A POSTCAPITALIST PARADIGM: THE COMMON GOOD OF ...

alam language under the organisational banner Kerala Sastra Sahitya
Parishad (Kerala Science and Literature Association), or KSSP. Some of
the first books they translated were Bernal’s Social Function of Science
and Science in History. Next, they innovated with new methods of science
communication, using annual traveling theatre and music (kala jatha)
groups to convey a variety of issues and concepts regarding science, development
and education directly to people, from village to village. As
more and more scientists, social scientists, teachers and youth joined
the movement, reaching up to 70,000 by late seventies, KSSP started
to address issues of development, particularly rural development.
Kerala is a unique region in the World in as much that in economic terms
it is fairly poor; but in terms of social indicators like education and literacy,
infant mortality rate, longevity, sex ratio etc, it is like a first world country.
It therefore contradicts the neoliberal claim that high growth rates are a
necessary pre-requisite for better social indicators. KSSP concentrated
its efforts to work out avenues of development that were self-reliant
and did not depend largely on imports and exports, or processes of globalization.
This resulted in mapping out the entire resource wealth of Kerala,
and using that a basis, to formulate policies that would help farmers
to become self-sufficient, to provide food sovereignty.
Though working on different issues, such people’s science groups existed
in other states of India too. The catastrophic Bhopal Gas Disaster
brought them together in 1984. They worked together to help the victims
of the gas disaster in analyzing the technical aspects that led to the
disaster, on issues of health and injury and the legal issues in order that
the victims got justice and proper compensation. This also led to these
organisations to question the entire approach of science and technology
being used for mega profits of mega businesses. Based on this work,
twenty-six such organisations came together in 1987 to form the All
India People’s Science Network, as a nation wide organisation. By the
year 2000, the participating groups were 46 with a combined membership
of around half a million people.
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