Kerala
| കേരളം Kerala |
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| God's Own Country | |
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| Time zone: IST (UTC+5:30) | |
| Country |  India |
| Region | South India |
| District(s) | 14 |
| Established | 1 November 1956 |
| Capital | Thiruvananthapuram |
| Largest city | Thiruvananthapuram |
| Largest metro | Kochi metropolitan area |
| Governor | R.S. Gavai |
| Chief Minister | V.S. Achuthanandan |
| Legislature (seats) | Unicameral (141‡) |
| Population • Density |
31,838,619 (12th) (2001[update]) • 819 /km2 (2,121 /sq mi) |
| Language(s) | Malayalam |
| Area | 38,863 km² (15,005 sq mi) |
| ISO 3166-2 | IN-KL |
| Website: kerala.gov.in | |
 Portal: Kerala |
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Kerala (
['keːɹəˌɭɐ (help·info)); (Malayalam: കേരളം?; Kēraḷaṁ) is a union state located in the southwestern part of India. With an Arabian Sea coastline on the west, it is bordered on the north by Karnataka and by Tamil Nadu on the south and east. Major cities are Thiruvananthapuram (the capital), Kochi, and Kozhikode. The principal spoken language is Malayalam but many other languages are also spoken.
Kerala is mentioned in the ancient epic Mahabharata (800 BC) at several instances as a tribe, as a region and as a kingdom[citation needed]. The first written mention of Kerala is seen in a 3rd-century-BC rock inscription by emperor Asoka the Great, where it is mentioned as Keralaputra. This region formed part of ancient Tamilakam and was ruled by the Cheras. They had extensive trade relations with the Greeks, Romans and Arabs. In the 1st century AD Jewish immigrants arrived, and it is believed that St. Thomas the Apostle visited Kerala in the same century[1]. The Chera Kingdom and later the feudal Nair and Namboothiri Brahmin city-states became major powers in the region.[2] Early contact with Europeans gave way to struggles between colonial and native interests. The States Reorganisation Act of 1 November 1956 elevated Kerala to statehood.
Late-19th-century social reforms by Cochin and Travancore were expanded by post-independence governments. The state is known for achievements such as the literacy rate 89.9%[3], which is among the highest in India, although still behind developing countries such as China (93%) or Thailand (93.9%).[4]. Kerala is one of the five states which receive "serious" malnutrition situation rating from Global Hunger Index, slightly ahead "alarming" ratings received by most states.[5] A survey conducted in 2005 by Transparency International ranked Kerala as the least corrupt state in the country.[6] The state confronts comparatively high suicide, alcoholism, and unemployment rates.[7] A large proportion of the population has moved away and Kerala is uniquely dependent on remittances, mainly from the Gulf countries.[8][9][10]
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Kerala has an uncertain etymology. Keralam may stem from the Classical Tamil chera-alam ("declivity of a hill or a mountain slope")[11] or chera alam ("Land of the Cheras").[12] Kerala may represent an imperfect Malayalam portmanteau fusing kera ("coconut palm tree") and alam ("land" or "location").[13] Natives of Kerala, known as Keralites or Malayalis, refer to their land as Keralam.
A 3rd-century-BC Asokan rock inscription mentioning a "Keralaputra" is the earliest surviving attestation to Kerala.[14] In written records, Kerala was mentioned in the Sanskrit epic Aitareya Aranyaka. Katyayana, Patanjali, Pliny the Elder, and the unknown author of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea displayed familiarity with Kerala.[15] In the last centuries BC, the region became famous among the Greeks and Romans for its spices, particularly black pepper.[14]
It is not certain if the region was inhabited during Neolithic times. However, there is evidence of the emergence of prehistoric pottery and granite burial monuments in the form of megalithic tombs in the 10th century BC; they resemble their counterparts in Western Europe and other parts of Asia. These are thought to be produced by speakers of a proto-Tamil language.[16] Kerala and Tamil Nadu once shared a common language, ethnicity and culture; this common area was known as Tamilakam.
