politics in tamil nadu essay

Politics & Governance

Inclusive growth in Tamil Nadu: The role of political leadership and governance

Briefing 20th January 2020

By multiple experts (2)

Although the culinary and linguistic differences between North and South India are widely known outside the country, less well understood abroad are the differences in how the two groupings of Indian states have fared on development. A comparison of Tamil Nadu, a southern state, and Uttar Pradesh, a northern state, is indicative of broader regional trends. In 1960-61, these two states were not so different across a number of measures related to development, albeit with Tamil Nadu achieving a generally higher performance. For instance, at that time, Tamil Nadu had a per capita income 51% higher than that of Uttar Pradesh—5,053 as compared to 3,338 Indian rupees. [_] This gap, however, narrowed to 39% by the early 1980s. The two states were even closer together when it came to poverty: from the early 1970s (and probably before) to the late 1980s, Tamil Nadu’s poverty rate was equal to or higher than that of Uttar Pradesh. In fact, in 1960, the rural poverty rate in Tamil Nadu checked in at just below 70%, much higher than Uttar Pradesh’s rate of 48%.

Decades later, we see a much different situation. By 2005, Tamil Nadu’s per capita income outpaced Uttar Pradesh’s by 128 percent—a gap more than twice as big as it was in the early 1960s. And in 2009-10, Tamil Nadu’s rural poverty rate dropped to nearly half that of Uttar Pradesh (21.2% vs. 39.4%), and its urban poverty rate was less than half of Uttar Pradesh’s (12.8% vs. 31.7%).

Today, Tamil Nadu is India’s second-largest economy despite being only its sixth most populous state, and among India’s 12 largest states, Tamil Nadu has the third-highest GDP per capita. [_] Located at the southernmost tip of the subcontinent with a population of more than 70 million, it is India’s most urbanised state and one of its most industrialised, with a strong manufacturing base and a large services sector. At the same time, it ranks second on the Human Development Index among India’s 13 largest states. [_] In other words, the state has achieved high growth rates and economic transformation in combination with significant progress on social outcomes, which has been key for enabling broad swathes of the state’s population to share in its growth.

How did Tamil Nadu do this? The state’s development path illuminates some key points regarding how governments can effectively promote inclusive development. Underlying the policies and investments that the Tamil Nadu state government has pursued are:

An inclusive vision traced out by widely popular Tamil cultural figures turned political leaders, such as former chief ministers (the top executive post at the state level) M. Karunanidhi and M.G. Ramachandran (widely known by his initials MGR), for whom social justice and uplifting disadvantaged groups were central concerns

Policy consistency and commitment of the state’s political leadership to industrial development, which cut across the administrations of Karunanidhi, MGR and their successor Jayalalithaa, as well as the predictability that this created over time for investors—despite power alternating between the state’s two primary parties on a regular basis

The effectiveness of the bureaucracy in policy implementation, due to the recruitment of socioeconomically diverse cadres who were attuned to local challenges; the ideological ties between bureaucrats and the regional political parties (and the competitive pressures to deliver that this created); and the establishment of specialised agencies, such as the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) and the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT), to drive delivery of the state’s economic vision.

The state’s competitive, clientelist political system and history of towering political leaders are also common features of politics in many African countries. As a result, Tamil Nadu’s experience in channelling this system towards inclusive development holds important lessons about governance that can be instructive for African countries.

Tamil Nadu has been one of India’s best-performing states when it comes to inclusive development. Since 1994, poverty has declined steadily in the state, resulting in Tamil Nadu having lower levels of poverty than most other states in India. This trend has played out in both rural and urban areas of Tamil Nadu, the former seeing a 35-percentage point reduction in poverty between 1994 and 2012 and the latter seeing a 27-percentage point reduction during the same period. [_]

Population below poverty line across Indian states, 1994-2012

Rapid economic growth over the past several decades has played a major role in the state’s poverty reduction story. From 1991 to 2012, Tamil Nadu averaged 7% growth in GDP and approximately 6% growth in GDP per capita [_] —both clocking in above the all-India average. [_]

Average annual growth rate of per capita income in selected Indian states, by decade

Importantly, economic transformation has underpinned the state’s growth, as people in Tamil Nadu have moved off the farm and into other types of work over time. The state’s non-farm employment share in 2012 ranked fifth among all Indian states.

