Kerala: The Paradoxes of Public Action and Development

In Kerala: The Paradoxes of Public Action and Development, development scholars explore the paradoxical aspects of Keralas development experience. This state, which had emerged as a model of Third World development entered the 21st century with the paradoxes in its development sharply revealed. The prolonged economic stagnation, mounting fiscal deficits, high unemployment, and social and political atrophy experienced by the state stood in contradiction to its high literacy levels and low infant mortality and birth rates. A growing body of theorists, many of whom have contributed to this volume, have revealed that women and Dalits, and indigenous communities like the Adivasis, have been marginalized and excluded from the social, economic and political benefits of the Kerala model. The essays in this volume examine the two-faced nature of Keralas public actionits enabling outcome in enhancing social outcome and capability, and its paradoxical negative social, political and economic impacts. Importantly, all the contributors to this book are those who are the ones working in the field.