Good bye, people s planning
Politics and migration are two important variables that shape Kerala's social reality. Perhaps they also have an uncanny ability to numb ordinary people to the tragedy -cum-farce politicians enact on their behalf. So, we have politicians duping people with promises they never intend to fulfill. And we have recruitment agents cheating a new bunch of job seekers to the Gulf, every now and then. All this may appear as too cynical, particularly in the wake of the recent panchayat elections in the state. The ruling United Democratic Front (udf) was routed and the Left Democratic Front (ldf) headed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist, cpi-m) won a thumping majority. But do the election results presage a new development paradigm for the state? If the past is any guide, no.
There is no doubt that the election results clearly indicate people have rejected the neo-liberal shibboleths peddled by the Congress-led udf as a