Employment share by sector in Tamil Nadu, 1994-2012

Services have led the way in terms of contributing to growth and employment, but industry has also played a critical role—accounting for approximately 30% of Tamil Nadu’s growth between 1991 and 2012. [_] The state ranks first among all Indian states in terms of number of factories and industrial workers, and has a diversified manufacturing sector. It is among the leading states in automobiles, components, textiles and garments, leather products, pharmaceuticals and other industries. [_] Major automobile manufacturers, such as Hyundai, Ford, Renault and BMW, have had production facilities in and around Chennai (the capital of Tamil Nadu) for years, and the Tiruppur-Coimbatore-Salem corridor has been dubbed the “Manchester of South India” due to its large cluster of textile firms.

This economic success has coincided with substantial progress on human development. Infant mortality has declined substantially and rates are now among the lowest in India. Malnutrition is also among the lowest in the country, and is below the national average for all income groups. [_] Across a range of health indicators, Tamil Nadu stacks up well against other high-growth, high-income states, such as Gujarat.

Table 4: Basic Health Indicators in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, 2005-06

On education, children in Tamil Nadu are staying in school longer, and the share of adults with secondary schooling is above the national average. In terms of educational attainment across socioeconomic groups, Tamil Nadu again compares favourably with Gujarat. [_]

To be clear, Tamil Nadu still has much room for improvement: non-farm job growth has been slow in recent years, and is not keeping up with the expansion of the working-age population; women have dropped out of the labour force (mirroring a countrywide trend); open defecation remains commonplace among low-income households; and learning outcomes in primary school are no better than the all-India average. Nonetheless, the state’s significant economic and social progress both during and after economic liberalisation in 1991 should not be brushed off, as its experience demonstrates what can be achieved when political leadership and governance set out and follow through on a strong, inclusive development agenda.

Tamil Nadu has successfully combined a coherent industrial policy with social welfare programmes, which has generated a virtuous cycle of development. Industrialisation has provided the resources to invest in social policies, and these social policies have bolstered the health, productivity and skill base of the state’s population. [_] Higher skills among workers, in turn, have allowed the state to move into more complex economic activities, diversify its economy and thus sustain growth.

Industrial policy

Tamil Nadu’s industrial policy has focused on a few key elements. First, the state has invested in infrastructure—upgrading road, rail and port networks—to enhance connectivity between its hinterland, industrial clusters and urban markets. [_] For instance, major ports, such as Chennai, were essential in making the state an attractive location for export industries. Investments in communications infrastructure were also prioritised to enhance connectivity, enabling Tamil Nadu to become one of India’s major IT centres. From the 1950s to the 1980s, the government invested heavily in boosting the state’s electricity generation capacity, a critical input for manufacturing. These investments created suitable background conditions for foreign manufacturers—ranging from Standard Motors in the 1950s to Hyundai and Ford in the 1990s—and domestic business houses—such as the TVS Group, Rane and Amalgamations Group—alike to set up shop and to grow. [_]

Second, the state government emphasised the spatial dimension of industrial development, by promoting industrial parks and clustering. Industrial estates have been a part of Tamil Nadu’s economic landscape since India’s independence in 1947. The accession to power of Karunanidhi and his regional party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), in the late 1960s reinforced this trend by leveraging new state agencies—and capable Cabinet members, such as the Minister of Industry S. Madhavan—to accelerate industrial development. The Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), set up in 1965 by the previous Congress Party-led government, obtained many industrial licences and regularly partnered with the private sector to establish new industrial activities in the state, including various IT parks in the 1990s. [_] The State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) was established in 1971, and, through aggressive land acquisition, created land banks that enabled foreign investors to obtain land in a more streamlined fashion. These were used to successfully develop many industrial projects and complexes. [_] In particular, industrial clusters and Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have been set up in specific sectors, including in footwear, engineering products, automobiles and IT. Consequently, Tamil Nadu now has the most SEZs in the country and is among India’s highest recipients of FDI. [_] Another result of this spatial focus is that Tamil Nadu’s industrial development is spread out across the state (more so than in most other Indian states), and is diversified across a number of sectors. This has allowed both domestic SMEs and foreign investors to contribute to technological upgrading and the expansion of export capabilities. [_]

Third, the state government pursued complementary policy measures prior to India’s liberalisation in 1991 that readied Tamil Nadu to grasp new opportunities as they arose in post-liberalisation India. [_] For instance, MGR opened new avenues for education, particularly geared towards industry. His administration expanded lower-level technical education by setting up a variety of industrial training institutes and polytechnic colleges all over the state—thereby laying the foundation for Tamil Nadu’s successful automobile industry. [_] Starting in the 1980s, he also allowed private groups to establish engineering and medical colleges. While this was a means to distribute patronage (e.g. land below market-value rates, privileged access to a lucrative business opportunity) in exchange for political support, it helped to create a pool of human capital that has effectively served the state’s fast-growing IT sector since the 1990s. [_] Forward-thinking policymaking in the state has continued long after liberalisation—for example, on the contentious issue of land acquisition, where Tamil Nadu amended the process at the state level in 2015 to make it less time-consuming while other states have yet to take such steps. [_]

