India

6 Comments Posted on March 30, 2026March 31, 2026 by Azad Sameer Canada

A True Kerala Story: Dismantling the Foundations of Structural Violence

By Brig Azad Sameer (Retd)

The Kerala Model of development has long been a subject of fascination for global economists like Amartya Sen. It presents a profound paradox: a region achieving human development indices – high life expectancy, low infant mortality, and near-universal literacy – comparable to advanced Western nations, despite a relatively low per-capita income. At the heart of this success is the systematic dismantling of structural violence. By addressing the invisible, systemic barriers that historically suppressed its people, Kerala transformed from what Swami Vivekananda once called a lunatic asylum of caste into a global beacon of social justice and Positive Peace. Essentially it is only when social and economic inequities are minimised do we get Positive Peace.

1. The Concept of Structural Violence: The Galtungian Framework

The term Structural Violence was pioneered by the Norwegian sociologist and Father of Peace Studies, Johan Galtung, in 1969. To understand Kerala’s journey, one must first grasp Galtung’s expansion of what violence means. He argued that violence is not merely a physical act of hitting or killing (which he termed Direct Violence); rather, it is any social arrangement or institution that prevents a human being from achieving their full potential.

Galtung defined it as the avoidable gap between the potential and the actual. If a person dies from a curable disease because they cannot afford medicine, or if a child remains illiterate because of their social status, violence has been committed – even if no one pulled a trigger. This form of violence is silent, actor less, and often invisible because it is built into the very laws, economic systems, and social norms of a country. Furthermore, Galtung introduced two supporting concepts:

Cultural Violence: This refers to aspects of culture – religion, ideology, or language – that are used to justify or sanitise structural or direct violence. In India, the doctrine of Karma was sometimes historically misused to suggest that a person’s low social status was a divine consequence, making the structural inequality seem natural, preordained and unchangeable.
Positive Peace: Galtung argued that the absence of direct violence is merely Negative Peace. For a society to thrive, it requires Positive Peace, which is the active presence of social justice, equity, and the removal of the structures that cause harm. Kerala’s history is a deliberate march toward this Positive Peace.

2. Two Millennia of Caste Endogamy

The Roots of Inequity: In the Indian context, the most potent engine of structural violence has been the caste system, a hierarchy sustained for nearly 2,000 years through the rigid practice of endogamy (marrying strictly within one’s own caste). As analysed by Dr. BR Ambedkar, endogamy was the mechanical method used to create enclosed units that prevented the fusion of blood and culture across society. This centuries-old practice resulted in several deep-rooted facets of structural violence:

The Monopolisation of Resources: Endogamy ensured that Social Capital – land ownership, literacy, and ritual status – remained locked within the upper tiers of the hierarchy. Wealth and knowledge were not allowed to trickle down; they were inherited only by those born into the right circle.

Systemic Deprivation: For the underprivileged sections (the Dalits and Adivasis), this meant a hereditary sentence to manual labour and landlessness. In Kerala, this was particularly brutal. The state practiced unapproachability and even unsuitability, where a lower-caste person was legally and socially barred from using public roads or entering schools.

Internalised Oppression: By maintaining these rigid silos for two millennia, the system created a psychological barrier. The marginalised were often persuaded to perceive their own deprivation as an inescapable law of the cosmos rather than a result of human-made policy, practice or norm. Breaking this 2,000-year-old structural deadlock required more than just charity; it required a total revolution of the state’s socio-economic architecture.

3. Constitutional Deconstruction: The Union’s Post-Independence Mandate: To dismantle this multi-layered structural violence and to rectify for the errors of history the newly independent Indian state, under the chairmanship of Dr. BR Ambedkar, institutionalised a radical legal framework. The Constitution of India (1950) served as the primary tool for Positive Peace by criminalising the most overt forms of caste-based discrimination. Article 17 abolished Untouchability, transitioning it from a social norm to a punishable offense, while Article 15 prohibited discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth. Recognising that mere legal equality was insufficient to bridge the avoidable gap, the Union government introduced Articles 16(4) and 330, establishing the world’s most comprehensive system of Affirmative Action (Reservations) in public employment and legislative bodies. Furthermore, the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) Prevention of Atrocities Act was eventually conceptualised to provide a legal shield against direct violence. These national measures provided the essential legal scaffolding upon which Kerala would later build its unique, localised socio-economic interventions, turning constitutional promises into lived realities for the marginalised.

4. Empirical Evidence: Kerala’s Lead in the Fight against Structural Violence

The most conclusive proof of Kerala’s success in dismantling structural violence lies in its consistent performance in the Sustainable Development Goals India Index (SDGI), developed by NITI Aayog. The SDGI is a comprehensive framework that evaluates Indian states and Union Territories on their progress toward the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, effectively measuring a state’s ability to provide equitable health, education, and economic security. Since its inception, Kerala has remained the national benchmark, securing the top rank in all four editions: it shared the lead with Himachal Pradesh in 2018, held the solo top position in both 2019-20 and 2020-21, and most recently shared the first-place ranking with Uttarakhand in the 2023-24 assessment.

