrum for the last 4 weeks now. And already I have seen enough of disheartening things happening in Kerala. But I hate to get caught in negativities. And thought even my blog should reflect some kind of positivity.

Despite all the odds, the selfish political leaders, tunnelled vision of sections of people, there has been commendable efforts by some great men both in the government and the community. And this has seen translations into effective programmes and investments coming into Kerala. There are plenty of ongoing initiatives that are fantastic opportunities for the people of Kerala and I just pray these are implemented.

Some, and by no means a complete list, of the already operational/ expansion mega projects and proposed initiatives are:


Trivandrum

1. Trivandrum International Airport Expansion
2. Vizhinjam International Port
3. Technocity off Technopark
4. Capital Development initiatives
5. Kinfra Video and Apparel Parks
6. Kovalam Tourism development


Kochi

1. Smart City
2. Vallarpadam Transhipment Terminal
3. LNG Terminal
4. Adidas Factory
5. Apparel City


Calicut

1. Ayurveda and Holistic Health promotion
2. Calicut Port development


Kannur

1. Kannur International Airport
2. Bekal Tourism development

All these projects are bringing in millions in terms of direct investment, job opportunities, tourist inflows apart from branding Kerala as a potential investment destination. This Xmas and New Year, I wish the best for all the great people who worked hard to initiate these projects and I pray that the people of Kerala will standy by them to see these implemented, forgetting all the political differences.
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Saturday, August 27, 2005

We Don't Need No Education

Finally the eternal problem of professional admissions has reached a flash point. This does not mean that the issue is going to be resolved. It just brings to light how politics can ruin anything without heart or thought.


As far as I can remember, in the 70's till late 90's, everyone in Kerala used to publicly despise private professional colleges, while privately sending their children to Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and even Nepal. There were demonstrations, self immolations and violence mimicking civil war by the so called student bridages of the left aligned political parties in Kerala. This led to more people (read talented youth) leaving Kerala to learn better things than petty politics, most of them working and settling in other states and countries.


The breakthrough came in the form of "Co-operative" colleges and slowly everybody began accepting that private colleges, by ethical and professional groups, can be as good or even better than government run colleges. The most striking and earliest example has been the Manipal Group in the case of medical education, followed by plenty of management college and engineering colleges. After the era of acceptance of co-operative colleges by the hypocritic malayali public, it was time for the mushrooming of totally private colleges in Kerala. In between events such as the "Rajani murder by the college management and banks" helped a few more people get panchayat and party seats.


Today what we see is a total turn around of the situation. We have these political party student outfits campaigning for a quota in these private colleges which were hitherto shunned by the same groups. They seem to be worried only about the fees and reservation pattern and not anymore about the quality of education, which is a big step forward as far as their outlooks are concerned!


Anyway, in my opinion the Apex court has taken the best possible decision. There are many reasons and examples I can give to prove this.


First of all, we have governments unable to provide even quality primary education wanting to have a say in the admission pattern of professional colleges. While they should be striving to provide 100% quality primary and secondary education, they are engaging in eroding the higher education system. Today IIM's and IIT's are symbols of excellence around the world because they are autonomous and free from political interference. Dr.Murali Manohar Joshi tried to take away this and ruin this by attempting to regulate the admission and fee structure at the great institutions. Luckily for the nation, better sense prevailed and this attempt was foiled.


Another example is the present scenario in Karnataka for medical education. In the early 90's Manipal group provided MBBS seats for around Rs.7-10 lakhs for the duration of 5 years to the resident Indian students and for NRIs at a slightly higher rate. In 1993, they were given deemed university status for being a center for excellence and they brought in the Manipal entrance test through which students were admitted at a lesser rate (for resident Indian students). They reserved 15% for NRI students at a much higher rate. They remain autonomous, thanks again to a Surpreme court ruling, and function very well even today bringing out some of the best doctors in the world.


During the period, plenty of private medical and engineering colleges opened around Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the seats filled mainly by Keralites!. Around the late 90's, the government of Karnataka decided that they have to have a say in the admission process so that they can assure cheaper fees for students. So a tussle between management and government began, which goes on to this day. The seat matrix was initially 75 % for management and 25% for government, then it was 50-50% and Government wanted 75% as well in between. This led to a steep hike in the fees for the management quota, thereby implying a reduction in the Government quota. Today, strangely, the fees for a five year course in the Government quota is higher than the rate at which Manipal group provides the same degree, even though Manipal has a more reputed and quality course. In the process, the only thing the Government achieved was a say in the admission process and corrupting the entire system to a higher degree than before. Today if you want a seat in Karnataka, you have to pay not only the management as before, but also the politician and the bureaucrat.