According to legend, Kerala was an Asura-ruled kingdom under Mahabali. Onam, the national festival of Kerala, is dedicated to Maveli's memory. Another legend has Parasurama, an avatar of Mahavishnu, throwing his battle axe into the sea; from those waters, Kerala arose.[17]
The ancient Cheras, whose mother tongue and court language was Tamil, ruled Kerala from their capital at Vanchi. They were constantly at war with the neighbouring Chola and Pandya kingdoms. A Keralite identity, distinct from the Tamils and associated with the second Chera empire, became linguistically separate under the Kulasekhara dynasty (c. 800–1102). By the beginning of the 14th century, Ravi Varma Kulasekhara of Venad established a short-lived supremacy over southern India. After his death, Kerala became a conglomeration of warring chieftaincies, among which the most important were Calicut in the north and Venad in the south.
The Chera kings' dependence on trade meant that merchants from West Asia and Southern Europe established coastal posts and settlements in Kerala.[18] The west asian-semitic [19] Jewish, Christian, and Muslim immigrants[19] established Nasrani Mappila, Juda Mappila and Muslim Mappila communities.[19] [20] The Jews first arrived in Kerala in 573 BC.[21][22] The works of scholars and Eastern Christian writings state that Thomas the Apostle visited Muziris in Kerala in 52 AD to proselytize amongst Kerala's Jewish settlements.[23][24] However, the first verifiable migration of Jewish-Nasrani families to Kerala is of the arrival of Knai Thoma in 345 AD .[25] Muslim merchants (Malik ibn Dinar) settled in Kerala by the 8th century AD and introduced Islam. After Vasco Da Gama's arrival in 1498, the Portuguese gained control of the lucrative pepper trade by subduing Keralite communities and commerce.[26][27]
Conflicts between Kozhikode (Calicut) and Kochi (Cochin) provided an opportunity for the Dutch to oust the Portuguese. In turn, the Dutch were ousted by Marthanda Varma of the Travancore Royal Family who routed them at the Battle of Colachel in 1741. In 1766, Hyder Ali, the ruler of Mysore invaded northern Kerala, capturing Kozhikode in the process. In the late 18th century, Tipu Sultan, Ali’s son and successor, launched campaigns against the expanding British East India Company; these resulted in two of the four Anglo-Mysore Wars. He ultimately ceded Malabar District and South Kanara to the Company in the 1790s. The Company then forged tributary alliances with Kochi (1791) and Travancore (1795). Malabar and South Kanara became part of the Madras Presidency.[28]
Kerala saw comparatively little defiance of the British Raj. Nevertheless, several rebellions occurred, including the 1946 Punnapra-Vayalar revolt,[29] and leaders like Velayudan Thampi Dalava, Kunjali Marakkar, and Pazhassi Raja earned their place in history and folklore. Many actions, spurred by such leaders as Vaikunda Swami[30], Sree Narayana Guru and Chattampi Swamikal, instead protested such conditions as untouchability; notable was the 1924 Vaikom Satyagraham. In 1936, Chitra Thirunal Bala Rama Varma of Travancore issued the Temple Entry Proclamation that opened Hindu temples to all castes; Cochin and Malabar soon did likewise. The 1921 Moplah Rebellion involved Mappila Muslims rioting against Hindus and the British Raj.[31]
After India gained its independence in 1947, Travancore and Cochin were merged to form Travancore-Cochin on 1 July 1949. On 1 January 1950 (Republic Day), Travancore-Cochin was recognised as a state. The Madras Presidency was organised to form Madras State several years prior, in 1947. Finally, the Government of India's 1 November 1956 States Reorganisation Act inaugurated the state of Kerala, incorporating Malabar district, Travancore-Cochin (excluding four southern taluks, which were merged with Tamil Nadu), and the taluk of Kasargod, South Kanara.[32] A new legislative assembly was also created, for which elections were first held in 1957. These resulted in a communist-led government through ballot—the world's first of its kind—headed by E.M.S. Namboodiripad.[32][33] Subsequent social reforms favoured tenants and labourers.[34] Improvements in living standards, education, and life expectancy outpaced those of India as a whole.[citation needed]
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Kerala is wedged between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats. Lying between north latitudes 8°18' and 12°48' and east longitudes 74°52' and 72°22',[35] Kerala is well within the humid equatorial tropics. Kerala’s coast runs for some 580 km (360 miles), while the state itself varies between 35 and 120 km (22–75 miles) in width. Geographically, Kerala can be divided into three climatically distinct regions: the eastern highlands (rugged and cool mountainous terrain), the central midlands (rolling hills), and the western lowlands (coastal plains). Located at the extreme southern tip of the Indian subcontinent, Kerala lies near the centre of the Indian tectonic plate; as such, most of the state is subject to comparatively little seismic and volcanic activity.[36] Pre-Cambrian and Pleistocene geological formations compose the bulk of Kerala’s terrain.