This sustained excellence translates directly into the lives of Kerala’s most vulnerable populations. Recent findings from the NITI Aayog National Multidimensional Poverty Index (2023) and the National Family Health Survey 6 (NFHS-6) reveal a dramatic reduction in structural violence compared to the All-India average:

Multidimensional Poverty (MPI): Kerala’s headcount poverty ratio is a staggering 0.55%, the lowest in India, compared to the national average of 14.96%. While poverty among SCs and STs remains over 30% in many states, the gap in Kerala is statistically marginal, proving that birth is no longer a predictor of destitution.
Health and Survival: A primary marker of avoidable death is the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR). Kerala’s IMR is roughly 6 per 1,000 live births, matching developed nations like the USA, while the All-India average stands at 28. Furthermore, while the national Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) is around 97 per lakh, Kerala has achieved an MMR of 19, demonstrating a systemic protection of life that transcends class.
Literacy and Education: Kerala’s literacy rate is nearly universal at 94-96%, compared to the Indian average of 77%. Critically, the SC/ST literacy rate in Kerala (over 90%) is higher than the general literacy rate of most other Indian states. The gender gap in literacy is also the lowest in India (under 2%), proving that structural barriers against women have been effectively dismantled.
Life Expectancy: A person born into an underprivileged section in Kerala can expect to live nearly 75 years, roughly 10-12 years longer than the national average for the same demographic. In Kerala, the system no longer steals years of life based on the circumstances of one’s birth.

5. Current Prosperity and Socio-Economic Status: A Story of Upward Mobility

The contemporary prosperity of Kerala is defined by a radical shift from agrarian feudalism to a robust, service-oriented middle-class economy. Central to this upward mobility was the Land Reforms Act of 1963, which dismantled the Janmi (landlord) system and redistributed land to the tiller, effectively decapitating the primary engine of structural violence: landlessness. This foundational change allowed subsequent generations to pivot toward education rather than subsistence labour. Today, this transition is visible in the significant presence of underprivileged communities in elite professional spheres. In the medical and engineering sectors, the avoidable gap has been narrowed through sustained state support; for instance, nearly 14-15% of undergraduate engineering enrolments in the state now come from SC and ST communities. Specialised programs like the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) Empowerment Program provide targeted scholarships and research opportunities in biomedical sciences for ST students, ensuring they reach the highest tiers of medical specialisation.

Furthermore, the state’s bureaucracy has seen a democratic overhaul. Recent data from the e-Caste database indicates that SC and ST members now hold over 62,000 permanent government positions. This upward movement extends into Group A and gazetted services, where once-marginalised groups now exercise administrative agency. In the realm of private business, the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) has launched initiatives like Startup Dreams and the Backward Classes Development Department (BCDD) Grant, providing up to ₹10 lakh in early-stage funding specifically for entrepreneurs from backward classes and SC/ST backgrounds. These schemes, combined with a Migration Miracle that has democratised access to global labour markets, ensure that prosperity in Kerala is increasingly decoupled from the historical accidents of birth. The state’s rurban landscape now reflects a spatially distributed wealth where high-quality housing and modern amenities are a shared reality rather than a caste privilege.

6. Current Status of Caste-Based Occupations

One of the most profound markers of dismantling structural violence in Kerala is the near-total decoupling of caste from occupation. For centuries, the varna system acted as a rigid professional prison; today, that prison has been razed. The state has successfully moved away from hereditary labour through a combination of aggressive trade unionism, minimum wage legislation, and universal education. In Kerala, manual scavenging – a brutal hallmark of caste-based violence elsewhere – is virtually non-existent, replaced by technological interventions.

Furthermore, the democratisation of the sacred has struck at the heart of Cultural Violence. In a historic move, the Kerala Devaswom Board (which manages temples) began appointing non-Brahmins and Dalits as priests, challenging the 2,000-year-old monopoly over ritual labour. In the secular sphere, the high density of white-collar professionals among SCs and STs – enabled by the state’s robust reservation policies and a 90%+ literacy rate—means that a person’s surname no longer dictates their tools of trade. While subtle prejudices may linger in private social circles, the economic necessity of caste-based labour has been replaced by a Dignity of Labor culture, where the minimum wage for an unskilled worker in Kerala is often three to four times higher than the national average. A plumber in the US may arrive for work in a swank car. But here in Kerala at least he arrives in a swank bike. Much of the caste-based occupations have simply vanished. In a few generations caste-based occupations may entirely be a relic of the past.

7. Evaluation: Current Levels of Structural Violence

Is caste-based endogamy still prevalent in Kerala? Yes, of course it does. Only 12-15% of all marriages are inter-caste. In the case of marriages below the age of 24 this is nearly 25% inter-caste. These figures are however more than double the national average. Does structural violence exist in Kerala today? The answer would have to be yes, but very little in scale. While Kerala has made historic strides toward Positive Peace, an honest evaluation reveals that structural violence has not been entirely eradicated; rather, it has evolved and shrunk into specific pockets of exclusion. The Galtungian avoidable gap persists for two specific groups: the Adivasi (tribal) communities in regions like Attappady and the coastal Fisherfolk. Despite the state’s low Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index MPI, these groups still face higher rates of malnutrition and land alienation compared to the Kerala average, representing a last mile challenge for the Kerala Model.

Additionally, new forms of structural barriers have emerged in the form of Gendered Violence. While Kerala leads in female literacy and health, its female labour force participation rate (LFPR) has historically lagged its educational achievements, suggesting that patriarchal social norms still act as a structural brake on women’s economic potential. However, when measured against the Direct Violence and Extreme Poverty prevalent in the rest of South Asia, Kerala’s levels of structural violence are remarkably low. The state has moved from a caste lunatic asylum to a deliberative democracy where the marginalised have the political agency to protest and demand their rights. Kerala’s journey proves that structural violence is not a permanent condition of the Global South, but a policy choice that can be unmade through persistent social engineering and the pursuit of equity.