Social Policies

While other Indian states have pursued similar industrial policies, Tamil Nadu stands out in its parallel focus on social welfare policies, in the areas of public education, social security and healthcare. In addition to technical education, MGR vastly increased the educational quota for disadvantaged communities, from 30% to 69%. [_] Successive governments have strongly supported public education, with concerted efforts aimed at expanding free education and developing a large network of schools and universities. [_] Since the 1970s, various initiatives have been designed to encourage school participation, including the provision of free uniforms, textbooks and laptops, as well as cash incentives to reduce dropout rates. Among these, MGR’s universalisation of the existing midday meal scheme is still widely seen as one of the state’s most noteworthy accomplishments. [_] As a result, Tamil Nadu today has universal primary school attendance, and the highest gross enrolment in higher education in India. [_] These advances have played a crucial role in equipping Tamil Nadu with an educated and technically skilled workforce, making it an attractive state for investment.

Midday Meal Scheme (MMS)

The launch of the universal midday meal scheme (MMS) in 1982 is widely seen as a pioneering idea that had a major impact on health and education outcomes in Tamil Nadu. While similar initiatives had been in place since independence, it was MGR, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 to 1987 and leader of the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (an offshoot of the DMK party), who universalised the idea. It initially served primary schoolchildren in rural areas, and within a few years, all children up to the age of 15 were entitled to a nutritious meal each day in school. [_] At the time of its implementation, the scheme was widely derided by economists as a “populist” programme and a waste of resources.

However, World Bank appraisals have shown that the MMS has curbed malnutrition, reduced infant mortality and lowered birth rates. [_] It has also driven school enrolment rates and led to greater classroom participation. In fact, various studies have found a dramatic positive effect on learning achievements, making the school meal programme a highly cost-effective way to improve skills among future workers. The extent of the MMS’s success can be seen in the fact that the central government adopted the Tamil Nadu model as a template for its own national scheme 20 years later. [_]

In the provision of essential public services, Tamil Nadu follows a universalistic principle, making services as broadly available as possible. [_] This approach has several advantages. Households below the poverty line can be difficult to identify, both conceptually and practically, meaning that targeting public services can lead to substantial exclusion errors. Moreover, when everyone has a stake in the system, its likelihood of working greatly increases. Otherwise, it is often the case that “services for the poor will always be poor services”. India’s public distribution system (PDS), designed to provide households with a minimum quota of subsidised food, is a case in point. From the late 1990s, many states targeted the PDS towards poor households, though Tamil Nadu continued with a universal approach. This is widely acknowledged as one of the primary reasons why Tamil Nadu is one of the states with the fewest leakages of funds in its PDS system. As a result, it has reduced the poverty gap in the state by up to 60%. [_] The experience of Gujarat, another high-growth state, contrasts sharply with this: leakages are as high as 63% and half of the state’s poorest people do not receive any subsidies due to poor coverage. [_]

A similar story can be told regarding healthcare. Unlike most of India’s large states, Tamil Nadu has a clear commitment to widespread access and affordability in healthcare. From the late 1980s, significant investments have transformed the state’s health infrastructure. Initiatives that were launched by the central government were vigorously implemented, such as the large-scale expansion of primary health centres. [_] Moreover, the state has launched its own schemes to complement these, such as the provision of around-the-clock services to improve women’s access to obstetric care or decentralised immunisation programmes. Overall, health outcomes have been transformed in Tamil Nadu. Today, it has the country’s second-lowest infant mortality rate and has achieved a 70% reduction in maternal mortality in the nearly 30 years since liberalisation, an area in which India as a whole is doing poorly. [_] It achieved the Millennium Development Goals far ahead of most states and is well on the way to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. [_] This focus on healthcare has not only protected public health, but also helped to build the state’s developmental infrastructure, aiding rapid industrialisation. This is illustrated by the fact that areas like Hosur, which have long suffered from endemic plague and cholera, are now seeking to develop as industrial zones. [_]

Tamil Nadu’s state government has had a major influence on the state’s development trajectory. It has taken an open stance towards investment while simultaneously pursuing policies to ensure that broad swathes of the population could benefit; maintained policy consistency and commitment to industrialisation across changes in political leadership; and built up a bureaucracy that could implement its economic and social policies effectively. As many African countries are also seeking to achieve inclusive economic transformation, they can draw lessons about political leadership and governance from the Tamil Nadu experience.

