50 years of Dravidian rule Tamil Nadu could have done lot better

Chennai: To assess the performance of a state over a period of 50 years, socially, economically, politically and culturally, is no easy task. Tamil Nadu after five decades, since Congress lost power in February-March 1967 Assembly elections, when both the DMK and its successor AIADMK ruled the State in almost equal measure, presents a strange paradox today.

A historically enlightened and once frontline State of the Indian Union is now like Diogenes, the Greek cynic philosopher, carrying the lantern in broad daylight to ask not where is God, but where is light!

Tamil Nadu has had no big natural resources to boast of — except low grade coal in the form of lignite at Neyveli and some iron ore and limestone deposits that defied economies of scale, limited water resources and irrigation potential almost exhausted even during the tenure of the late Congress veteran, K Kamaraj (1954-1963) when he was Chief Minister of the State and unreservedly identified with its ‘golden era’. Yet, broadly, three patterns that defined its political economy appear to have landed it in this mess.

When the DMK leader CN Annadurai took over in the era of widespread food shortages in the country, food subsidies to the vast multitude made sense and the party’s popular slogan ahead of the 1967 polls to offer “three measures of rice for a rupee” was glued into that logic, on a plank of regional Tamil pride, promising more powers for the State (autonomy) and a dash of pro-poor socialist policies including land reforms.

But readings of the subsequent decades under the tenures of M Karunanidhi, followed by Chief Ministers from the AIADMK including the late legendary leader MG Ramachandran and his charismatic protégée, Ms J Jayalalithaa, show that the widespread impression is that Tamil Nadu became a haven for “freebies” under the guise of welfare economics, resulting in unmanageably bad fiscal management.

The universalisation of the midday meal scheme for school children under MGR did add to the strengths of the school education system, whose foundation was laid during Kamaraj rule. But experts are divided on the utility of other freebies including free power to all types of farmers, including rich landlords, leave alone the poor handloom weaver.

Free power to agriculture alone costs the exchequer Rs 2,000 crore now annually. And the unmitigated subsidies bill, along with ballooning revenue expenditure of the government, seems nothing short of a disaster, as little surplus is left for much needed infrastructure like power, bridges, better schools, more teachers, well equipped public hospitals and roads. All major infrastructure projects are on borrowed money from International financial institutions, only adding to people per capita debt burden.

“The freebies culture should be stopped and the corruption in each government department has adversely hit the prospects of investments in Tamil Nadu; the ease of doing business in Tamil Nadu is zero,” laments an executive director of a leading chemicals company in the state.

While after the economic liberalisation of the early 1990s’, Tamil Nadu did get some big ticket industrial investments like Ford and Hyundai under the erstwhile Jayalalithaa regime, a founder of a well known economic magazine in Chennai says the major Dravidian parties vied with one another in offering more “social welfare schemes instead of focusing on development of the people.”

From free colour television sets, to free mixies, grinders to bicycles, the list is almost endless. The net result is, after providing for salaries and pension (55 per cent of the revenues), subsidies (40 per cent) and debt servicing (20 per cent), “there is no money left for development,” he explains. As for new industrial projects, “Tamil Nadu has become the most corrupt state and has institutionalised corruption; no one can get any clearance here, approval, without paying a bribe,” the founder of the magazine points out.

That a measure of social progress has been achieved in the State, flowing from inclusive policies including reservation that is said to be the cornerstone of the rationalist legacy of the Periyar-led Dravidian Movement, is undeniable. However, over the years, whether it is literacy, education system including the Universities, or other health indicators, the official numbers touted by the State Economic Appraisal Report is only half the story.

The State may boast of taking the lead in expanding the role of the private/self-financing sector in higher technical/professional education. But quality is a big issue. Even as the performance of Tamil Nadu students in All India exams is abysmally declining, including the State’s representation in the All India Civil Services like IAS/IPS, it is sad that “temples of higher learning are turning out to be dens of corruption”. “It is an open secret that in the appointment of vice-chancellors to universities, touts operated freely in influencing the (selection), for a price ranging from Rs. 5 crore to Rs.50 crore (a VC’s post),” the highly respected educationist, Dr M. Anandakrishnan wrote in an open article on the state of higher education in Tamil Nadu for a magazine recently.

In a state where legitimacy of political leadership is reinforced by slavish demonstration of sycophancy, Periyar’s self-respect ideals have gone for a toss. Religion has meant more superstition over the decades. Worse, “people who would not normally fall at the feet of even their parents, prostrate before ‘Amma’ (J Jayalalithaa) portraits and swear to run an administration in her name even after the Supreme Court’s indictment of Jayalalithaa in the wealth case,” regrets senior Congress leader, E.V.K.S. Elangovan.

“Development if any in Tamil Nadu in the last 50 years is despite its leaders,” chuckles veteran journalist N Kalyanasundaram, who credits achievements to the people. Dravidian parties have been driven so much by personal adversarial politics of one leader pitted against the other that today there is no widely accepted political leader, he felt.  

“We should differentiate between the Dravidian movement and Dravidian parties. The self-respect movement alone deserves to be called the Dravidian movement. The principles of social justice, caste equality and secularism mark the highlights of this movement. The later Dravidian parties while sticking to these issues have also deviated towards scientific corruption and unlimited loot using the shield of welfare measures,” contends veteran political analyst and Tamil writer Gnani Shankaran, adding that Karunanidhi, MGR and Jayalalithaa represented that trend in varying degrees.

However, the DMK spokesperson TKS Elangoan differs from this perspective. Stating that the last 50 years of Dravidian parties rule be politically trifurcated in terms of the regimes under ‘Kalaignar’ Karunanidhi followed by MGR and Jayalalithaa respectively, Mr. Elangovan said, “only under the DMK regimes, was significantly big progress made.” “There was some progress under MGR, but under Jayalalithaa it was no growth,” he said. Only people’s verdict in the next general election, hopefully with no cash-for-votes syndrome, may indicate which of these perceptions are finally true.

(With inputs from S. Thirunavukkarasu, Shruti Suresh and Ragu Raman)