8. The Mechanics of Transformation

A Tripartite Synergy: The transition from a lunatic asylum to a model of human development was not accidental; it was the result of a deliberate, century-long synergy between social movements, visionary governance, and institutional reform. This transformation can be broken down into several key catalysts:

The Kerala Renaissance: Cultivating the Grassroots: Long before the state intervened, a powerful social reform movement—the Kerala Renaissance – began eroding the foundations of cultural violence. Figures like Sree Narayana Guru, who championed the slogan One Caste, One Religion, One God for Man, and Ayyankali, who led the struggle for the right of Dalit children to attend school, challenged the internal logic of the caste system. These movements did more than protest; they built alternative institutions – schools, temples, and community centres – that empowered the marginalised to reclaim their human agency. By the early 20^th century, these grassroots agitations had successfully shifted the public consciousness, making social equity a non-negotiable political demand.

1957: The First Communist Ministry and Legislative Boldness: A pivotal moment in the dismantling of structural violence occurred in 1957 with the election of the first Communist ministry in the world through a democratic process, led by EMS Namboodiripad – well known as EMS. This government moved beyond rhetoric to enact systemic change. The Education Bill of 1957 sought to regulate private schools and ensure better conditions for teachers, effectively democratising access to knowledge. Simultaneously, the introduction of the Kerala Agrarian Relations Bill (the precursor to the 1963 Land Reforms) struck at the heart of feudalism. By promising land to the tiller, the state began the physical process of redistributing social capital, ensuring that the underprivileged were no longer mere appendages to the soil but stakeholders in the economy.

9. Understanding the Kerala Model

The Kerala Model is a unique developmental trajectory where high human development outcomes – comparable to those in the Global North – coexist with a relatively modest per-capita income. This model was not the product of a single era but the result of a sustained ideological commitment to equity. A defining moment in this journey occurred in 1957, when Kerala elected the first Communist government in a major democratic state in the world. Under the leadership of EMS, this ministry introduced radical reforms that fundamentally sowed the seeds of the state’s future progress. By prioritising land redistribution and the democratisation of education, they struck a decisive blow against the inherited structures of feudalism and caste. It sowed the seeds of the welfare state where health and literacy developed into human rights. This focus on Human Capabilities (as Amartya Sen describes it) ensured that even those with low private incomes had access to world-class health outcomes and 100% literacy.

Political Continuity. What makes the Kerala Model truly remarkable is its political continuity. The radical seeds sown by the 1957 ministry created a powerful social demand for welfare that no subsequent administration could ignore. Over the following decades, whether the state was led by the Left (LDF), or Centrist coalitions (UDF), the core pillars of the model – universal healthcare, food security through the public distribution system, and accessible education – were nurtured to fruition. This cross-party consensus ensured that the dismantling of structural violence became a permanent feature of the state’s governance. As a result, the Kerala Model stands today as a testament to how visionary early legislation, when consistently upheld by successive governments irrespective of their political labels, can transform a society from the bottom up.

Education, Migration, and the Global Dividend: This heavy investment in human capital directly enabled the Migration Miracle. Because the state had produced a highly literate and healthy workforce, Keralites were uniquely positioned to take advantage of the 1970s oil boom in the Gulf. This migration served as a massive economic bypass of the traditional caste-based wealth structures. Remittances flowed directly into rural households, funding the construction of modern homes and the higher education of the next generation. In this way, the state’s focus on health and education provided the wings for upward mobility, allowing the underprivileged to leapfrog centuries of domestic economic stagnation.

Kudumbashree: Economic Agency as a Tool for Liberation: A cornerstone in the fight against gender-oriented structural violence is Kudumbashree, the State Poverty Eradication Mission launched in 1998. By organising women into a massive three-tier network of Neighbourhood Groups (NHGs), Kerala shifted the focus from traditional charity to economic agency. For women from underprivileged and below-poverty-line (BPL) backgrounds, Kudumbashree dismantled the structural barrier of financial dependence. Through micro-credit, collective farming, and small-scale entrepreneurship, millions of women gained access to independent capital for the first time. This economic empowerment directly challenged the silent violence of domestic confinement, allowing women – particularly those from marginalised castes – to bypass traditional money lenders and patriarchal control over household resources. By turning the homemaker into a breadwinner, the mission effectively narrowed the avoidable gap between a woman’s economic potential and her actual social standing.

The Intellectual Scaffolding: Missionaries, Libraries, and Civil Society: The structural transformation of Kerala was significantly bolstered by an intellectual and social infrastructure that preceded and complemented state action. In the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, Christian missionaries played a foundational role by establishing Western-style schools and dispensaries that were often the first to open their doors to the unapproachables and untouchables. This early institutional presence was later amplified by a unique grassroots intellectualism – the Library Movement (Granthasala Sangham). By establishing thousands of village libraries, the movement ensured that literacy was not just a functional skill but a tool for political consciousness. This was further strengthened by civil society organisations like the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP), which popularised science and rationalism. These non-state actors created a critically literate citizenry capable of identifying structural violence and holding the state accountable, ensuring that the push for equity was a persistent demand from below rather than a mere gift from above.

Institutionalising Equity: Food Security and the Decentralisation Revolution: A critical, often overlooked mechanism in dismantling the structural violence of hunger and administrative exclusion was the universalisation of the Public Distribution System (PDS) and the subsequent Big Bang decentralisation of the 1990s. While most of India struggled with chronic under nutrition among the marginalised, Kerala’s robust PDS network ensured that food was treated as a fundamental right, effectively decoupling caloric intake from caste-based land ownership. This was further solidified by the People’s Planning Campaign of 1996, which remains one of the world’s most ambitious experiments in local democracy. By devolving nearly 40% of the state’s development budget to local Panchayats, the state shifted the power of the purse and the plan to the neighbourhood level. This allowed marginalised communities, including Dalits and Adivasis, to directly prioritise their own needs – be it a local clinic, a paved road to an isolated colony, or a specialised school – thereby dismantling the bureaucratic barriers that historically silenced their voices. This institutionalised Positive Peace by giving the people at the bottom of the pyramid the political agency to dismantle any remaining local vestiges of structural violence.