Eastern Kerala consists of high mountains, gorges and deep-cut valleys immediately west of the Western Ghats' rain shadow. Forty one of Kerala’s west-flowing rivers, and three of its east-flowing ones originate in this region. The Western Ghats form a wall of mountains interrupted only near Palakkad, where the Palakkad Gap breaks through to provide access to the rest of India. The Western Ghats rises on average to 1,500 m (4920 ft) above sea level, while the highest peaks may reach to 2,500 m (8200 ft). Just west of the mountains lie the midland plains comprising central Kerala, dominated by rolling hills and valleys.[35] Generally ranging between elevations of 250–1,000 m (820–3300 ft), the eastern portions of the Nilgiri and Palni Hills include such formations as Agastyamalai and Anamalai.
Kerala’s western coastal belt is relatively flat, and is criss-crossed by a network of interconnected brackish canals, lakes, estuaries, and rivers known as the Kerala Backwaters. Lake Vembanad—Kerala’s largest body of water—dominates the Backwaters; it lies between Alappuzha and Kochi and is more than 200 km² in area. Around 8% of India's waterways (measured by length) are found in Kerala.[37] The most important of Kerala’s forty four rivers include the Periyar (244 km), the Bharathapuzha (209 km), the Pamba (176 km), the Chaliyar (169 km), the Kadalundipuzha (130 km) and the Achankovil (128 km). The average length of the rivers of Kerala is 64 km. Most of the remainder are small and entirely fed by monsoon rains.[35] These conditions result in the nearly year-round water logging of such western regions as Kuttanad, 500 km² of which lies below sea level. As Kerala's rivers are small and lack deltas, they are more prone to environmental factors. Kerala's rivers face many problems, including summer droughts, the building of large dams, sand mining, and pollution.
With 120–140 rainy days per year, Kerala has a wet and maritime tropical climate influenced by the seasonal heavy rains of the southwest summer monsoon.[38] In eastern Kerala, a drier tropical wet and dry climate prevails. Kerala's rainfall averages 3,107 mm annually. Some of Kerala's drier lowland regions average only 1,250 mm; the mountains of eastern Idukki district receive more than 5,000 mm of orographic precipitation, the highest in the state.
In summers, most of Kerala is prone to gale force winds, storm surges, cyclone-related torrential downpours, occasional droughts, and rises in sea level and storm activity resulting from global warming.[39] Daily temperature maxima average 36.7 °C; minima 19.8 °C.[35] Mean annual temperatures range from 25.0–27.5 °C in the coastal lowlands to 20.0–22.5 °C in the eastern highlands.[39]
Much of Kerala's notable biodiversity is concentrated and protected in the Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve in the eastern hills. Almost a fourth of India's 10,000 plant species are found in the state. Among the almost 4,000 flowering plant species (1,272 of which are endemic to Kerala and 159 threatened) are 900 species of highly sought medicinal plants.[40][41]
Its 9,400 km² of forests include tropical wet evergreen and semi-evergreen forests (lower and middle elevations—3,470 km²), tropical moist and dry deciduous forests (mid-elevations—4,100 km² and 100 km², respectively), and montane subtropical and temperate (shola) forests (highest elevations—100 km²). Altogether, 24% of Kerala is forested.[41] Two of the world’s Ramsar Convention listed wetlands—Lake Sasthamkotta and the Vembanad-Kol wetlands—are in Kerala, as well as 1455.4 km² of the vast Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Subjected to extensive clearing for cultivation in the 20th century,[42] much of the remaining forest cover is now protected from clearfelling. Kerala's fauna are notable for their diversity and high rates of endemism: 102 species of mammals (56 of which are endemic), 476 species of birds, 202 species of freshwater fishes, 169 species of reptiles (139 of them endemic), and 89 species of amphibians (86 endemic).[40] These are threatened by extensive habitat destruction, including soil erosion, landslides, salinization, and resource extraction.[43]
