Is Kerala becoming a Gulf State ?
This is an interesting article worth reading to the full.... please don't make fun.. Give valid comments ..
From : The Guardian
Shortage of labour is crippling Kerala
The Indian state has been exporting manpower to the Gulf for years and now faces a severe shortage of skilled manual labour
Visiting my home state of Kerala from Qatar, where I work as a journalist, I bumped into an old friend who works in another Gulf country. Grim-faced, he was rushing to the site where his house was being constructed. He stopped for a few seconds to talk of the travails of building a house in our village due to a severe shortage of skilled manual labour. Among the experiences he recounted was one in which he had to bring a worker in his own vehicle from several kilometres away, having woken him from the sleep he was enjoying after watching a World Cup match.
Throughout my travel in Kerala, my friend's experience found a painful echo. Shortage of labour was the talk of the town, and people joked that, to build a house, wads of cash will not suffice; you need good contacts among construction workers.
Kerala, a small state on India's southern tip, is the largest exporter of both skilled and unskilled manpower to the oil-rich Gulf Arab states. There are around 2.5 million Keralites working in the Gulf, and their remittances to the tune of billions of dollars a year are not only the economic mainstay of the state, but once propped up the forex reserves of the Indian government.
Unfortunately, though, the state whose workforce is manning the economies of the Gulf is itself going through an acute, debilitating shortage of skilled manual labour, which presents an interesting case study in migration. The finger of blame should first point to the pernicious influence of oil-generated affluence.
Kerala is a land of extremes. It's blessed with abundant natural beauty, winning it a coveted slot on the global tourism map; it's the first Indian state to achieve 100% literacy; it has made unprecedented advances in healthcare; and it ranks first in the country in terms of per capita household income. There is also is no rural-urban divide, with the entire state classified as semi-urban.
Most importantly, it is an exporter of manpower to the world. Keralites' enthusiasm to toil in remote places to eke out a living is legendary, and a local joke has it that when Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon he was disturbed by a voice from behind – a Keralite asking him if wanted tea or coffee.
On the flipside, Kerala is perennially strike prone, with a penchant for hartal by political parties and workers; the people of the state are heavy drinkers, with the highest per capita consumption of alcohol in the country; it has the highest suicide rate; and is overwhelmed by a consumerist culture without producing anything except export-quality manpower, and relying on neighbouring states even for basic foodstuffs.
The migration of workers from Kerala to the Gulf states began in the 1970s and the petrodollar-generated opulence transformed its social landscape. Those who amassed wealth abroad flaunted it back home with luxurious lifestyles, with palatial houses becoming a potent symbol of a person's social status. A new generation of skilled workers, such as carpenters and masons, abandoned their family trade in search of white-collar jobs.
The current crisis is not caused by a shortage of manpower – as the state is reeling under high unemployment – but is the result of skewed social perceptions about work. Today, doing manual labour is considered infra dig; there is a mad race to make quick cash and people are unwilling to work in their own state while struggling in the torrid desert sun in the Arabian Gulf.
The repercussions are visible. The cost of labour has shot up, with even delinquent workers calling the shots; the agriculture sector has withered and investors are shunning the state for fear of strikes and unaffordable wages. Even the few coconut trees in the backyard of every house are wilting due to lack of care.
But history is repeating itself. The vacuum in the labour market is being filled by migrants from distant states who are attracted by the high wages, turning Kerala into their equivalent of a "Gulf" state. The construction sector and the quarries are already dominated by non-Keralites and, to top it all, reports are emerging of abuse of these migrants by their employers, reminiscent of the workplace abuse undergone by Keralites in the Gulf.
While waiting for my flight at the Doha international airport last year, I met a young Keralite student at the transit lounge, who was on his way back home from London where he was pursuing higher studies. Among the positive influences of London on him, he cited the city's work culture. Keralites are known to coalesce easily with foreign cultures, but this is one culture they have failed to imbibe.
no use replying to ignorant fools.
@ Sean_C,like i said mate...you obviously lead a VERY sad life if you hate mallus so much & are yet stuck in a country where 80% of the single largest expatriate community is...that's right,MALLU...
may i also add,the 2nd paragraph of your post shows your complete lack of exposure to the real world & your limited reading among other things...because ONLY someone that has never really travelled or lived outside the mid-east would make such an uninformed comment like that...
I have news for you boy...INIDANS are excelling in every field around the world & many of those leaders,entrepreneurs & prominent people are mallus...but then again,one needs to travel & actually see & experience India & the rest of the world to know that...something you obviously have never done...well,enjoy the experience that is your sad life under that rock...good day! *wink*!...
lol! I'd rather have shot myself in the head than get educated in a mallu school. Oh and since when have mallu schools been able to educate!!!!
mallus are at best suited to be daily wage laborers, sandwich delivery boys, supermarket workers, tea boys. Education is not their forte, unless it involves educating younger mallus (succession planning)
this is what happens with most of the threads out here.
tinker, britey's thread has gone completely haywire..:)
if he had, then he will have to roll back everything that he told.
He got his education in a school set up by mallus. I bet he also has colleagues who are mallus. god knows how he deals with them.
Amazing.. It was a serious article about something topical and we start bahing each other. :O(
do you expect him to have any?