Ecological Justice and the Protection of the Vulnerable: The Kerala Model also recognised that structural violence often manifests as environmental degradation, which disproportionately affects the most vulnerable. The landmark Silent Valley Movement of the 1970s and 80s was not merely an environmental crusade but a social justice struggle that prevented the displacement of indigenous communities and the destruction of their natural capital. By successfully protesting large-scale industrial projects that threatened the ecological security of the marginalised, Kerala’s civil society demonstrated that Positive Peace also requires a sustainable relationship with the environment. This legacy of grassroots environmentalism continues to protect the commons – the forests and water bodies that the underprivileged depend on – ensuring that the march toward prosperity does not come at the cost of the ecological foundations of the poor.

10. Conclusion: Towards a Resilient and Inclusive Positive Peace

Kerala’s journey from a fractured lunatic asylum to a global benchmark for human development is a definitive testament to the power of dismantling structural violence. By systematically erasing the avoidable gap between human potential and lived reality, the state has proven that high-quality life outcomes are not the exclusive property of wealthy nations, but the result of a deliberate, multi-layered pursuit of Positive Peace. However, to sustain this legacy, the way forward must involve addressing the second-generation challenges born of its own success. This requires bridging the last mile of exclusion for Adivasi and coastal communities, transitioning from a remittance-dependent economy to a high-value knowledge society, and dismantling the remaining patriarchal barriers that limit women’s labour force participation despite their educational achievements. By evolving the Kerala Model to meet these modern complexities, the state can ensure that the foundations of structural violence are not merely dismantled for the present, but are permanently replaced by a resilient, inclusive, and equitable future for every citizen. Sooner or later the playing field will be level from where true meritocracy should evolve.

4 Comments Posted on February 28, 2026March 13, 2026 by Azad Sameer Uncategorized

More Than a Management Lesson: Reclaiming the Mahatma from Historical Revisionism

By Veteran Brigadier Azad Sameer

Recently I was stunned by a video of Shiv Khera explaining why he is not a Gandhian. No one expects anybody else to be Gandhian. Fair enough, it’s a difficult individual choice to be Gandhian in democratic modern India. But the management Guru, chose to denigrate the national icon by selective quotes from religious scriptures to indicate that anyone who is a Gandhian should be ashamed of himself. He also implied that if you are a proud Hindu you cannot be a Gandhian. Even Caesar may have agreed that this was the unkindest cut of all. He was and is a Mahatma to so many not only in India but in every corner of the world. The moral depravity of Khera implying that he was a coward and a charlatan, somehow hurt my sensibilities deep within and like a maggot in the brain it kept growing. There is no peace until my conscience finds expression. Thus this piece.

In watching Shiv Khera’s viral dismissal of Mahatma Gandhi, I was struck by how easily the complex machinery of history is dismantled by the superficial logic of corporate management. Mahatma Gandhi is undoubtedly still a national icon. Every Prime Minister and President of India has referred to him as the Mahatma and/or Father of the nation. Visiting foreign dignitaries are taken to the Raj Ghat, as a national memorial. Plaques there and at many other places refer to him as Father of the nation. Many official sites such as the PMO, the ministry of culture and Press information Bureau often refer to him as Father of the Nation. It was none other than the great patriot Subhash Chandra Bose who first called him Father of the Nation. The Supreme Court of India has observed that while the title isn’t formal, it is a collective responsibility to respect him as Father of the Nation, noting his status is beyond any formal recognition. One of India’s three national holidays is Gandhi Jayanti. His image appears on our currency notes. All this, only to re-emphasize that he remains a national icon. In a democracy it is perfectly fine for any citizen to not accept his status as Father of the nation or The Mahatma. One may not agree with his world view or ideology. But surely no citizen, even if the blue blood of patriotism is not flowing in his veins, should be disrespecting a national icon in public spaces until there is a change in status.

Khera attempts to manage Gandhi out of our history books by using a selective reading of Indian epics, portraying the Mahatma as a peddler of passivity and cowardice. As an Indian, I find this not just historically inaccurate, but a profound betrayal of the very moral foundation upon which our Republic stands.

The Fallacy of the Passive Mahatma

Khera’s central argument hinges on the idea that Lord Ram and the Sikh Gurus took up arms, while Gandhi chose neutrality or tolerance. This is a fundamental misreading of Gandhi’s philosophy. Gandhi never advocated for the non-violence of the weak—the submission of the coward who is afraid to fight. He advocated for Satyagraha, which is the non-violence of the strong.

As Gandhi himself famously wrote, “If there were only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence.” However, he saw a third, more difficult way: the courage to stand unarmed before a charging Lathi, to absorb the blow without striking back, and in doing so, to strip the oppressor of their moral authority. That is not neutrality; that is the ultimate stand, which needs a lot of courage.

The Greatest Mass Movement in History

Unambiguously, Mahatma Gandhi singularly conceptualised and led the freedom movement of India, which many scholars acknowledge as the greatest mass movement in the history of the world, excepting for some religious and totalitarian movements. He innovated and adopted a political strategy which up until then was unknown to the world. In many ways he changed the course of world history in successfully waging an anti-colonial movement and inspiring such movements in many parts of the world.