Eastern Kerala’s windward mountains shelter tropical moist forests and tropical dry forests, which are common in the Western Ghats. Here, sonokeling (Indian rosewood), anjili, mullumurikku (Erythrina), and Cassia number among the more than 1,000 species of trees in Kerala. Other plants include bamboo, wild black pepper, wild cardamom, the calamus rattan palm (a type of climbing palm), and aromatic vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanioides).[41] Living among them are such fauna as Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Leopard (Panthera pardus), Nilgiri Tahr, Common Palm Civet, and Grizzled Giant Squirrel.[41] Reptiles include the king cobra, viper, python, and crocodile. Kerala's birds are legion—Peafowl, the Great Hornbill, Indian Grey Hornbill, Indian Cormorant, and Jungle Myna are several emblematic species. In lakes, wetlands, and waterways, fish such as kadu (stinging catfish and Choottachi (Orange chromide—Etroplus maculatus; valued as an aquarium specimen) are found.[41]
Kerala's fourteen districts are distributed among Kerala's three historical regions: Malabar (northern Kerala), Kochi (central Kerala), and Travancore (southern Kerala). Kerala's modern-day districts (listed in order from north to south) correspond to them as follows:
- Malabar: Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Palakkad
- Kochi: Thrissur, Ernakulam
- Travancore: Kottayam, Idukki, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram
Kerala comprises the regions of Central Travancore, Chera Nadu, Kuttanad, Malabar, Onattukara, Travancore, Valluvanadu, and Venad. Kerala's 14 revenue districts are subdivided into 62 taluks, 1453 revenue villages and 1007 Gram panchayats.
Mahé, a part of the Indian union territory of Puducherry (Pondicherry), is a coastal exclave surrounded by Kerala on all of its landward approaches. Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) is the state capital and most populous city.[44] Kochi is the most populous urban agglomeration[45] and the major port city in Kerala. Kozhikode, Thrissur, and Kannur are the other major commercial centers of the state. The High Court of Kerala is located at Ernakulam. Kerala's districts, which serve as the administrative regions for taxation purposes, are further subdivided into 63 taluks; these have fiscal and administrative powers over settlements within their borders, including maintenance of local land records.
| Largest cities in Kerala (2001 Census of India estimate)[46] |
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| Rank | City | District | Population | ||||||||
| 01 | Thiruvananthapuram | Thiruvananthapuram | 744,983 | ||||||||
| 02 | Kochi | Ernakulam | 595,575 | ||||||||
| 03 | Kozhikode | Kozhikode | 436,556 | ||||||||
| 04 | Kollam | Kollam | 361,560 | ||||||||
| 05 | Thrissur | Thrissur | 317,526 | ||||||||
| 06 | Alappuzha | Alappuzha | 177,029 | ||||||||
| 07 | Palakkad | Palakkad | 130,767 | ||||||||
| 08 | Thalassery | Kannur | 99,387 | ||||||||
| 09 | Ponnani | Malappuram | 87,495 | ||||||||
| 10 | Manjeri | Malappuram | 83,707 | ||||||||
| State symbols of Kerala | |
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| Animal | Elephant |
| Bird | Great Indian Hornbill |
| Flower | Cassia Fistula (Indian laburnum) |
| Tree | Coconut |
| Fruit | Jackfruit |
| Costume | Sari (women) |
Like other Indian states, Kerala is governed through a parliamentary system of representative democracy; universal suffrage is granted to state residents. There are three branches of government. The unicameral legislature, known as the legislative assembly, comprises elected members and special office bearers (the Speaker and Deputy Speaker) elected by the members from among themselves. Assembly meetings are presided over by the Speaker and in his absence by the Deputy Speaker. Kerala has 140 Assembly constituencies. The state sends 20 members to the Lok Sabha and 9 to the Rajya Sabha, the Indian Parliament's upper house.
