What comes to your mind when you hear the name Kerala? To me it’s always the mesmerizing and elaborate Kathakali, amazing backwaters, abundant coconut trees followed by Ayurvedic massages. But of course there are many more interesting and impressive facts about Kerala which one doesn’t often think about.
I knew that Kerala is the most literate state of
population literate (2007).
But what I didn’t know was that,Ernakulam district in Kerala has 100% literacy rate! What an achievement! Do you know of any other district anywhere else which has 100% literacy rate? I wouldn’t be surprised if Mizoram has any district this way but how about any other state? 
Now… did you know that Palakkhad district in Kerala is now fully lit district? Isn’t that amazing? When I was very little, my dad used to take me to the bank to
withdraw/deposit money. When I was 12, I couldn’t believe that there is something called ATM which can dispense money.
I was awed and so was my dad (I still remember).
But I always took electricity for granted. Until I went for an overnight tour through the backwaters in Kerala interiors (around
06) I didn’t realize the importance of electricity. Complete black out every single day after sunset sounds like something un-real. But it isn’t for a
few people.
I can visualize people being as awed as I was about ATM about electricity in few rural areas.
No matter how much we hate our politicians (especially all those people who call various political parties as sick-ular); there still is hope for people. I strongly believe in this. And I seriously hope that this initiative to bring light stays put for all the districts around the country.
Well, I can hear people saying that perhaps this is another Congress’s plot to wipe out darkness in its party with this light (Palakkad is Congress MP Tharoors home)…but hey, as long as it’s the people who are the beneficiaries, it’s still good. (Even though the current CM of Kerala is from Communist party, these kinds of long term goals can be achieved by continuous efforts for a long time).
It shows that if there is a will we can progress..Kerala is very beautiful too.
ReplyDeleteI have been Kerala once a long time ago. But Kerala has really progressed over the years because of good governance
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the blog Renu. Yes it proves again that if there is will, there can be progress.
ReplyDeleteChowlaji, I had posted this message about Kerala in other forums too but received negative responses. Most of them believe that it is not possible that Kerala achieved such high literacy. They claim that the standards are very low etc etc. I have sent an email to NDTV, which was the source of the news based on which i wrote this entry. lets see what they respond. I will post the response (and my question of course), if they respond at all.