Kerala model

The Kerala model of development, is the style of development that has been practised in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

This state has achieved improvements in material conditions of living, reflected in indicators of social development, comparable to those of many developed countries, even though the state's per capita income is low in comparison to them. Achievements such as low levels of infant mortality and population growth, and high levels of literacy and life expectancy, along with the factors responsible for such achievements have been considered characteristic results of the Kerala model.

More precisely, the Kerala model has been defined as:

The Centre for Development Studies at Thiruvananthapuram with the help of United Nations, conducted a case study of selected issues with reference to Kerala in the 1970s. The results and recommendations of this study came to be known as the 'Kerala model' of equitable growth which emphasised land reforms, poverty reduction, educational access and child welfare. Economy professor K. N. Raj was the main person behind this study. He started the Centre for Development Studies in Thiruvananthapuram in 1971, by the request of the Kerala Chief Minister C Achutha Menon.

The Kerala model is markedly different from the conventional development thinking which focusses on achieving high GDP growth rates. However, in 1990, Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq changed the focus of development economics from national income accounting to people centered policies. To produce the Human Development Report (HDRs), Haq brought together a group of well known development economists including: Paul Streeten, Frances Stewart, Gustav Ranis, Keith Griffin, Sudhir Anand, and Meghnad Desai.

In collaboration with Raj’s close colleague, Indian economist Amartya Sen, he persuaded the UNDP to carry out work on Human Development Indicators (HDIs), which started playing a large role beside GDP in the framing of development policies. Another decade down the road, the Millennium Development Goals, embracing many of the Kerala Model's features – with the notable omission of land reforms – became the new charter of development. Raj's seminal contribution to development policy thus had worldwide repercussions.

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