The constitutional head of state is the Governor of Kerala, who is appointed by the President of India. The executive authority is headed by the Chief Minister of Kerala, who is the de facto head of state and is vested with most of the executive powers; the Legislative Assembly's majority party leader is appointed to this position by the Governor. The Council of Ministers, which answers to the Legislative Assembly, has its members appointed by the Governor; the appointments receive input from the Chief Minister.
The judiciary comprises the Kerala High Court (including a Chief Justice combined with 26 permanent and two additional (pro tempore) justices) and a system of lower courts. The High Court of Kerala is the apex court for the state; it also hears cases from the Union Territory of Lakshadweep. Auxiliary authorities known as panchayats, for which local body elections are regularly held, govern local affairs.
The state's 2005–2006 budget was 219 billion INR.[47] The state government's tax revenues (excluding the shares from Union tax pool) amounted to 111,248 million INR in 2005, up from 63,599 million in 2000. Its non-tax revenues (excluding the shares from Union tax pool) of the Government of Kerala as assessed by the Indian Finance Commissions reached 10,809 million INR in 2005, nearly double the 6,847 million INR revenues of 2000.[48] However, Kerala's high ratio of taxation to gross state domestic product (GSDP) has not alleviated chronic budget deficits and unsustainable levels of government debt, impacting social services.[49]
Kerala hosts two major political alliances: the United Democratic Front (UDF—led by the Indian National Congress) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF—led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)). At present, the LDF is the ruling coalition in government; V.S. Achuthanandan of the CPI(M) is the Chief Minister of Kerala and Oommen Chandy of the UDF is the Chief Opposition leader.
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Kerala is one of the few regions in the world where communist parties are democratically elected in a parliamentary democracy. Compared with most other Indians, Keralites are well versed and keen participants in the political process; many elections are decided by razor-thin margins of victory. Strikes, protests, rallies, and marches are ubiquitous.[50]
Since independence, Kerala was managed as a democratic socialist welfare economy. Since the 1990s, liberalisation of the mixed economy allowed onerous Licence Raj restrictions against the free market and foreign direct investment to be lightened, leading to economic expansion and job creation. In fiscal year 2004–2005, nominal gross state domestic product (GSDP) was Rs 89,451.99 crore (US$ 18.03 billion).[51] Recent GSDP growth (9.2% in 2004–2005 and 7.4% in 2003–2004) has been robust compared to historical averages (2.3% annually in the 1980s and between 5.1%[52] and 5.99%[53] in the 1990s).[52] The state clocked 8.93% growth in enterprises from 1998 to 2005 compared with 4.80% nationally.[54] Relatively few such enterprises are major corporations or manufacturers.[39] Per-capita GSDP is Rs. 11,819 (US$ 238.27),[55] above the Indian average and far below the world average.[52] Kerala's Human Development Index rating is the highest in India.[56] This apparently paradoxical "Kerala phenomenon" or "Kerala model of development" of high human and low economic development results from the strong service sector.[39] [57] Kerala's economy depends on emigrants working in foreign countries (mainly in the Gulf countries such as Dubai or Bahrain) and remittances annually contribute more than a fifth of GSDP.[8][9][10]
The service sector (including tourism, public administration, banking and finance, transportation, and communications—63.8% of GSDP in 2002–2003) and the agricultural and fishing industries (together 17.2% of GSDP) dominate the economy.[53][58] Nearly half of Kerala's people are dependent on agriculture alone for income.[59] Some 600 varieties[41] of rice (Kerala's most important staple food and cereal crop)[60] are harvested from 3105.21 km² (a decline from 5883.4 km² in 1990)[60] of paddy fields; 688,859 tonnes are produced per annum.[59] Other key crops include coconut (899,198 ha), tea, coffee (23% of Indian production,[61] or 57,000 tonnes[61] ), rubber, cashews, and spices—including pepper, cardamom, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Around 1.050 million fishermen haul an annual catch of 668,000 tonnes (1999–2000 estimate); 222 fishing villages are strung along the 590 km coast. Another 113 fishing villages dot the hinterland.
