'Kerala should guard against fundamentalism'

Describing Kerala as the “fountainhead” of social harmony, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh Friday warned against the danger of the state becoming threatened by religious fundamentalism.

Describing Kerala as the “fountainhead” of social harmony, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday warned against the danger of the state becoming threatened by religious fundamentalism.

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“Kerala is a fountainhead of social harmony but its harmony cannot be taken for granted as religious fundamentalism can always threaten it,” Ramesh said in a session on Kerala's Experience of New Democratic Initiatives.

The minister marvelled at Kerala's good record in achieving most of the indicators of human development index without having high economic development in the state.

However, he pointed out that without remittance the state would have been in a very poor shape.

“The remittance cannot be the source of prosperity of the state and it will have to discover the domestic root of economic prosperity,” Ramesh said.

Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, who was present at the session, released the book “A Gracious Voice: Life of Oommen Chandy” authored by senior Congress leader PC Chacko.

Ramesh advised that Kerala should embrace economic pragmatism and make itself “hospitable to investors".