Appam or Dhokla?
Kerala or Gujarat? Which model of governance is better? Pranay Kotasthane correctly says that such questions are a proxy for the left v/s right debate in India. He analyzes this topic in Missing in Action and concludes that neither the Left nor Narendra Modi can claim the credit for either state. Let’s see why. ~~ In Kerala, in the age of the royal states of Travancore and Kochi, the Christian missionaries began to attract lower caste Hindus. Further, their schools were open to all. The royal family responded in 1817 not with force but by announcing free education for all. The royalty also began to focus on public health and vaccination – the Queen of Travancore had herself and her family inoculated publicly to show it was safe and desirable. By 1879, vaccination was made compulsory for government servants and those dependent on the state. Long before independence, landholding was privatized and commercial crops were introduced, all with positive econ...