Decentralisation as a Process of Democratising Local Space: 25 Years of the People’s Plan in Kerala

‘The Left must have a programme to bake more bread before redistributing them. You have proved to be good at distribution. But you have no nprogramme for production.’ This was a common criticism of many liberals in the background of acute stagnation of the Kerala economy during the 1980s. E.M.S. Namboodiripad was a leader who fully understood the nature of the development challenge that Kerala was facing:

Let not the praise that scholars shower on Kerala for its achievements divert attention from the intense economic crisis that we face. We are behind other states of India in respect of economic growth, and a solution to this crisis brooks no delay. We can ignore our backwardness in respect of employment and production only at our own peril. (Namboodiripad 1994).