In my opinion the Government should attempt to provide strict guidelines for quality and functioning, but not get involved in the management and corrupt it like its own machinery. Every single admission process conducted by the Government, whether it be the reputed national entrances or the state entrances are fraught with corruption. There have been exposes on how the question papers leak for UPSC and how even AIIMS entrance seats have been fixed.


Today everything comes at a price. It is a very blunt reality that not everyone can become a doctor or engineer or manager; whether it be due to differences in intelligence, caste or bank balance. By such reservations Government is only widening these differences. If the Government wants to really improve higher education, it should provide excellent primary education first. Then it can invest the many crores being wasted and misused into Government hospitals and convert them into medical colleges. It should not attempt to take over privately owned institutions in the name of helping the less privileged. That is a very narrow vision and will only ruin the entire system in the coming years. Instead it can provide financial assistance for a section of the economically weaker students. It can form quality guidelines and close down colleges that do not maintain good quality. Attempts to take over private institutions or manage them will only inhibit further investments in the sector. It again boils down to the attitude of "not being able to eat and not letting anyone eat".
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Saturday, July 02, 2005

The Paradox

Kerala is a paradox..

Kerala is a beautiful state with vast natural resources including a sprawling coastline, rich with greenery and enchanting backwaters. It is not a surprise then that it is rated high among the "most reccommended" destinations for tourists by many including Discovery Channel and National Geographic.

But we are seeing a change in all that. Though the resources and beauty is not yet challenged, the people of the state are taking a road to perdition, making the state worse than hell.

People have gone wrong in their thinking over generations. With newer generations there is no progress, but they are taught to get stuck in absurd values and retarded thinking. People live in a faulty microcosm worried only about the local gossip and page three characters. Even the standard of the local television channels reflect this ulterior level of thinking and culture. And at the rate its going down, we cant see any light at the end of this tunnel of narrow minded and stuck up mentality.

On one side, theres been an apparent progress in health and other vital "statistics". But its just a relatively better statistics compared to the rest of india, theres nothing more to the state. For example, Kerala has been voted the least corrupt state in the country. Knowing the amount of corruption in Kerala, we can imagine what Bihar would then be. But apart from these hard facts, there is no creativity, no industry, no true development in Kerala.

We have a state which claims to be the most literate but has a society which thrives on unemployment and survives on a fast drying "Gulf Money". A state which has a lot of history, but a society with zero culture. A State with plenty of resources, but hardly an industry. A state with the highest female to male ratio has a society in which men derive pleasure from eve teasing and third rate porn.

I would hate to live among such people..

Ironically you can see keralites living out of the state doing extremely well in any field-engineering,medicine, art..Perhaps its all about breaking free from the negative environment that exists in the minds of people in Kerala.

People, who are incessantly working against progress and invoking anti-establishment sense even in the new generation. People who thrive on sloth and gossip. Throwing the state into a land of unemployment and total waste. Where protests and strikes occur at a wink, all in the name of democracy by politically motivated vandals and hooligans. They dont follow it as a way of improving the people or their state, but as an "ideology" to promote their vested interests.

In the process, they dont realise they ruin entire generations and the Gods Own.

It is up to us to make the difference.
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Thursday, June 30, 2005

Save Kerala

This is not another attempt to criticise and forget.

This is a wake up call.

We have to change Kerala.
We have to change the way we think.
We have to change the way we force our children think.
We have to change ourselves.

We have to change our attitude before we can change the state. We have to think beyond petty politics our politicians play and impose on us. We have to stop being the "pothujanam kazhutha" (public=donkey) we have become.

Kerala has a population of over 3.18 crores. If we consider atleast about 1% of them would have seen this site, it would be around 3 lakh people. The day I get atleast 3 lakh emails I will know Kerala is ready to be woken up.

Each one of your contribution is valuable.

If you think we have a cause, write to me your thoughts, views and any other valuable contributions to wewillsavekerala@gmail.com
Interesting articles and pictures will be published.
I am also developing www.keralablogs.com and interested serious writers willing to contribute can mail me.

Together we can form a powerful force that can save the state.

If you are one of the people, unwilling for change, but enjoying Kerala as it is, please save the rest of us the trouble of having to react to your comments.
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