A great Political and Spiritual Leader

Mahatma Gandhi’s status as one of history’s most influential political and spiritual leaders is not just a matter of opinion; it is substantiated by his global status and honors, numerous global studies on leadership and the testimony of many world leaders. Let us not take this as a congress construct. It is not. Here is how the world formally recognizes his legacy:

United Nations Recognition.In 2007 The United nations General Assembly voted unanimously to establish October 2 as the International day of Non-Violence. This is a rare honour where a global community formally adopts an Individuals birthday to promote their specific philosophy as a tool for political change.
Global Successor Movements. Gandhi’s methods of Satyagraha provided the blue print for most significant human rights movements of the 20^th century. Martin Luther King Jr. (USA): King famously stated, “Christ gave us the goals and Mahatma Gandhi the tactics.” He traveled to India in 1959 to study Gandhi’s methods, which became the bedrock of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Nelson Mandela frequently referred to Gandhi as his political role model, noting that Gandhi’s spirit helped South Africa transition out of Apartheid without a total racial bloodbath. The Dalai Lama identified himself as a follower of Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence in his struggle for Tibetan autonomy.

International Tributes and Monuments. Gandhi is one of the most statued individuals in the world outside of his home country. There are over 70 countries with official monuments dedicated to him, including high-profile locations like Parliament Square in London (placed alongside Churchill and Lincoln) and Union Square in New York. In 1999, Time magazine named Gandhi the runner-up to Albert Einstein as the Person of the Century. Einstein himself famously said of Gandhi: “Generations to come… will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.” I asked Gemini to list 10 greatest leaders of all recorded history. This is what it said before listing out the 10 names… “Defining the greatest leaders is subjective, but these 10 figures are consistently cited for their transformative impact on world history”. At the very top spot was Mahatma Gandhi. AI simply does logical analysis of data available to it.
Academic and Intellectual Influence. Gandhi’s political strategy—using moral authority to defeat military might—is taught in political science and conflict resolution courses globally. Oxford & Harvard University hold extensive archives and dedicated chairs for Gandhian Studies, treating his writings on self-reliance and ethics as core philosophical texts.

The Architect of the Indian Mind

Khera speaks of management and leadership, yet he ignores the greatest management feat in human history. Before Gandhi, India was a collection of 565 princely states and British provinces. There was no Indian identity that could unite a peasant in Kerala with a lawyer in Bombay. Gandhi conceptualised a movement that didn’t just target the British; it targeted the Indian psyche, transcending religious, cultural and language boundaries

He didn’t just lead a protest; he forged a nation. By picking up a handful of salt or sitting at a spinning wheel, he gave the common man—regardless of caste or literacy—a sense of agency. He took the geographical expression of India that the British mocked at and turned it into a psychological reality. We should be proud of him because he proved that a colonized people could regain their dignity not by mimicking the brutality of their masters, but by transcending it.

A Debt of Gratitude

We owe Gandhi our gratitude because he ensured that when India was born, it was born with a democratic soul. If India had won its freedom through the barrel of a gun or the muscularity that Khera admires, we might have become just another post-colonial military dictatorship. Instead, Gandhi gave us a tradition of mass mobilization and dissent that remains the bedrock of our democracy.

To call Gandhi’s legacy cowardly while sitting in the safety of a free country that he lived and fought for is the height of historical amnesia. Gandhi managed the most difficult resource of all: the human conscience. He taught us that true power doesn’t lie in the ability to kill, but in the refusal to be intimidated. As Indians, our pride should stem from the fact that our revolution was led by a man who was strong enough to be kind and wise enough to be inclusive. The great man’s character and reputation will surely outlive such assassination attempts.

4 Comments Posted on October 22, 2021September 2, 2025 by Reji Koduvath Canada

Cannabis – Marijuana

Indian media is filled with headlines of Aryan Khan’s (son of Bollywood Star Sharukh Khan) arrest by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of India on a cruise ship on October 3, 2021. Many media houses are celebrating the event with all pomp and glory throwing in bits and pieces of Masala (spice) – some even went berserk – especially those active on the social-media.

Can you justify such media glare and media trial?

Sashi Tharoor summed it up very well through his tweet “I am no fan of recreational drugs and haven’t ever tried any, but I am repelled by the ghoulish epicaricacy displayed by those now witch-hunting Sharukh Khan on his son’s arrest. Have some empathy, folks. The public glare is bad enough; no need to gleefully rub a 23yr old’s face in it.”

I needed a dictionary to understand his tweet – ghoulish (ugly and unpleasant, or frightening) epicaricacy (deriving pleasure from the misfortunes of others.) That is Tharoorian English for you!!

I too am not a fan of recreational drugs and never tried it. The smell of marijuana smoke puts me off – though I have been a cigarette smoker for over four decades. But the way the NCB, Indian media and the judiciary have conducted themselves in dealing with the case – I am no fan of that too. It is absurd – may be I have lived in Canada for 18 years where a similar case would have been dealt with differently.

This prompted me to delve into the Canadian laws on Cannabis. In our Province of Ontario, one must be 19 and older to buy, use, possess and grow recreational Cannabis. This is the same as the minimum age for the sale of tobacco and alcohol in our province. The law stipulates that one can smoke and vape Cannabis in private residences, many outdoor public places (sidewalks and parks,) designated smoking guest rooms in hotels, motels and inns, etc. One cannot smoke cannabis in publicly-owned sport fields (not including golf courses), nearby spectator areas and public areas within 20 metres of these areas.

One can may grow up to four cannabis plants per residence (not per person) if one is 19 years of age and older; only for personal use; the seeds must be purchased from the Ontario Cannabis Store or an authorised retail store; and above all, it is not forbidden by your lease agreement or condo rules.

