The potential of women should be realised for the State to reach the next tier of development, Muralee Thummarukudy, chief of Disaster Mitigation and Operations at the United Nations Environment Programme, has said.
After inaugurating the 55th State meet of the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) at Sulthan Bathery on Friday Mr. Thummarukudy said though girls in the State performed well in competitive examinations, the potential of women was yet to be tapped properly.
Even the representation of women in the State Assembly was only 7% while the representation in many developed countries was above 50%, he said.
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“The State was one of the poorest in the country many decades ago but it was one of the fast developing State now,” Mr. Thummarukudy said adding that the increasing number of guest workers in the State was a pointer in this regard.
“However, the fast move in the development sector is also a major challenge faced by the State,” he said.
Mr. Thummarukudy said the works in the State had been divided into two categories, that for Malayalis and for guest workers. While the uneducated guest workers were easily getting odd jobs and earning ₹500 a day, many Malayali doctoral degree holders were struggling to find a job with a monthly salary of ₹5,000.
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Climate change
He said Malayalis were yet to discuss climate change as a serious subject.
“The fast growth in robotics is eliminating job opportunities the world over,” he said adding that recent studies had predicted that the growth in robotics would eliminate 47% of jobs in 800 categories. All countries were watching the development with concern, he said.
“If we take the opportunity positively and channelise the educated youths to the sectors, the State can be number one in the world in robotics,” Mr. Thummarukudy said.