In 2016-17, the average Indian earned Rs 1.12 lakh a year, about Rs 9,300 every month. That year, the average person in Kerala made Rs 1.98 lakh a year, a monthly income of Rs 16,500.
Uttar Pradesh is home to 200 million people, the combined population of Italy, South Korea and Spain. Each average person in UP earns Rs 72,300 every year, around Rs 6,000 per month. The average ‘Mallu’ is two-and-a half times wealthier than the ‘Bhaiyya’.
Kerala’s prosperity has come from decades of high investment in education, healthcare and human development. Malayalis acquired the ability to get skilled jobs across India. They were leaders of our global diaspora.
Every 10 years, India conducts its census, a gigantic operation that contacts every adult in a country of 1.25 billion to discover how they live, what they do, learn and so on. In 2011, the census found that over 90% of households in Kerala had access to electricity.
This lengthened the productive hours beyond sunset, gave children light to study by, businesses and stores to stay open longer and media, like radio, TV and films, to reach millions. It allowed the spread of technology, mobile phones and the internet.
It let women use labour- and timesaving tools like food processors, refrigerators, microwave ovens and washing machines. Unsurprisingly, 94% of Malayalis are literate, ahead of the 74% rate for the average Indian, leaving the average 69.7% of literate UP dwellers far behind.
Travel in UP after sundown, say, 100 km east from dazzling Delhi, and you will descend into the heart of darkness. The census of 2011says less than 37% of UP homes have electricity, better only than Bihar.
Irrespective of the quality of programming — mostly pedestrian, often abysmal — owning a TV gives a household a glimpse of the broader world outside the chowk and mohalla. With greater awareness and income, 77% of Malayali homes own a TV, compared to the pan-India average of 47%. In UP, only 33% of households are privileged to own one.
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