As a rule a state Governor rarely gets either an opportunity or the necessary inspiration to say something thought-provoking. Shri V.V. Giri, the Governor of Kerala is, however, an exception. In a recent address to the state’s Industrial Relations Board he made some valid points which hold good for other states as well. Getting down to the root of the problem of the “Problem State,” he emphasised the need for imminent dispersal of population from the densely populated “Kerala to elsewhere like Dandakaranya where newly developing areas are coming up which can conveniently accommodate a large number of people.” This idea had been toyed about earlier by the chairman of the Dandakaranya Development Authority and, not unexpectedly, it withered away after the first passing mention. Open advocacy of mass migration might well have earned Shri Giri undeserved unpopularity in a state, say, like West Bengal, but in Kerala things are vastly different. The people are willing to undertake adventurous experiments if only they get a chance to take the first step in those directions. And since the question of people from one state competing with people from another for lebensraum does not arise in the virgin lands of Dandakaranya, there is no reason why the idea of resettling the excess population of Kerala in that area should not appeal to the Centre. Under the stresses and strains of pioneering the settlement of people from various states in Dandakaranya may even be the first stage in the evolution of a new class of Indians without any ‘provincial’ prejudices. Another important point the Governor made was the need for an industrial truce for the duration of the Third plan period. It envisages, first of all, a gentleman’s agreement between the workers and industrial managements to eschew strikes and lockouts; and secondly, the complete avoidance of the many tiered system of compulsory adjudication, a contentious process engendering endless litigation and mutual suspicion and bitterness. If only they would take the Governor’s tip and formulate a code of conduct and avoid inter-union rivalries it would be so much the easier for the Industrial Relations Board to enforce a code of conduct for the employers as well.
18th December 1960.
