Kerala Tips

Our first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru was a good person. But as a prime minister he was an utter failure. His concept of idiotic “socialism” is the primary reason why it took almost 40 years for us to bring liberalisation. For him, the word “profit” was devil and millions of Indians suffered in poverty due to his stupidity.

There was a time when people who paid a good amount as income tax were considered as the “enemy of indian state!”  Interestingly at that time income tax was as high as 90%. Those people who really paid 90% tax on their hard earned money must be idiots, of course! People who ran private businesses were considered as “exploiters” and faced untold suffering at the hand of Indian beaurocracy. Things are improving, but even today majority of government officials are nothing but leeches surviving on the blood of hard working citizens.

Public sector companies and government departments are improving but still a long way away from efficiency. Most of them are corrupt from top to bottom. In many areas arrival of private sector suddenly brought efficiency in many public sector firms. A good example is BSNL - things have drastically improved (if not perfect).

But yet politicians in Kerala are very allergetic to the concept of efficient private sector companies. Many in Kerala view companies such as TATA as enemies. In contrast, TATA is a very reputed company in north india mainly because of the ethical way they conduct business and because they give jobs and livelihood for millions of Indians.

Take another example - Government schools are notoriously hopeless. Even poor people take loans to send their children to private schools! Why? - sending your children to government school is something that will fill you with horror! Instead of improving government schools, politicians are trying to take over private schools and to destroy them as well. Oh God! the perils of democracy…

Now to get the real taste of utter corruption and inefficiency, go to Kerala Water Authority office or Kerala Electricity Board Office. They have complete monopoly over water and electricity and that shows! The red-tapism is unbelievable. You have to submit dozens and dozens of documents, get certificate from every government office imaginable (village office, corporation etc. etc.) and then wait for months to get water or electricity connection. The so called “Assistant Executive Engineer” is never available. He is so busy that even Indian president will have to wait for him. You pay a large amount of money to electrician or plumber who distributes part of it as bribe to every one in these offices.

If you are an NRI, think twice before returning to Kerala, especially if you are the kind who hates corruption. I am a hardcore Malayali and thank god I have enough money to bribe as and when required. So it is not a big problem for me. At last I have learnt to ignore my “righteous soul”.

Dealing with government leeches has also made me a good person. These days I don’t bargain with a auto rickshaw guy when he asks Rs. 5 more on the fare of Rs.20. I smile and then give him Rs. 30. Similarly when I go to a hotel, I tip the waiter handsomely. Why? You see I have just paid Rs. 300 as bribe to a “sarkari” babu also know as sub engineer. So if you really want to fight, fight the corrupt officials and not the auto rickshaw guy who barely makes Rs. 2000/month ($40).

Click here to receive latest site updates in your email!

Related Entries

• Kerala government offers more torture - No private bus in nationalized routes
• The complete destruction of education sector
• Improving the image of Kerala Police
• British library closure in Trivandrum
• Sahodaran on Kerala’s sex maniacs