Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP)
India

Information

“In the last year, the ‘campaign for decentralized planning’ was initiated. This aims at giving the local administration departments more and more administrative and economical power. The government of Kerala has decided to give 40 percent of their budget to the local corporate bodies. They are requested to plan and implement their own projects. For this neighbourhood groups were formed, consisting of 100 families each. They come together to discuss local problems, the nature of the necessary projects and how they can make use of the government funding, the local donations and the voluntary workers. All this works really well in Kerala.”


These are the words of social activist and author P.K. Raveendran, who founded the organization Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad in Kerala, in 1962. Kerala is traditionally left-winged and therefore left aside by the international enterprises. The KSSP had come together to communicate scientific findings and useful technologies, using simple words and local dialects. The vision was comprehensive as well as fascinating: Science should no longer serve the corporations but instead the social revolution. Knowledge should not remain an instrument of power but become an instrument for the social revolution. All this serving a world without governments, without borders and without futile desires and wars.


With this focus, the KSSP has initiated some impressive developments in Kerala, what use to be an extremely undeveloped State: They managed to nearly eliminate illiteracy, reduced child mortality to a minimum, increased the life expectancy by 10 years and decreased the birth rate by one third. These results tie Kerala with countries like Spain or Singapore, ranking it highest of all other countries with such low income. All this thanks to only one educational program.


The Kerala Models’ agenda is an, “intensive human development despite low income” and conscious focus on decentralized initiatives, local grassroot-democratic structures, gender equality, numerous local experiments and the support of any kind of individual initiative. Due to this astonishing success, the KSSP is now involved in the planning of the entire educational sector of Kerala and is fully supported by the states government. Various microeconomic initiatives have been founded, which due to their enormous impact reached macroeconomic dimensions. The fact, that all these initiatives could be implemented, even though the average income per year is only 350 dollars, makes the Kerala Model an astonishing – although mostly unknown – example for the many other underdeveloped federal states. The model has proved that small, decentralized approaches, if implemented area-wide and supported by the government, can increase the life quality of the majority, who has otherwise no chance. The concept shows, that development is much more than the result of economic income and expenses but rather must be understood in a social context and according to human development. Furthermore, the (justified) criticism on technology by other western initiatives faces an enthusiastic approach to technology that shows that modernism and sustainability can indeed synthesize.  

Short Description and Facts

Members/Size:largeEmail:gskssp@gmail.com
Foundation Date:1962Webseite:Friends of Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad
Address:Pavamani Rd Phone:0495 2701919 (O), 9447038195 (M
KozhikodeFax:
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