Just a note on Kerela.I'm certain that if you met two people, one supportive of Kerela's government, and one opposed, you would naturally take the opposed as the "expert". As it happens Kerela has elected a communist form of governance - several times.
"In 1957 voters of the newly formed state of Kerela elected a communist majority to the State Legislative Assembly. This Communist government immediately set out to enact a substantial land reform and to carry out radical reforms. Following months of right-wing agitation, India's central government dismissed the Communist government in 1959, and Kerela was ruled first by presidential decree from New Delhi and then by a series of conservative coalitions until 1967, when a Communist-led coalition was voted into power.
"In 1964 the Communist Party of India had split into two major factions, and the Kerela branch followed suit. The United Left Front coalition elected in 1967 included both parties and held office until 1969...[During the 1970's, Kerela was governed by a coalition of Communist and Congress Parties]
"In 1980 another leftist coalition called the Left Democratic Front won control of the Legislative Assembly. It included both the CPI [pro-Moscow] and the far larger Communist Party-Marxist (CPM) that has taken an independent international approach along with several small parties. This coalition ruled until 1982 when it was replaced again by a conservative coalition led by the Congress Party. In 1987 Kerela voters once again returned the Left Democratic Front to power, a position it continues to hold at the writing of this report>" [1994]
From: "Kerela" by Richard W. Franke and Barbara H. Chasin
That Kerela receives subsidies should be no surprise. EVERY State in India (as in the U.S.) receives subsidies from the central government.
A more important source of funding - to give you some free ammunition - is from remittances from around half a million working overseas - in the Gulf States for example.
But the importance of kerela is in where it started from some 40 years ago in comparison with other states in India, and how it compares with those same states today in a number of categories. The difference is striking.