Traditional industries manufacturing such items as coir, handlooms, and handicrafts employ around one million people. Around 180,000 small-scale industries employ around 909,859 Keralites; 511 medium and large scale manufacturing firms are located in Kerala. A small mining sector (0.3% of GSDP)[58] involves extraction of ilmenite, kaolin, bauxite, silica, quartz, rutile, zircon, and sillimanite.[59] Home gardens and animal husbandry also provide work for hundreds of thousands of people. Other major sectors are tourism, manufacturing, and business process outsourcing. As of March 2002, Kerala's banking sector comprised 3341 local branches; each branch served 10,000 persons, lower than the national average of 16,000; the state has the third-highest bank penetration among Indian states.[62] Unemployment in 2007 was estimated at 9.4%;[63] underemployment, low employability of youths, and a 13.5% female participation rate are chronic issues.[64] [65] Poverty rate figures range from 12.71%[66] to as high as 36%.[67] More than 45,000 residents live in slum conditions.[68]
- See also: Roads in Kerala
Kerala has 145,704 kilometers (90,536 mi) of roads (4.2% of India's total). This translates to about 4.62 kilometers (2.87 mi) of road per thousand population, compared to an all India average of 2.59 kilometers (1.61 mi). Virtually all of Kerala's villages are connected by road. Traffic in Kerala has been growing at a rate of 10–11% every year, resulting in high traffic and pressure on the roads. Kerala's road density is nearly four times the national average, reflecting the state's high population density. Kerala's annual total of road accidents is among the nation's highest.[69]
India's national highway network includes a Kerala-wide total of 1,524 kilometers (947 mi), which is 2.6% of the national total. There are eight designated national highways in the state. The Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP), which includes the GIS-based Road Information and Management Project (RIMS), is responsible for maintaining and expanding the 1,600 kilometers (994 mi) of roadways that compose the state highways system; it also oversees major district roads.[70][71] Most of Kerala's west coast is accessible through two national highways, NH 47, and NH 17.
The state has three major international airports at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, and Kozhikode, that link the state with the rest of the nation and the world. Fourth international airport is coming up at Kannur,once operational Kannur international airport will be the largest airport in Kerala. The Cochin International Airport was the first Indian airport incorporated as a public limited company and is funded by nearly 10,000 Non Resident Indians from 30 countries.[72] The backwaters traversing the state are an important mode of inland navigation. The Indian Railways' Southern Railway line runs throughout the state, connecting all major towns and cities except those in the highland districts of Idukki and Wayanad. Kerala's major railway stations are Trivandrum Central, Kollam Junction, Ernakulam Junction, Kannur, Kozhikode, Shoranur Junction, and Palakkad.
| Population trend[73][74] | |||
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| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1951 | 13,549,000 |
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| 1961 | 16,904,000 | 24.8% | |
| 1971 | 21,347,000 | 26.3% | |
| 1981 | 25,454,000 | 19.2% | |
| 1991 | 29,099,000 | 14.3% | |
| 2001 | 31,841,000 | 9.4% | |
| Est. 2006 | 35,005,000 | [74] | 9.9% |
| Source: 2001 Census of India[73] | |||
The 31.8 million[75] Keralites are predominantly of Malayali ethnicity, while the rest is mostly made up of Jewish and Arab elements in both culture and ancestry. Kerala's 321,000 indigenous tribal Adivasis, 1.10% of the population, are concentrated in the east.[76] Malayalam is Kerala's official language; Tamil and various Adivasi languages are also spoken by ethnic minorities.
