As Kerala embarks on its 63rd year of formation, it is on the cusp of a revolutionary change after facing Nature’s fury for two consecutive years. While the deluge of 2018 and the landslides of 2019 united the state like no other incident in its recent history, it rattled the people of Kerala to the core and made them ponder over the development model the state should adopt.
With a recession staring at the world in the coming years and overall economic slowdown evident in the figures that the World Bank and other financial institutions putting out time and again there are reasons for worry even in India. The Union Finance Minister has on November 15 said it was too early to say if the slowdown in the economy had bottomed out. In the first week of November Moody’s Investors Service cut the country’s sovereign debt outlook to negative amid concerns over slowing growth and revenues.
However, for Kerala, a service and remittance dependent economy, there are very few reasons to worry as a slump in manufacturing does not affect it. The Middle East expatriate based remittance is slowing down
with the oil-based economies affected by the slump in oil prices but the enterprising Malayali is seeking fresher pastures in Canada and African countries.
Kerala, again, is beating its own path to a prosperous future with education and health as the key factors. Entrepreneurship and Startups are the way forward. The robust startup ecosystem in the state has thrown up quite a few enterprises with the state first in the country to come up with a startup policy earning the praise of the central government. The Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) has been quite active with many initiatives being incubated under it.
In this issue of Brand Kerala, we feature one such start-up that is hoping to change the way Malayalis travel in its towns and cities by switching to an eco-friendly transport. Women in Kerala was always at the forefront
of change and there are any number of examples throughout its long history. They have often beat their male counterpart in all fronts, be it education, sports or enterprises. Entrepreneurship among women in the state is on the rise and needs to be welcomed and encouraged wholeheartedly. Even professionals are switching career earlier than later, taking up challenges in the face of severe social opposition even in this techdriven world.
State-run companies too are contributing to the state’s, nay, the country’s switch to a greener transportation mode. Kerala Automobile Ltd has developed an electric auto rickshaw that would help bring down pollution across the country.
This will be the new reality as Kerala tries to rebuild its economy through a sustainable model that would not repeat the mistakes of exploiting and battering Nature leading to unimaginable catastrophe that the state had witnessed in recent years. In the coming decades, the state will come up with a new development paradigm based on innovative economic and social model projecting a Brand new Kerala.
Bimal Shivaji
Editor in Chief
