During my school days in Gujarat, we were often told about high literacy rate of Kerala (above 90%), that was more than 20 years back. Kerala has traditionally held highest literacy rate in India and may be still has.
The credit of high literacy rate could be given to the communist government of Kerala. Kerala has been governed by communists for long and it is still one of the communist strongholds in India. I give credit to the communists because one of my senior colleagues from Tamil Nadu once told me that how some areas in Tamil Nadu that had strong presence of communists had high literacy rate compared to rest of Tamil Nadu.
Now lets look at the economic development of Kerala – the state with highest literacy rate in India since the time literacy rate is being measured in India. Kerala is one of the most backward state of India economically. It is certainly the most backward southern state of India economically relying mostly on foreign remittance.
Kerala has highest unemployment rate in India. It is also known as money order economy mostly relying on foreign remittances.
Few days back during discussion at lunch hour in office, we were talking about Kerala, I raised this question to my colleagues with roots from Kerala, why Kerala has not developed economically despite having highest literacy rate. I never got any satisfactory answer. Keralites [known as Mallu (Malyalam speakers) in India] mostly look outside their home state for jobs.
Please let us know your opinion in comments about why Kerala has not developed economically despite having highest literacy rate?