After the law was implemented in October 2019, I found a drastic decrease in the odor of Marijuana smoke while on my walks, especially at park corners. It appeared that it was Cool no more.

The law also permits a person to possess a maximum of 30 grams (about one ounce) of dried cannabis in public at any time. I also realised that I can grow four Cannabis plants at our home for recreational purpose.

My mind raced back to 1980’s – a Television interview of a Tribal Chieftain from Kerala, India. In the early 1970’s when Mrs Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India, she visited the tribal area accompanied by Mr K Karunakaran, then Home Minister of Kerala State. The Tribal Chieftain was fortunate to have had an audience with Mrs Gandhi. She asked him as to what she could do for the welfare of his people and the Chieftain did not ask for a school, not a hospital and not a proper road to his land – he did not ask for drinking water facilities and not for electricity – but he promptly asked “Our people should be allowed to grow two Cannabis plants per household.”

Mrs Gandhi smiled and Mr Karunakaran nodded. The Chieftain claimed that thereafter the Police and the State Excise Department accepted it as an unwritten law and never ever bothered them.

Leave a comment Posted on August 27, 2021April 16, 2022 by Reji Koduvath Indian Army

Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS)

On July 29, a notification on my cellphone read ‘Today is the World ORS Day.’ When there is a Left Handers’ Day (August 13,) a Sandwich Day (November 3,) a Puppy Day (March 23,) and also a Nothing Day (January 16;) I wasn’t surprised to find an ORS day!

ORS Day is observed each year on July 29 to emphasise the importance of ORS as an affordable and highly impactful healthcare method to treat dehydration and diarrhea. This year too it was celebrated, but without much fanfare, throughout the world. I have failed to find the significance of the date – July 29 – connecting to ORS. Hence I decided to dwell a bit deep.

For more than 25 years WHO and UNICEF have recommended a single formulation of glucose-based ORS to treat or prevent dehydration from diarrhoea and cholera for all ages. ORS has been used worldwide and has contributed substantially to the dramatic global reduction in mortality from diarrhoeal diseases.

ORS is an oral powder–containing mixture of glucose, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, and sodium citrate. After dissolving in requisite volume of water, it is used for the prevention and treatment of dehydration, especially due to diarrhea.

ORS and zinc are recommended by the WHO and UNICEF to be used collectively to ensure the effective treatment of diarrhea. ORS replaces the essential fluids and salts lost through diarrhea. Zinc decreases the duration and severity of an episode and reduces the risk of recurrence in the immediate short term.

Captain Robert Allan Phillips (1906–1976) of the US Navy in 1946 first successfully tried oral glucose saline on two cholera patients. As a Navy Lieutenant at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research during World War II, Phillips developed a field method for the rapid assessment of fluid loss in wounded servicemen. Captain Phillips embarked on cholera studies during the 1947 Egyptian cholera epidemic and developed highly effectives methods of intravenous rehydration. Later he developed a of glucose-based oral rehydration therapy.

The typical Indian Jugaad (जुगाड़) by Dr Dilip Mahalanabis – a paediatrician and a clinical scientist working with Johns Hopkins University Center for Medical Research and Training (JHCMRT) – who treated multitudes of Bangladeshi refugees who were suffering from diarrhea with rehydration salt sachets or ORS. He has not received any recognition, either from the international community or from the Indian government.

Oxford Dictionary defines Jugaad as ‘A flexible approach to problem-solving that uses limited resources in an innovative way.’ In effect, there is no real word in English that captures the essence of the real Jugaad.

In 1971, an estimated 10 million refugees crossed the border from East Pakistan into India as per UNHCR. This was the largest single displacement of refugees in the second half of the 20th century. The refugees were severely malnourished, especially the children and the Indian government took all efforts to take care of the refugees, despite meager support from the international community.

After walking long distances on foot to escape from the ruthless atrocities of the Pakistan Army, this starved and frightened mass of people sought refuge in India. A cholera outbreak in the refugee camps badly affected the already exhausted and starved refugees. The monsoon was in full fury, and for the refugees living in tents and other make shift arrangements, it was hell. It is estimated that about 30% of the refugees died from cholera and diarrhea.

This called for a huge amount of intravenous fluids and coupled with problems of transport and lack of trained personnel for their administration, effective treatment was near impossible. Dr Mahalanabis suggested use of oral fluids as the only recourse in this situation. He recommended an electrolyte solution with glucose which could prevent fatal dehydration.

The ORS recipe he used consisted of 22 gm glucose, 3.5 gm table salt and 2.5 gm baking soda per liter of water. This is the simplest formula, containing the minimum number of ingredients, that saved the day for many refugees and they lived to narrate the horrors they faced.

He organised two teams for cholera therapy including oral rehydration. Both teams worked along the border between India and Bangladesh. He established a treatment centre at the sub-divisional hospital in Bongaon with 16 beds. He organised a continuous shuttle of vehicles on the 80 km run from Calcutta to Bongaon, carrying personnel, medication, food and supplies to the centre. The reserves of intravenous saline-lactate solution stocked originally for cholera research soon depleted. He had to now used Juggad to make ORS.

To make the ORS, glucose-and salt packets were prepared in Calcutta; first in the JHCMRT library room. Each of the three components of the mixture were carefully weighed by separate technicians and poured into a small polyethylene bag in an assembly-line fashion. Another technician inserted a descriptive label with instructions for dissolving in water; then he sealed one end of the bag with a hot iron. In the field, the dry powder was added to clean drinking water and dispensed from drums directly into the patients’ cups. The cost was calculated to be 11 Indian paise, (about 1.5 US cents) then per liter of fluid.

