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| All strike calls get total support in Kerala |
Another 2-day extravaganza finally wound down in Kerala. The 48-hour strike called by national labour unions found active support in the state which is notorious for its militant unions and active participation in any agitation proposed by organised interests. The sanctity or relevance of the demands for which the strike is called for is nobody's concern. If a political party or an organization with sufficient muscle power to impose its whims announces a hartal (strike), that is automatically taken to heart by everyone, including the rival parties. Everybody takes rest on the day and quietly enjoy it in their own ways. Those who are working in organized sectors like government/PSU/large private-sector companies usually get their leaves sanctioned, ensuring payment of wages for the day. Those in the unorganized sector, like head-load workers, taxi drivers and traders have no such luxury. If they don't ply their trade, there'll be no income at the end of the day.
Still, it is amazing to note that it is the people working in unorganized areas who are participating in the protest movements without any demur. They don't seem to mind the financial loss caused by such disruptions which may take place 8-10 times a year. On the other hand, such hartals, even if called on a national basis, don't attract such a total response outside Kerala. Not only the calls are much less, but people generally ignore them unless any burning local issue is involved. Why such a huge difference between two peoples separated by only a mountain chain?
It is definitely true that awareness to social issues are more in Kerala where the society has placed itself on the leftist platform. Not only the LDF, the centrist UDF and even the right-wing BJP assume leftist posture on issues on which they might be at variance with their own national leaderships. The wonder and hope imparted by the establishment of a Communist regime in Soviet Union has still not completely worn off even though that regime lost track of its goals and was consequently consigned to the dustbin of history. In this respect, we may conclude that Communism has done more damage to Kerala than it did in the USSR, who could successfully shake off the yoke in 1991. The burden which weigh on the collective mind of Kerala's society still hangs on.
But ideology alone is not sufficient to understand the nature of the problem in its entirety. There is some other factor which prompts Keralites to stay at home without work at the drop of a hat. The real reason, as usual, might be economic. The unorganized-sector workers in Kerala obtain a higher wage for lesser work than anywhere in India. On the other hand, the organized-sector workers get equal wages as compared to other states at rates prevailing all over India. Putting aside all 'socialist' mumbo-jumbo, we may deduce that Malayalis enjoy the highest pay-to-work ratio which I think must be comparable even to developed nations. A worker generally gets double the wage in the Middle-East, but he works longer hours, resulting in the same pay-to-work ratio. As a result, the labourers are financially better off than their fellows in other states and so they can afford to lose income for a few days every year. Ours is a consumerist society thriving on the huge remittances from expatriates. The habit of savings has not percolated down to the lower income group with the conclusion that they are not interested nor bothered about any kind of savings other than a bank deposit. The aversion to share market is palpable and those who invest in equity are looked down with the same contempt meted out to gamblers. This causes the low-income group to handle easy money which is not invested in a fruitful way. Such disposable income contributes to the complacency to work.
Reading all this, one must not mistake this post as a manifesto against labour nor a propaganda item for mindless capitalism. The economic well-being of the working class is an essential milestone on the road to progress. What is noted is the community's failure to invest the surplus money in an effective way rather than making it as a cushion for hartal days.
