Aneesa PA is a Senior Correspondent, covering the state of Kerala with special focus on politics, policy, governance. Aneesa joined ThePrint in October 2024. She can be reached at aneesa.pa@theprint.in
Kerala’s “model” is an illusion built on the export of labor, not the creation of wealth.
Strip away the Gulf money, and the so-called miracle looks ordinary.
Facts speak louder than ideology:
• Annual remittances (2024–25): ~₹2.16 lakh crore — nearly ₹19,000/month per family.
• Remove this inflow, and Kerala’s per capita income collapses from ~₹2.8 lakh to ~₹1.15 lakh. By the way even with this it is nearly same as Uttarakhand’s ~₹2.7 lakh.
• NRI deposits: ₹3 lakh crore; remittance share: ~20% of India’s total.
Kerala doesn’t manufacture prosperity — it imports it.
Its real export is its people.
If Gulf remittances are proof of “development,” then the Bihari migrant in Delhi or Dubai deserves the same applause.
The myth of the Kerala model survives not on productivity, but on nostalgia and narrative.
Kerala’s “model” is an illusion built on the export of labor, not the creation of wealth.
Strip away the Gulf money, and the so-called miracle looks ordinary.
Facts speak louder than ideology:
• Annual remittances (2024–25): ~₹2.16 lakh crore — nearly ₹19,000/month per family.
• Remove this inflow, and Kerala’s per capita income collapses from ~₹2.8 lakh to ~₹1.15 lakh. By the way even with this it is nearly same as Uttarakhand’s ~₹2.7 lakh.
• NRI deposits: ₹3 lakh crore; remittance share: ~20% of India’s total.
Kerala doesn’t manufacture prosperity — it imports it.
Its real export is its people.
If Gulf remittances are proof of “development,” then the Bihari migrant in Delhi or Dubai deserves the same applause.
The myth of the Kerala model survives not on productivity, but on nostalgia and narrative.
Kerala’s “model” is an illusion built on the export of labor, not the creation of wealth.
Strip away the Gulf money, and the so-called miracle looks ordinary.
Facts speak louder than ideology:
• Annual remittances (2024–25): ~₹2.16 lakh crore — nearly ₹19,000/month per family.
• Remove this inflow, and Kerala’s per capita income collapses from ~₹2.8 lakh to ~₹1.15 lakh. By the way even with this it is nearly same as Uttarakhand’s ~₹2.7 lakh.
• NRI deposits: ₹3 lakh crore; remittance share: ~20% of India’s total.
Kerala doesn’t manufacture prosperity — it imports it.
Its real export is its people.
If Gulf remittances are proof of “development,” then the Bihari migrant in Delhi or Dubai deserves the same applause.
The myth of the Kerala model survives not on productivity, but on nostalgia and narrative.
Kerala’s “model” is an illusion built on the export of labor, not the creation of wealth.
Strip away the Gulf money, and the so-called miracle looks ordinary.
Facts speak louder than ideology:
• Annual remittances (2024–25): ~₹2.16 lakh crore — nearly ₹19,000/month per family.
• Remove this inflow, and Kerala’s per capita income collapses from ~₹2.8 lakh to ~₹1.15 lakh. By the way even with this it is nearly same as Uttarakhand’s ~₹2.7 lakh.
• NRI deposits: ₹3 lakh crore; remittance share: ~20% of India’s total.
Kerala doesn’t manufacture prosperity — it imports it.
Its real export is its people.
If Gulf remittances are proof of “development,” then the Bihari migrant in Delhi or Dubai deserves the same applause.
The myth of the Kerala model survives not on productivity, but on nostalgia and narrative.