Later in 1978 during the cholera epidemic in Manipur, ORS was extensively used, especially in children with diarrhea and cholera. The WHO in 1978 launched the global diarrhea diseases control program with ORS. In 1979 WHO approved ORS.

Today, ORS is included in WHO’s Essential Medicines List, and Priority Medicines for mothers and children. ORS is also listed as a lifesaving commodity identified and targeted for scale-up and access by the UN Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children.

India faced a dire financial situation after the 1971 Indo-Pak war and taking care of the refugees. To shore up some money, the Government of India applied Jugaad and imposed the Refugee Relief Tax (RRT) throughout the country that came into force on November 15, 1971. It meant a separate five paisa stamp to be affixed on all postal articles to show payment of the tax.

The post offices immediately applied Jugaad and came up with hand-stamps marked ‘Refugee Relief Tax Prepaid in Cash’ on all postal stationery. On December 1, 1971 the new five paisa stamp, showing an image of a refugee family fleeing persecution was released. RRT was repealed in effect from April 1, 1973.

13 Comments Posted on March 22, 2018April 16, 2022 by Reji Koduvath Indian Army, Travelogues

Hussainiwala – A Village on Indo-Pak Border

During our visit to India to attend the Golden Jubilee celebrations of raising of our regiment – 75 Medium Regiment (Basantar River) – we watched the Retreat Ceremony at Hussainiwala Border Post.

Railway line connecting Peshawar to Mumbai was built in 1885, passing through Hussianiwala. During the Pre-Partition days, Punjab Mail connected the cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Ferozepur, Lahore and Peshawar. In those days, most British troops and businessmen arrived at Mumbai and made their way to their destinations in the North-West Frontier Province by train. The train track from Ferozepur to Hussainiwala was an engineering fete, with Qaiser-e-Hind bridge, which stood over several round pillars (all of them intact even today, as depicted in the image above).

When Pakistan was carved out of British India, the border was drawn along the Sutlej River in Punjab and it passed through Hussainiwala Village. Now, Sutlej River has changed its course over the years, running further East in Indian territory. This made Hussainiwala an enclave into Pakistan, with the Sutlej River behind it.

Hussainiwala is named after a Muslim Peer (Saint), Hussaini Baba, whose shrine is located at the entrance to the Border Post. This small hamlet came into prominence on the evening of 23 March 1931 when British soldiers tried to cremate the bodies of three young Indian freedom fighters – Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Raj Guru – who were hanged at the Lahore Central Jail. The hanging, scheduled for 24 March was rescheduled a day earlier as the British feared a revolt in Lahore as the situation had become very tense. They secretly transported their bodies to Hussainiwala and while cremating them on the banks of the Sutlej, the locals got wind of it. They assembled near the cremation site. Fearing repercussions, British soldiers fled the scene, leaving behind the dead bodies which were cremated by the villagers. This site today is a memorial – aptly called ‘Prerana Sthal‘ (Motivation Site).

Later Bhagat Singh’s mother, Vidyawati, and freedom fighter BK Dutt were cremated at this site as per their wishes. The cremation site is called ‘Shaheedi Sthal’ (Martyrs’ Place). This is where Indians from all over the country make an annual pilgrimage to honour the martyrs on March 23 as they observe ‘Shaheedi Diwas’ (Martyrs’ Day).

(Defences on the Indian side on Bund (wall) with a bunker as inset)

This enclave has witnessed three bloody battles between India and Pakistan, with the very first one fought on 18 March 1956. At that time, heavy floods had damaged Bela Bund and Sulaimanki Headworks at Hussainiwala and as the Indian engineers were repairing the damage, Pakistan Army launched an unprovoked attack at 9 PM. 4 JAK RIF was guarding the bund, and they fought gallantly causing heavy causalities on the enemy. This resulted in a hasty withdrawal by the attackers.

During partition of British India in 1947, Hussainiwala, an enclave of 12 villages went to Pakistan. The railway line no more had trains running through Hussainiwala. The railway station at Hussainiwala as it exists today is depicted in the image above. Now Punjab Mail connects Mumbai to Ferozepur via Delhi. Pakistan destroyed Qaisere- Hind Bridge leaving behind the round pillars across the river. The Shaheedi Sthal was in a dilapidated state without any maintenance. In 1961, Jawaharlal Nehru, then Prime Minister, brokered an exchange deal and Hussainiwala came to India while Sulaimanki Headworks – from where three major canals which supply irrigation water to a large area in Pakistan Punjab originate – went to Pakistan. India immediately restored Shaheedi Sthal to its due dignity and reverence.

During Indo-Pakistan War of 1965, 2 Maratha Light Infantry (Kali Panchwin) was deployed to defend Hussainiwala. The battalion fought valiantly to thwart a frontal attack resulting in two enemy tanks destroyed and two captured, with several enemy killed. The Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Nolan was killed in enemy artillery shelling. The unit ensured that the Samadhi of Bhagat Singh was not desecrated by Pakistan Army. The battalion was visited by then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, Defence Minister YB Chavan, Congress Party President K Kamraj, the Chief of Army Staff and other senior officers. Kali Panchwin was awarded the battle honour ‘Hussainiwala’ for its role in the 1965 War. The citizens of Firozpur, in honour of the Battalion’s contribution in defending the bridge and Firozpur town, presented a silver replica of the Hussaniwala Bridge.

During the 1971 War, it was 15 PUNJAB defending Hussainiwala enclave and the Memorial. On 03 December, Pakistan Army launched a heavy attack. The valiant Punjabis withstood the attack gallantly despite suffering heavy casualties until withdrawing on 04 December night.

