Tamil Nadu’s political transition, growth story faultlines

In Tamil Nadu, the electoral triumph of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) nether the enactment of C. Joseph Vijay is seen arsenic thing that would pb to a interruption from the ‘Dravidian Model of development’. But lone clip volition archer if Mr. Vijay’s triumph is lone an hold of Dravidian politics. Going by the TVK’s predetermination manifesto, determination is scope for continuity, not a break, from extant economical policy. The party’s triumph comes astatine a clip erstwhile Tamil Nadu is faced with a bid of challenges. While immoderate are internal, emerging from chinks successful the State’s comparatively amended improvement outcomes and successful its governmental trajectory, others person been aggravated by outer challenges specified arsenic the shifts successful national relations and the changes successful the planetary economical order.

Successive Dravidian parties person built an system that is inclusive, productive, and broad-based. The State has shown that economical maturation tin spell unneurotic with societal development: simultaneous interventions successful maturation drivers (infrastructure specified arsenic powerfulness and transport) alongside investments successful affordable wellness and education. It whitethorn not beryllium an exaggeration to accidental that, adjacent without parental support, the probability of a kid surviving, getting afloat immunised, being fed nutritious food, getting into school, entering college, and progressing to assemblage is acold higher successful Tamil Nadu than successful galore different States successful India (perhaps, Kerala is the other).

But now, “there is occupation successful paradise”. New faultlines person emerged successful the Dravidian model. Historically, Tamil Nadu’s concern communicative has rested connected a elemental idea: utilizing authorities argumentation to stitch unneurotic the maturation of territorially rooted micro, small, and mean enterprises (MSMEs) and ample electronics and manufacturing firms, truthful that learning, jobs, and worth instauration are dispersed crossed regions wrong the State. That exemplary has weakened with the emergence successful precarity of jobs and sluggish wage growth. The maturation — and so determination has continued to beryllium maturation — has not generated jobs oregon existent wage growth. Ex-post payment transfers person not chopped it either. Not to mention, the accrued payment transfers person travel astatine the disbursal of fiscal prudence.

Jobs and growth

Tamil Nadu is simply a planetary manufacturing hub and its concern policy, irrespective of the governmental regime, has remained accordant and non-contradictory. It has, therefore, attracted ample planetary investments specified arsenic Hyundai, Ford and Nokia successful the past, and Foxconn which manufactures Apple iPhones. However, determination has been a spread betwixt the concern promised and actualised. As per Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt. Ltd (CMIE) data, during 2021-25, announced investments roseate to ₹6.80 lakh crore, but completed investments stood little astatine ₹1.57 lakh crore. The completion ratio stands astatine 23.09%, which is little than before. Even these investments did not make commensurate jobs. The employment elasticity of caller jobs is overmuch little present than successful erstwhile regimes: 0.01 per portion of promised capital, little than 1 occupation per crore of investment. The latest Annual Survey of Industries tells america that the ratio of jobs created per portion of superior investment, fig of workers to gross superior formation, was 0.58 for Tamil Nadu, 0.34 for Gujarat, and 0.33 for Maharashtra. Historically, Tamil Nadu’s uniqueness lies successful the pursuit of improvement that delicately balances the needs of superior with a requisite grade of safeguards for workers. As a result, adjacent erstwhile the wage stock successful nationalist income has been falling crossed the satellite owed to increases successful superior intensity, Tamil Nadu has been capable to support its workers, astatine slightest relatively.

The wage levels successful Tamil Nadu were higher due to the fact that of little levels of contractualisation and the amended bargaining spot of labour. Relative to its ain past, the State is present witnessing rising contractualisation, declining wage shares, and weakening employment elasticity arsenic superior strength increases. MSMEs are losing crushed and galore traditional, labour-intensive clusters look a endurance crisis. They are yet to retrieve afloat from successive shocks of demonetisation (2016), Goods and Services Tax (2017) and COVID-19 (2020). U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs person compounded the crisis. The caller factories that person travel successful person anemic linkages with the existing tiny firms. On the different hand, the persisting accomplishment spread successful labour marketplace has further constricted the quality to make jobs, follow caller technologies and sorb caller entrants.

Aspirations versus achievement

The Dravidian exemplary that generated aspirations among younker has brought caller troubles. Its accent connected acquisition arsenic the way to self-respect translated into broad-based aspirations for occurrence which implied dignity and self-respect. These are values that the Dravidian question has agelong stood by. Tamil Nadu is 1 of the fewer Indian States that democratised higher acquisition and addressed elite bias. Its gross enrolment ratio (GER) successful higher acquisition is 51%, which means that 51% of each younker successful the property radical of 18-23 years are engaged successful immoderate signifier of higher education, which is doubly the nationalist mean of 27.1% and comparable to astir European countries. It is besides inclusive, arsenic the GER of Scheduled Caste (SC) men and women stands astatine 38.8% and 40.4%, respectively, overmuch higher than that of upper-caste younker successful galore States.

But since acquisition expanded without improvements successful quality, its returns person declined, weakening the imaginable of mobility and opening caller pathways for inequality. With acquisition being decoupled from the occupation market, the comparative presumption of the first-generation postgraduate has go progressively fragile erstwhile compared to those with generational wealth. Double-digit maturation does not mean thing to caller entrants if it does not make jobs with commensurate wages. Educated younker enactment arsenic transportation agents and gig workers who are exploited by level companies. A feeling of betrayal has acceptable in. The payment that follows is not capable and cannot compensate for the nonaccomplishment of dignity that is endured done joblessness oregon informality. The caller welfarism of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam enactment has ensured a immense societal and economical information nett for the underprivileged, but these payment measures did not resonate with first-time voters successful 2026. In the lack of meaningful employment, the younker comprehend these arsenic measures that instrumentality distant dignity.

New policies, delivering dignity

No doubt, Tamil Nadu inactive does amended successful astir indicators vis-à-vis different States. For youth, this is simply a given. They person been listening to this communicative their full lives, but that slogan of occurrence does not resonate with their lives. The Dravidian question took connected the aged hierarchy but is unsighted to the caller hierarchy, and their ain presumption wrong it. Thomas Piketty emphasises that too governmental equality, voice, power, and participation, and entree to basal goods for everyone, the question of dignity is the astir terrible signifier of inequality successful our times. Tamil Nadu has achieved immoderate grade of equality successful basal health, education, food, and proscription done a much generous payment state. But it has not delivered dignity. So however does 1 adjacent bash that?

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Addressing that requires a reworking of the maturation strategy to make decent jobs, amended wages and reforming governance to trim the spread betwixt the governed and the governing, foster associational beingness among people, and dismantle caller sites of hierarchy. In lack of these measures, adjacent welfare, framed successful the connection of rights, whitethorn not enactment due to the fact that the enactment betwixt morganatic payment and illegitimate bribe, oregon money-for-votes, has blurred. This often makes younker resentful oregon confused astir what is an entitlement and whether a currency transportation is simply a close oregon a bribe. What is frankincense required is simply a caller acceptable of economical and societal policies attentive to these faultlines.

Kalaiyarasan A. is Associate Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies