16th January 2009
Ar drothwy etholiad….yn India - Close to an election….in India
Three of the richest people in the history of the world are Indian, and yet, as the new film, Slumdog Millionaire or the new book by the Booker prize winner Arvind Adiga, The White Tiger, show, very few people in India have benefited from that. It was, therefore, suprising to see recently less people begging in Kerala - the Malayali speaking province in the south-west of the sub-continent - than there are to be seen on the streets of London. For decades, Kerala’s success has been a mystery. How has a relatively poor region managed to achieve western levels of social development without western levels of funding?
The statistics are striking: literacy level of 91% (the same as Malta) compared to 65% across India; life expectancy is about five years higher in Kerala than anywhere else in the country (and higher than many members of the European Union) and the number of infant deaths are half the number in the rest of India. Many explanations for this have been offered. One important element was the progressive social policies introduced by the royal family of Kerola: Trivandrum’s Queen ordered in 1817 that the state would offer free education for everyone, half a century before the British State reached the same standard of enlightened policy. And it wasn’t an exception that it was a queen that announced the order - succession tradition in Kerala treated women as equals to men, even having female priests in some of the temples.
Some find it significant that a third of the population are Christian, but the same is also true of Goa which doesn’t have the same level of development. It’s possible that Kerala’s success could be rooted in the tendency not to discriminate on the grounds of sex, religion or on the caste system. It is this englightened tradition that allowed the Communist Party to come into power there in 1957 - the first time Communists ever formed a Government through election anywhere in the world. They immediately implemented policies that would transform society by transferring land from the old empirical estates to local people. Secondly, a public education system and health service were created which were so popular that even the party’s political opponents kept them in place in the rare instances they captured power from the Communist party. Election will be held again in April and in Kochin this week there is a row of red banners belonging to the CPI(M) swaying in the wind, a paper Star of Bethlehem can be seen on every second door and Che Guevara competes with the Lord Krishna (and the local favourite, Ayappan) for attention. In unity through diversity there is strength.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Mae tri o’r bobl cyfoethocaf yn hanes y byd yn Indiaid, ac eto, fel mae’r ffilm newydd, Slumdog Millionaire, neu’r llyfr newydd gan yr ennillydd Booker Arvind Adiga, TheWhite Tiger, yn dangos, prin iawn bod pawb yn India yn elwa o hynny. Syndod yn ddiweddar felly oedd gweld llai o bobl yn cardota yn Kerala – y talaith Malayali ei hiaith yn ne-orllewin yr is-gyfandir - na sydd i’w gweld ar strydoedd Llundain. Ers degawdau bellach mae llwyddiant Kerala wedi bod yn ddirgelwch. Sut mae rhanbarth cymharol dlawd wedi llwyddo i gyrraedd lefelau gorllewinol o ddatblygiad cymdeithasol heb lefelau gorllewinol o fuddosddiad?
Mae’r ystadegau yn argraffiadol; llythrennedd o 91% (yr un lefel a Malta) o gymharu gyda 65% ar draws India; mae hyd bywyd yn Kerala ryw bum mlynedd yn fwy na gweddil y wlad (ac yn uwch na sawl aelod o’r Undeb Ewropeaidd) ac mae marwoledd plant yn llai na hanner y raddfa yng ngweddill India. Mae yna nifer o esboniadau yn cael eu cynnig. Un elfen bwysig oedd polisiau cymdeithasol blaengar teuluoedd brenhinol Kerala; fe orchmynnodd brenhines Trivandrum ym 1817 y byddai’r wladwriaeth yn cynnig addysg am ddim i bawb, hanner canrif cyn i’r Wladriaeth Brydeinig cyrraedd yr un safon o bolisiau goleuedig. Ac nid eithriad mo’r faith mai brenhines a gyhoeddodd y gorchymyn – ‘roedd traddodiadau olyniaeth, eiddo ac etifeddiaeth Kerala yn trin menywod yn gydradd a dynion, ac offeiriaid benywaidd yn ngofal rhai o’r temlau hyd yn oed.
Mae rhai yn gweld peth arwyddocad yn y ffaith bod treian or boblogaeth yn Gristnogion – ac eto mae’r un peth yn wir am Goa sydd heb yr un lefel o ddatblygiad. Efallai bod gwraidd llwyddiant Kerala i’w ganfod yn y duedd i beidio discrimineiddio ar sail rhyw, ar sail crefydd neu ar sail y gyfundrefn caste. Y traddodiad blaengar yma a ganiatodd i’r Blaid Gomiwnyddol gipio grym yn y dalaith yn 1957 – y tro cyntaf erioed i Gomiwnyddion ffurfio llywodraeth drwy etholiad unrhyw le yn y byd. Fe ddechreuwyd ar unwaith ar bolisiau o drawsnewidiad cymdeithasol gan ddosbarthu tir yr hen ystadau ymerodrol i bobl leol. Yn ail, fe grewyd system addysg a gwasanaeth iechyd cyhoeddus mor boblogaidd y glynodd hyd yn oed gwrthwynebwyr gwleidyddol y Comiwnyddion at yr egwyddorion craidd hyd yn oed ar yr adegau prin hynny y collon nhw rym. Mae etholiadau eto ym mis Ebrill ac yn Kochin yr wythnos hon mae rhes ar ol rhes o faneri coch y CPI(M) yn cyhwfan yn y gwynt, Seren papur Bethlehem i’w gweld bob yn ail ddrws a Che Guevara yn cystadlu gyda’r Arglwydd Krishna (a’r ffefryn lleol, Ayappan) am sylw. Mewn undeb-mewn-amrwyiaeth mae nerth.
Leave a Reply
You can comment on this article. but you must register first.
Your reply will be moderated and not appear immediately.
You can prepare your text in a word processor before pasting it into the box, but formatting such as bold and colour will not appear.
You must be logged in to post a comment.