Sending earthmovers and bulldozers to Munnar to remove illegal encroachments is creating ripples in the Politics of Kerala, especially the LDF allies including CPM. The public support is not as evident as the rift within LDF. The envy emanating from the GIANT STATURE Achuthanandan has achieved is gathering momentum. Let us hope that it will not become another Gonu.
This action was long due, but the UDF was fighting shy of addressing it. At least the present CM has shown the courage to do so. Now he has reached a stage where he cannot pull back, or reverse his decision. It sounds something like the boon given to Bhasmasura. The ripples are moving all around the State.
I am sorry only for the quantum of national waste involved in pulling down all the buildings. I am also worried about the message this might send to real estate investments.
The idea concerning paddy reclamation projects seems somewhat far-fetched. Kerala's achievements in educating its people are precisely why paddy fields are dwindling from their peak in the 1970s. In our hurry to glorify white collar jobs, we have diminished the glory of hard labour. The situation in the state is such that there are no people to do the work in the fields. Machines have to be used for each and everything with the approval and ‘ransom’ to the trade unions. And the cultivation of paddy has become a seriously doubtful investment. In Kuttanad, for example, growing fish is hundred times more fetching than farming. The State is already grown into one of the biggest consumer centres and it may have to use the money it produces to buy rice and other essential items from outside the State. In the present trend of globalizing everything, we will have to do with producing money through profitable crops and NRI means; spend it to buy paddy.
From that point of view, Achuthanandan’ s policies in either fronts seem to buckle – first by driving away investment in real estates and secondly by leaving vast areas of usable land arid and uncultivated.
