Editing Kerala model (section)

{{Short description|Developmental model adopted in Kerala}}
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
[[File:2006 Human Development Index for India map by states, HDI data by GoI and UNDP India.svg|thumbnail|The [[Human Development Index]] of various Indian States as of 2006 (prepared by United Nations Development Programme).]]
The '''Kerala model''' refers to the practices adopted by the [[India]]n state of [[Kerala]] to further human development. It is characterised by results showing strong social indicators when compared to the rest of the country such as high literacy and life expectancy rates, highly improved access to healthcare, and low infant mortality and birth rates. Despite having a lower per capita income, the state is sometimes compared to [[developed countries]].<ref name="Parayil-Intro">{{cite book
| last       = Parayil
| first      = Govindan
| editor     = Govindan Parayil
| title      = Kerala: The Development Experience : Reflections on Sustainability and Replicability
| url        = https://books.google.com/books?id=__Fbl-UwposC
| access-date = 16 January 2011
| year      = 2000
| publisher = Zed Books
| location  = London
| isbn      = 1-85649-727-5
| chapter   = Introduction: Is Kerala's Development Experience a Model?
| chapter-url    = https://books.google.com/books?id=__Fbl-UwposC&q=introduction&pg=PA1
}}
</ref> These achievements along with the factors responsible for such achievements have been considered characteristic results of the Kerala model.<ref name="Parayil-Intro" /><ref name="Oommen-Franke">{{cite book
| last       = Franke
| first      = Richard W.
|author2=Barbara H. Chasin
 | editor        = [[M. A. Oommen]]
| title         = Rethinking Development: Kerala's Development Experience, Volume I
| url           = https://books.google.com/books?id=lKq5A57tX1cC
| access-date    = 16 January 2011
| year      = 1999
| publisher = Institute of Social Sciences
| location  = New Delhi
| isbn      = 81-7022-764-X
| chapter   = Is the Kerala Model Sustainable? Lessons from the Past, Prospects for the Future
| chapter-url    = https://books.google.com/books?id=lKq5A57tX1cC&pg=PA118
}}
</ref> Academic literature discusses the primary factors underlying the success of the Kerala model as its decentralization efforts, the political mobilization of the poor, and the active involvement of civil society organizations in the planning and implementation of development policies.<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last=Banik |first=Dan |date=2011 |title=Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy: Growth and Hunger in India |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/444761 |journal=Journal of Democracy |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=90–104 |doi=10.1353/jod.2011.0049 |s2cid=153698245 |issn=1086-3214|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

More precisely, the Kerala model has been defined as:
*A set of high material [[quality of life]] indicators coinciding with low per-capita incomes, both distributed across nearly the entire population of Kerala.
*A set of [[Redistribution of income and wealth|wealth and resource redistribution]] programmes that have largely brought about the high material quality-of-life indicators.
*High levels of [[political participation]] and [[activism]] among ordinary people along with substantial numbers of dedicated leaders at all levels. Kerala's mass activism and committed cadre are able to function within a large democratic structure, which their activism has served to reinforce.