Sean C - do u have anythng positive to comment about the keralites? just curious.. or are they just as bad as you describe here?
did I ask you for any response?
you seem to be jealous. At the same time you seem to be helpless as well that you cannot catch up with the mallus or whatever you call them.
curiosity is killing the kitten eh?
:)
lol. Only mallus claim they are all knowing! 100% literacy you know!
As for s_isale, you havnt come up with anything that is remotely intelligent. Until you come up with something that makes sense ..... no response is warranted.
Looks like he is planning to go to Kerala seeing the payscale that is offered there :)
Sean, still no comments??
jealous!!!!!!!!
gee... troublemakers!
Arien Rs 400/- for 8 - job.
They will come in at 8, have breakfast 8:30 - 9:00, tea break 10:00, ciggie break at 11, lunch at sharp 1:00. Darned good life i should say
ssssh soniya...sssshhhh!
Sean_C, i've seen your comments even before where you had said a lot bad about KERALITES..do you hold any grudges against them??
And FYI, i am not a keralite but just curious to know your hatred towards them...
Would love to visit there one day :O)
I have noticed, Brite is obsessed with kerala (in a good way)
I disagree. Kerala is not becoming a Gulf State.
The Gulf is already a state of Kerala.
Qatarnakulam, Bar-in, Soodi Keralam, Omanapuram and the 8 emirates (Appu Dhappi, Doofai, Sheeearjay,Ras al Keralam, Aaal hin, Umm-al-Kerachurapalli, Heeej-mayn and Kerala)
Gudone... all 4 I listed are impossible in Kerala :(
banning liquor ??? no way!!
What?
Kerala implementing Sponsor system?
and Banning liquor and commies?
Investing in Roadways?
OMG OMG... When will this dream come true :(
@ britexpat,those "skewered social perceptions about work" are in place largely & ironically may i add,because the people in question hardly work because they strike @ the drop of a hat using communist ideology as an excuse to fart around & do nothing...as a result,the ones that did want to work & feed themselves & their families were forced to look for work elsewhere,leaving their families behind...give them the same opportunities @ home & why would they want to leave their land,their homes & their families to come & slog here in these inhospitable conditions? (& i'm not just referring to the weather here!)...home is home @ the end of the day,any individual who is happy in his home country/hometown would be highly unlikely to leave for a foreign country where @ the end of the day,he/she will always be an outsider & that is especially true for this neck of the woods where no naturalization or integration into the local community is possible...
abeyisa, What is wrong with you? Are you expecting everybody to praise the corrupt and ugly political situation of Kerala? Wk mentioned his point of view and each and everybody will express their prespective.
lol s_isale I am never going to move south of Bangalore. Nothing against it but I just won't fit in. Same way I am never moving east of Lucknow.
perhaps the subject line should be other way around?
Ok I won't.
But they really should get rid of the communists, just my opinion ;)
even the northies are making a beeline to Kerala. If anyone sees WK wearing a coloured lungi, then remember that the bug has hit him as well.
those skewed perceptions are slowly changing.
I agree with you about communism..
Howwver, If, as the writer says, the problem is exasperated by "skewed social perceptions about work", then why should Keralites leave the Gulf and return home.
True WK , they sucks. All the top leaders of the "party of the poor" are millionairs now .A/holes
Kerala should get rid of Communists, just my opinion.
"The finger of blame should first point to the pernicious influence of oil-generated affluence." i beg to differ on this point...because the truth of the matter is that the finger of blame should first point @ those who introduced communism to Kerala & the resultant unions & strikes which followed led Keralites back in the day(60's/70's) to either starve themselves & their families to death in the name of Marxism or pledge their land/house & get on that "launch" that would ferry them to the coast of Dubai or Oman where they could make a living & feed themselves & their families...
Today,Communism,labour unions tied in with the Communist party are all still very much running the show in the state despite all the advances that the state has made so obviously,people still find it easier to come work in the Gulf rather than live a life of uncertainity back home...
Bombay & Bangalore both have HUGE Malayalee communities,2nd,3rd even 4th generation now,same reasons as above,only thing is those people back then chose to utilize the opportunities these Indian metros offered rather than going to the Gulf...
So there really is only one solution,stamp out this curse of communism & all the other labour issues tied in with it & the change will follow by itself...
It doesn't need rocket science to predict that the day communism is well & truly out of Kerala,a HUGE number of Keralites will return home...people look for a better life for themselves & their families,that is human nature...so the Keralite leaving home & family to work in th Gulf or the Bihari leaving home & family to come work in Kerala are a cyclic reaction to the same situation...
Things are changing Brit, the other side of it is that many employers in the Gulf are finding it difficult to get people from Kerala now a days. Especially for positions of technitians , accountants, software engineers, fitters, welders ..etc The pay back home has improved bigtime.
The abuse by employers we hear are the labour class and not the skilled segment. Even this is coming down drastically.A casual worker/labourer is paid 400 rupees (40 riyals) a day for a 8am to 2pm Job in Kerala.
money corrupts...
this is a true fact of life
What is interesting is the comment - "...reports are emerging of abuse of these migrants by their employers, reminiscent of the workplace abuse undergone by Keralites in the Gulf."
We never learn , do we ???
after real homes in India for Most Keralites (a fortune maker)!