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Growth, Inequality and Well-being

This article revisits 50 years of the development trajectory of India’s Kerala state, well known for its human development attainments. To put the discussion in perspective we use a conceptual framework integrating growth, inequality and well-being. Long accustomed to a low per capita income and caste–class iniquities of the worst order, Kerala acquired great human development and social justice largely through a process of public action involving the state and society. The article argues how the liberalization reforms of the 1990s and beyond, while ushering in an era of unprecedented growth shows signs of widening inequalities and marginalization of the poor, in particular the historically deprived communities. The widely known land reforms virtually bypassed the poor and the state now has a highly skewed land distribution. The service-led growth of Kerala with a dual structure of earnings has a built-in bias towards inequality. The state budget has not been an instrument of equity and the policy choices of the state and the union need strategic reorientation.