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www.GOALias.blogspot.com54 Politics in India since IndependenceDecentralised planningIt is not necessary that all planning always has tobe centralised; nor is it that planning is only aboutbig industries and large projects. The ‘Keralamodel’ is the name given to the path of planningand development charted by the State of Kerala.There has been a focus in this model on education,health, land reform, effective food distribution, andpoverty alleviation. Despite low per capita incomes,and a relatively weak industrial base, Keralaachieved nearly total literacy, long life expectancy,low infant and female mortality, low birth ratesand high access to medical care. Between 1987and 1991, the government launched the NewDemocratic Initiative which involved campaignsfor development (including total literacy especiallyin science and environment) designed to involvepeople directly in development activities throughvoluntary citizens’ organisations. The State hasalso taken initiative to involve people in makingplans at the Panchayat, block and district level.Key ControversiesThe strategy of development followedin the early years raised severalimportant questions. Let us examinetwo of these disputes that continueto be relevant.Agriculture versus industryWe have already touched upon a bigquestion: between agriculture andindustry, which one should attractmore public resources in a backwardeconomy like that of India? Manythought that the Second Plan lackedan agrarian strategy for development,and the emphasis on industrycaused agriculture and rural Indiato suffer. Gandhian economistslike J. C. Kumarappa proposed analternative blueprint that put greateremphasis on rural industrialisation.Chaudhary Charan Singh, a Congressleader who later broke from theparty to form Bharatiya Lok Dal,