The story of every migrant starts with a tearful farewell to their loved ones. With apprehension and hope, hundreds of thousands of Keralites have left their State’s sylvan shores to keep the hearths warm back home.
Kerala’s history of migration to far-flung lands is replete with tales of sorrow, success, parting and resurgence. Their saga appeared to have found stable expression at the inaugural session of the Kerala Loka Sabha that concluded here on Saturday.
As many as 177 expatriates representing different regions of the world assembled alongside legislators and parliamentarians to highlight their issues and deliberate how their experience could benefit Kerala’s development.
Social differences appeared temporarily erased as business leaders, unskilled workers, highly skilled professionals, lawmakers, bureaucrats and academics huddled together for two days to create a broad framework to build what Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the leader of the Sabha, described as a “new Kerala”.
The central focus of the summit was on raising the level of investment in Kerala, both in infrastrucuture and human capital. It reflected in Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac’s statement that the Sabha had hugely increased the prospects of raising money from the open market through chit funds and other schemes.
Humane aspects
The human aspects of emigrant life also came in for threadbare discussion. A strong theme that ran through the discussions was the need to protect emigrants from exploitation. Women were among the most vulnerable section of expatriates. Their workplace safety was foremost on the mind of Sabha members when they mooted region-based help desks for emigrants.
Members flagged the plight of emigrants forced to abruptly return home due to nativistic labour policies of foreign governments. Their biggest worry was school admission for their children. Mr. Vijayan said he would address their concern.
Filmmaker K.T. Kunhumuhammad, chairman of the Non-resident Keralite Welfare Board, said he was surprised to learn that many night-watchmen were Gulf returnees. They had invested their savings in building a home for themselves and had nothing left.
A few members suggested that NRIs benefited better from collective investments in State-backed PPP schemes than individual enterprises. They also suggested participatory pension schemes for expatriates. The discussions ranged from detailed plans to usher in investment in health and tourism to harnessing expatriate expertise to re-orient the State’s IT industry.
Union Minister of State for IT K.J. Alphons said Kerala’s IT sector leaned heavily towards back-office and processing work. Artificial intelligence, cloud computing and large-scale data analysis would make the old skills redundant. Mr. Alphons suggested NRI-funded eco-friendly tourist parks in Munnar. Mr. Vijayan appeared not to buy that line of thought. He said unchecked construction and change in land use patterns in Munnar might not augur well for the locality’s fragile ecology.
Health destination
Members strongly proposed making Kerala a top health destination. They listed dental health, palliative care, Ayurveda, geriatric care, nursing homes and special facilities for those who have Alzheimer’s and dementia as areas that would attract NRI investment. One suggested Sri Lanka as a model for healthcare financing. The government should make it mandatory for citizens and expatriates to purchase health insurance, with State subsidy wherever necessary. It would help emigrants meet their medical bills. The State could raise money for the grants by slapping a small health tax on earners. They also laid stress on training more caregivers.
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said the Sabha appeared to have bypassed politics and focussed on development.
Generations of Keralites had left home to seek fortune on foreign lands with little or no support. They had toiled in strange places on a wing and prayer and tasted success. Now the vast diaspora of Keralites had found a voice in their home State.
