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RS MP Chandrashekhar’s Office Gives Modi the Benefit of the Doubt

The office cites a study that shows the similarity between HDI in Kerala and Somalia to justify Modi’s comments.

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Politics
2 min read
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced flak after he compared Kerala to Somalia during his election rally in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on Monday, 9 May. Infant mortality rates among the Scheduled Tribe community in Kerala are worse than in Somalia.

The office of independent Member of Parliament Rajeev Chandrasekhar, in an attempt to give him the benefit of the doubt, wrote to The Quint saying the numbers he was citing may have been in reference to the Human Development Index (HDI) calculated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

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It said:

Maybe this is one of the reasons that the comparison must have come up.

A study by the International Journal of Advanced Remote Sensing and GIS (JRSGIS) cited by Chandrashekhar’s office said that the HDI of one of the three major tribal regions of Kerala – Attappady Block of Palakkad District – is at par with the HDI of some African countries like Ethiopia, Niger, and Somalia.

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The report cited by MP Chandrashekhar’s office, titled “Estimation and evaluation of the hydrological status of ponds in Peruvemba Panchayat, Palakkad District, Kerala” (Page 20) reads:

Further, we can place these three communities’ (Irula, Muduga, Kurumba) human development indices in a global scenario (Figure – 3).
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Far-fetched Argument

However, the argument falls weak on the following fronts:

  • The HDI is calculated on the basis of health, educational attainment and standard of living. Further, the health indicator is based on the life expectancy at birth in the region.
  • As mentioned earlier, Attappady is one of the three major regions of Kerala where the tribal population is concentrated.
  • The JRSGIS study has taken into account the three major tribe found in Attappady – Irula, Muduga, Kurumba.
  • The Kerala government website of Scheduled Tribe Development Department says that there are 40 other tribes in Kerala.
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An earlier version of this article called Rajeev Chandrashekhar a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). We apologise for the mistake.

(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)

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