Articles by K R G Nair

Experience K R G NAIR The development experience of Kerala is somewhat of a jigsaw puzzle for social science researchers all over the world. Kerala, hence, continues to be a much-researched state of India. The articles by Achin Chakraborty (AC) and K P Kannan (KP) (EPW, February 5, 2005) propounded, from slightly different angles, a new proposition that the state is on the verge of entering a virtuous cycle of growth. Though I disagree with some of their arguments and feel that a number of relevant points made by them need to be researched further, I find myself agreeing with their basic proposition. I am, hence, somewhat taken aback when the piece by M A Oommen, (MA) (which appeared in the EPW on April 20, 2005), quite critical of the two earlier pieces, attempts to

Reservation Policy for Small Industries K R G Nair THE dismissal, in the reply by Bala Subrahmanya (1995b), of my comments [Nair 1995], as just another emotional outburst to illogically justify the continuation of technologically inefficient small scale sector at the cost of the more efficient large sector, is patently irrational. He seems to have overlooked my very explicit statement that in cases where there are no economies of large-scale production and a small producer chooses to remain small despite this, a policy of reservation will abet this tendency and thus stand in the way of competition and hence of efficiency. Such underlying logic, can, by no stretch of imagination, be dubbed as blind enthusiasm to favour the reserved SSI sector.

Backward Regions A Note on Orissa K R G Nair This note examines the impact of the government's new economic policy (NEP) on regional economic development with reference to Orissa, one of the least developed states of India. The author discusses the development of the economy of Orissa and brings out the causes of Orissa's relative economic backwardness. The likely impact of the NEP on the development of a less developed region like Orissa is then examined and the main findings are brought together in the concluding part of the note.

the Kerala agrarian movement. But my data and analysis uncover hitherto unrecognised leaders and demystifies the old leadership. Thus the critical role played by Ayyankali, the Dalit leader, in the mobilisation of his castemen and the acutely conservative position taken by Ramakrishna Pillai, the high caste revolutionary, are highlighted in my analysis. The reviewer should know that the activity called research is addressed to two- tasks: generating locating new data and/or providing new interpretations to the existing data. There is no point in repeating already well known facts and arguments. But I am appalled that such allegations, as are advanced, come from those who champion the cause of the people and those who mouth the slogan, the "real history is people's history!" The reviewer thinks that had l consulted the communist party documents and talked to the top leadership l would have arrived at the correct picture. I am sorry, he misses the whole point of the study. I did consult the official party documents and talk to some of the top party leaders. But I kept these versions in abeyance, my purpose was to present an alternative perspective.

Regional Dimensions K R G Nair Indian Economy: The Regional Dimension by Amitabh Kundu and Moonis Raza; Spektrum, New Delhi, 1982; Rs 70.
THIS sleek little book is a refreshing addition to the small but growing volume of literature on regional development in India. Most such analysis usually steers clear of economic history though the need for a historical perspective to any analysis of economic development is universally recognised. 1 But this work, though concerned only with the period 1961-71, gives due importance to such a perspective, there being even a section with that heading in each of the chapters.