Centre And The Dravidian State

Context: Tamil Nadu development model is under threat from increasing centralisation of powers in Union government, erosion of policy autonomy.

Features of Tamil Nadu development model: Combining high levels of human development with economic dynamism:

• Human development:
  • It sought and ensured opportunity-equalising policies in the expanding modern sectors through affirmative action policies and investments in education and health.
  • It also succeeded in building a bloc of lower caste groups under a Dravidian- Tamil identity that subsumed and sought to transcend individual caste identities.
  • Tamil Nadu has been a pioneer in broad-basing entry into school education through a slew of incentives, the noon meal scheme being the most well-known.
  • Lowering the cost of education played a key role - As per the National Sample Survey (NSS) 71st round (2014), the average expenditure of a higher secondary student in a government school in Tamil Nadu was Rs 2,862, which is less than half the all-India average of Rs 6,916.
  • Nearly 50% of the youth between 18–23 years are in some form of higher education compared to the all-India average of 26%.
  • The enrolment ratios for women are 48% in Tamil Nadu as against 25% at the all-India level.
  • 32% of graduates who are enrolled in higher education are in technical or professional courses in Tamil Nadu compared to 15% at the all-India level.
• Economic dynamism: Attainments in education generated positive linkages with the productive economy.
  • This also feeds into a process of “democratisation” of capital in the lower rungs.
  • Though the share of Dalits among entrepreneurs continues to be low, the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry records that the state is home to one of the highest concentrations of Dalit enterprises in India.
  • As per the Economic Census 2013–14, one out of every four Dalit enterprises in the “20–99 workers” category is located in Tamil Nadu.

Challenges to the Tamil Nadu development model:

• Continuing inequities in quality, access and economic gains across caste and space in higher education: Due to broad basing of the access.
  • The disparities lead to labour market inequities across caste and class lines, which is feeding into assertions of caste pride among some sections of lower castes.
  • Such assertions open up possibilities of a Sanskritised mobilisation of lower castes.
• Declining era of affirmative actions:
  • Affirmative action in employment has already become less effective due to the reduction in the public sector and has been further eroded now.
  • The New Education Policy, for example, seeks to centralise policies pertaining to education, restricting the role of state governments.
  • The Supreme Court recently ruled against the possibility of increasing the total reservation of seats to more than 50%.