This note was published in The Times of India on 13/08/2022
Eminent economist Prof K K George, who passed away on Thursday, never pulled his punches —he warned of a domineering Centre and exposed the limitations of the Kerala Model
For eminent economist Prof K K George, who passed away on Thursday, the Biblical verse, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul” was just not an edict to be engraved on the church walls. He strived to stick to this maxim throughout his academic work, social interventions, and personal life. He never went after positions or tried to curry favour from anyone by diluting his convictions or by fudging data, or by adopting selective silence, at a time when even “hard-core revolutionaries” coolly indulged in alliances of convenience to climb up the ladder or to retain their social status.
Still in the fringes: At a time when the Kerala model of development was spoken about with much admiration George sounded caution that it would be difficult to sustain the achievements made in the social sector unless the state improves its economic resources
As an economist, his early works were focussed on the centre-state financial relations and his research exposed the partisan leaning of the financial order in the country towards the Centre, ignoring the states. George was vehement in pushing the federal principles envisaged in the Constitution in favour of the states. Facing great political risks he even supported the agitation of the erstwhile Left extremist group in Kerala against the launch of the stock exchange in Kochi, alleging that it will lead to capital flight from Kerala to other states.
This was despite his fundamental ideological differences with the extremist group. George and his guide I S Gulati were invited by the West Bengal government on finance minister Ashok Mitra’s invitation to prepare a note to be submitted to the Sarkaria Commission on centre-state relations, considering their deep knowledge in the topic.
George was one of the pioneers who cautioned that it would be difficult to sustain Kerala’s achievement in the social sector due to the financial burden it poses to the state’s finances. He bluntly said the state has to improve its economic resources to sustain its developmental milestones.
Interestingly, he gave the warning at a time when the Kerala model of development, was being eulogised by many across the globe, on the grounds that it can usher in high social growth, even with low economic development. George’s research publications “Limits to Kerala Model of Development” and “Historical Roots of the Kerala Model and its Present Crisis” are widely noted. George believed that unless the state improves its economic resources, it would be difficult to maintain Kerala’s development achievements.
As a social scientist, George was acutely worried about the transformation taking place in the educational system in Kerala, the shift from an “inclusive”, state supported system to a self-financed “exclusive” model. He even directly participated in the agitations against self-financing courses at Cusat, in the early years.
George was born at Vengoor, one of the northernmost villages in the erstwhile Travancore princely state, on November 14, 1940. He completed his higher education at the Union Christian College, Aluva and the Madras Christian College, Chennai, before joining the State Bank of India. He spent about 14 years with the bank, mostly attached to its economic and statistical research department. Subsequently, he bid goodbye to his banking career and joined academics at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) and retired as the director of the school of management studies.
George was the Emeritus Fellow of the All India Council for Technical Education at the Rajagiri School of Management and at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram with ICSSR Fellowship.
He was also a visiting Fellow at the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, St Mary’s University, Canada, and a senior Fulbright Fellow at the department of economics, University of Maryland and Centre for Federalism, Temple University, US. He has also served as a visiting Fellow at the CDS.
He was a member of the expenditure commission, government of Kerala and the board of advisors, Kerala State Planning Board.
Some of the most remarkable contributions he made were the establishment of the Centre for Socio-Economic and Environment Studies (CSES) and cultivation of a group of committed researchers. All his students remember with deep gratitude the spirit of rigour and honesty he inculcated among them.
Though he was immersed in larger socio-economic issues, George was a committed family person. His recently-published autobiography “A Journal of My Life” reveals his deep affection towards his family, including his wife Sherly, children Justin, Jeanne, and Ann, as well the extended family, including sisters, and departed parents.