Did the three freedom fighters, who laid down their lives for Indian independence in their wildest dreams ever visualise that post independence, there would be a partition on religious lines and it would all end up in three bloody wars at the very same site their ‘Samadhi’ stood?

5 Comments Posted on February 4, 2015June 22, 2022 by Reji Koduvath Canada, Kerala

Malabar and Tellicherry Pepper

Grocery stores in Canada carry Malabar and Tellichery black pepper. Malabar, one can easily associate with pepper, but how come a small town Tellicherry in Kerala, India, has been associated with this spice.

Tellicherry is the name given by the British to Thalassery. The name originates from the Malayalam word Thala (Head) and Kacheri (Office), thus Thalassery or ‘head of offices’. The Europeans nicknamed the town Paris of Kerala, as it was in close proximity to the sole French military base in Kerala in that era. Later the French abandoned Thalassery and shifted their base to Mahé.

Thalassery had a unique geographical advantage as a trading center being the nearest point from the coast to the spice growing area of Wayanad. The trading center developed mainly after the 16^th century when the British got permission to set up a factory in Thalassery from the local ruler. Various conflicts with the local chieftains prompted the British to build a fort in Thalassery. The local king gave the fort and adjoining land to the British in 1708. The fort was later modified and extended by the British East India Company. The king also gave permission to the British to trade pepper in Thalassery without paying duty. After the construction of the fort, Thalassery grew into a prominent trading center and a port in British Malabar. The British won absolute administrative authority over Malabar region after annexation of the entire Malabar region from Tipu Sultan in the Battle of Sree Rangapatnam. Thalassery thus became the capital of British North Malabar.

In 1797 The British East India Company established a spice plantation in Anjarakandy near Thalassery. In 1799 it was handed over to Lord Murdoch Brown with a 99-year lease. Coffee, cinnamon, pepper and nutmeg were cultivated there. Anjarakandy cinnamon plantation was the world’s largest at that time. Construction of the Tellicherry Lighthouse in 1835 evidences the importance the British attached to the area.The British East India Company built a new spice warehouse in 1863 and also established the first registrar office in South India at Anjarakandy in 1865, only to register the cinnamon plantation of Murdoch Brown.

Thalassery municipality was formed on 1 November 1866 according to the Madras Act of 1865 of the British Indian Empire, making it the second oldest municipality in the state. At that time the municipality was known as Thalassery Commission.

The Arab traders had monopolised pepper trade from the Malabar region from about 1500 BC. They sailed in boats through the Arabian Sea, hugging the coastline and reached Malabar and Travancore regions. From there they used the backwaters and the rivers to move inland. The Arabs sold the pepper procured from these regions in Egypt and Europe. Black peppercorns were found stuffed in the nostrils of Ramesses II, placed there as part of the mummification rituals shortly after his death in 1213 BC.

In order to dissuade the Europeans from sailing into the Malabar coast, the Arabs successfully spun many a stories and myths about black pepper. The most common story was that large many-headed serpents guarded the forests where pepper grew and the local people would set the forest on fire once the pepper ripened. The fire would drive away the serpents and people would gather the peppercorns before the serpents could return. The black colour of the pepper was due to burning.

Trade interactions between the Arabs and the local Hindus from Malabar resulted in many marital alliances. Some Arab traders settled in the Malabar region and Islam flourished there as a result. Today the region is dominated by Muslims. In Kottayam, south of Malabar, spice trade was based on the backwaters and rivers with Thazhathangady (Lower Market) and Puthenangady (New Market) as trading posts established by the Arab traders. Wherever the Arabs established trading posts, Islam also flourished there.

The Cheramaan Juma Masjid at Methala, near Kodungallur, Thrissur District of Kerala is said to have been built in 629 AD, which makes it the oldest mosque in the Indian subcontinent which is still in use.

The Christians in the region believe that they were converted to Christianity from Hindus by St Thomas, one of Christ’s disciples in the first century, who might have traveled in one such ship.

Many Christians and Jews persecuted in Persia fled to Kerala in the Arab ships and settled along the coast. They were welcomed by the local Hindus with open arms. Fort Kochi area was known for its Jewish settlement and these Jews were called Malabar Jews and are the oldest group of Jews in India and settled there by the 12th century.

They built synagogues in the 12th century and are known to have developed Judeo-Malayalam, a dialect of Malayalam language.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam came to Kerala through trade. but these religions elsewhere in India mostly through the sword.

Peppercorns were a much-prized trade good, often referred to as ‘black gold‘ in Europe and used as a form of commodity money. The legacy of this trade remains in some Western legal systems which recognize the term ‘peppercorn rent‘ as a form of a token payment made for something that is in fact being given. Pepper was so valuable that it was often used as collateral or even currency. In the Dutch language, ‘pepper expensive‘ is an expression for something very expensive.

Its exorbitant price during the Middle Ages was one of the inducements which led the Portuguese to seek a sea route to India. In 1498, Vasco da Gama became the first person to sail to India by circumventing Africa. Gama returned in greater numbers soon after and Portuguese by the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas gained exclusive rights to trade in black pepper in Malabar.

Pepper’s popularity quickly spread through world cuisines once more trade routes were established. At one time it accounted for a whopping 70 percent of the international spice trade. As it became more readily available, the prices dropped, and ordinary people were able to enjoy it. Regional cuisines began incorporating pepper into their foods alongside native spices and herbs.

Whatever may be the history of black pepper. it is still sold as Malabar or Tellichery pepper even though currently Vietnam is the world’s largest producer and exporter of pepper, producing 34% of the world’s requirements.

REJINCES