Kerala is home to 3.44% of India's people; at 819 persons per km², its land is nearly three times as densely settled as the rest of India, which is at a population density of 325 persons per km².[77] Kerala's rate of population growth is India's lowest,[78] and Kerala's decadal growth (9.42% in 2001) is less than half the all-India average of 21.34%.[79] Whereas Kerala's population more than doubled between 1951 and 1991 by adding 15.6 million people to reach 29.1 million residents in 1991, the population stood at less than 32 million by 2001. Kerala's coastal regions are the most densely settled, leaving the eastern hills and mountains comparatively sparsely populated.[35]
Women compose 51.42% of the population.[80] Kerala's principal religions are Hinduism (56.2%%), Islam (24.70%), and Christianity (19.00%).[81] Remnants of a once substantial Cochin Jewish population also practice Judaism. In comparison with the rest of India, Kerala experiences relatively little sectarianism.[82]
Lindberg Anna says Kerala's society is less patriarchal than the rest of the Third World.[quotation needed][83] Kerala government states gender relations are among the most equitable in India and the Third World[quotation needed][84], despite discrepancies among low caste men and women.[83] Certain Hindu communities such as the Nairs, some Ezhavas and the Muslims around Kannur used to follow a traditional matrilineal system known as marumakkathayam, although this practice ended in the years after Indian independence. Other Muslims, Christians, and some Hindu castes such as the Namboothiris and the Ezhavas follow makkathayam, a patrilineal system.[85] Owing to the former matrilineal system, women in Kerala enjoy a high social status.[14]
Kerala's human development indices—elimination of poverty, primary level education, and health care—are among the best in India. According to a 2005-2006 national survey, Kerala has one of the highest literacy rates (89.9%) among Indian states[3] and life expectancy (73 years) was among the highest in India in 2001.[86] Kerala's rural poverty rate fell from 69% (1970–1971) to 19% (1993–1994); the overall (urban and rural) rate fell 36% between the 1970s and 1980s.[87] By 1999–2000, the rural and urban poverty rates dropped to 10.0% and 9.6% respectively.[88] These changes stem largely from efforts begun in the late 19th century by the kingdoms of Cochin and Travancore to boost social welfare.[89][90] This focus was maintained by Kerala's post-independence government.[56][39]
Kerala's healthcare system has garnered international acclaim. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization designated Kerala the world's first "baby-friendly state".[citation needed] For example, more than 95% of Keralite births are hospital-delivered.[91] Aside from ayurveda (both elite and popular forms),[92] siddha, and unani, many endangered and endemic modes of traditional medicine, including kalari, marmachikitsa,[92] and vishavaidyam, are practiced. These propagate via gurukula discipleship,,[92] and comprise a fusion of both medicinal and supernatural treatments,[92] and are partly responsible for drawing increasing numbers of medical tourists.
A steadily aging population (11.2% of Keralites are over age 60[56]) and low birthrate[93] (18 per 1,000)[94] make Kerala one of the few regions of the Third World to have undergone the "demographic transition" characteristic of such developed nations as Canada, Japan, and Norway.[57] In 1991, Kerala's total fertility rate (children born per women) was the lowest in India. Hindus had a TFR of 1.66, Christians 1.78, and Muslims 2.97.[95] Kerala's female-to-male ratio (1.058) is significantly higher than that of the rest of India.[86][57] The same is true of its sub-replacement fertility level and infant mortality rate (estimated at 12[94][39] to 14[96] deaths per 1,000 live births).
However, Kerala's morbidity rate is higher than that of any other Indian state—118 (rural Keralites) and 88 (urban) per 1,000 people. The corresponding all India figures are 55 and 54 per 1,000, respectively.[96] Kerala's 13.3% prevalence of low birth weight is substantially higher than that of First World nations.[94] Outbreaks of water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis, and typhoid among the more than 50% of Keralites who rely on 3 million water wells is a problem worsened by the widespread lack of sewers.[97]
The antiquity and robustness of Kerala's education system[citation needed] is underscored by her status as one of the most literate states in the country. The local dynastic precursors of modern-day Kerala made significant contributions to the progress on education by sponsoring sabha mathams that imparted Vedic knowledge. Apart from kalaris, which taught martial arts, there were village schools run by Ezhuthachans or Asans. The history of western education in Kerala can be traced to Christian missionaries who set up numerous schools and colleges.
The schools and colleges in Kerala are run by the government or private trusts or individuals. Each school is affiliated with either the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE), or the Kerala State Education Board. English is the language of instruction in most private schools, while government run schools offer English or Malayalam as medium. After 10 years of secondary schooling, students typically enroll at Higher Secondary School in one of the three streams—liberal arts, commerce or science. Upon completing the required coursework, students can enroll in general or professional degree programmes. Kerala topped the Education Development Index (EDI) among 21 major states in India in year 2006-2007. EDI is calculated using indicators such as access, infrastructure, teachers and outcome.[98]
Thiruvananthapuram, one of the state's major academic hubs, hosts the University of Kerala and seve