There are those who contend that feminism is incompatible with capitalism. But capitalist states have achieved many ‘feminist’ goals. There exists a tangible relationship between economic progress and women’s empowerment  – almost all of the world’s developed nations treat women fairly and more equitably than developing or underdeveloped countries. It might be a bit of irony then, that many of the leading icons of the feminist movement today are self professed socialists and

The creation of a system that allows women the same set of opportunities cannot be achieved by state intervention. Why do I say that? Because state intervention has already failed in India, and conclusively so. A variety of measures – maternity benefit, equal remuneration, protection against discrimination, dowry prohibition, pre-natal diagnostic act and have had no considerable effect. This is because India has no ‘state capacity’, many would argue. It is however not a quest

An article examining land usage in Kerala and the question of industrialization. A paddy field in Kozhikode. Paddy production has declined by more than half since the 1980’s in Kerala. (Credits: Ajeeb Komachi) I had written an article on how the Kerala Model is non-existent and how the state is entirely dependent on Remittances. Many of those responses I have received were about how the state has no land for massive industrialization.  Is this so? Firstly, Let’s look at the d

The Public Sector is no longer the primary employer in the organized sector. I had written an article on Swarajya almost a month ago, about PSUs in Kerala and how Public Sector Employment is viewed in the state. I had briefly reviewed the burden that is being created on the state for the unreasonable number of ‘employment opportunities’ that were being ‘created’. After the release of Kerala’s Economic Review for the last Financial Year (2015–16), one can have a more through r