Forward-thinking leadership married to social development

The political climate in Tamil Nadu has long been influenced by ideas of social justice. Dravidian social movements, representative of the indigenous ethnolinguistic group in Tamil Nadu, have historically been a key player in this regard. These movements, dating to the early 1900s, demanded social reforms and public benefits, particularly for disadvantaged (i.e. lower-caste) groups in society. The role that they have played not only in putting legitimate demands on the state government, but also in birthing the DMK and its offshoot the AIADMK, is frequently cited as a major pillar of the Tamil Nadu model. [_]

In response, Tamil Nadu’s political leadership was forward-thinking in pursuing an inclusive development agenda, particularly in the decades following India’s independence. Both the DMK and AIADMK not only responded to popular mobilisation and public pressure but, in many cases, they were at the forefront of it. Karunanidhi’s predecessor as Chief Minister and at the helm of the DMK, C.M. Annadurai (known as Anna, or “big brother” in Tamil), used theatre and cinema to advocate for anti-nationalist, anti-casteist and other progressive ideas, as he understood that focusing on uplifting disadvantaged groups was a key to progress. [_] Karunanidhi, a lauded screenwriter in Tamil cinema as well as a novelist, political commentator and orator, entered politics not only on the back of his popularity in these domains but also through his direct involvement in local political protests. His time as Chief Minister in the 1960s and 1970s saw a continued focus on the disadvantaged; he made education free, subsidised power and took various other measures aimed at reducing discrimination and supporting the welfare of marginalised groups. [_]

His supporter turned political rival MGR was a Tamil film star, and around this time starred in a number of films that promised that the state government would take care of the poor. [_] Indeed, MGR himself insisted on the MMS in the face of opposition, as he saw it as crucial to prevent hunger and improve learning. His leadership skills were critical in maintaining political support for the scheme and raising funding through tax increases. [_] Similarly, the state’s preventive approach to healthcare relied on a long-term perspective on the part of state leadership, particularly in the face of political pressures to “fight visible fires” that were more immediate. [_] Broadly speaking, social welfare policies in Tamil Nadu were designed to invest in the common man—with the recognition that these investments would drive further growth.

The inclusive ideals of these political leaders have also been reflected in Tamil Nadu’s industrial schemes, particularly regarding land acquisition. The state’s approach includes offering generous compensation packages to the dispossessed, employment and training opportunities, and land redistribution. In other words, “land acquisition in Tamil Nadu is accomplished more through consent than coercion”. [_] Tamil Nadu’s experience contrasts sharply with that of other states, as the establishment of SEZs in the state has encountered no systematic resistance or major confrontation. [_]

Commitment to industrialisation and policy consistency

Since the 1960s, Tamil Nadu’s main political parties have been politically committed to industrialisation. State agencies such as TIDCO and SIPCOT were set up to advance industrial development (see below). From Karunanidhi on through Jayalalithaa, successive chief ministers provided strong political support, in terms of funding and in backing contentious actions such as land acquisition. [_] This political support, in turn, enabled consistent goal-setting at the highest levels of government. With a clear direction from the top, the state bureaucracy was then given space to figure out how to deliver on the industrial development agenda. [_]

Political commitment to industrialisation in Tamil Nadu manifested in at least two important ways. First, political leaders such as Jayalalithaa and their top bureaucrats made hands-on, tailored efforts to attract specific companies and sectors. The automotive industry during the mid-1990s is a notable example. Despite Maharashtra’s existing strengths in the sector, Ford decided to set up its first factory in India in Chennai in 1995. In addition to the facilitation role that the bureaucracy played, Jayalalithaa herself was instrumental in bringing the investment to the state. She made a sizeable chunk of land available to Ford to set up its plant, and offered incentives related to infrastructure, sales and output tax exemptions, and capital and power subsidies. [_] It was also rumoured that Jayalalithaa spoke to senior officials in the US government to encourage them to persuade Ford to invest in Tamil Nadu. [_] Ford’s entry played a catalytic role in developing the sector: Hyundai soon followed Ford’s lead in investing in Tamil Nadu, and the Hyundai plant near Chennai is now the company’s global export base for small cars. [_] The snowball effect has carried on even in recent years, as Jayalalithaa’s most recent administration signed MoUs in 2012 with five global automobile manufacturers, including Daimler, Nissan and Yamaha. [_] Today, Tamil Nadu is one of the top automobile hubs in the world, with a world-class ecosystem centred around Chennai, the “Detroit of India”. [_]

Another example is the IT sector, which was beginning to boom in the 1990s, in Chennai among other Indian cities. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), an Indian software engineering firm, became a key private-sector partner in this process, in part by establishing their own IT campus in a Chennai suburb in 1999. Jayalalithaa aided TCS immensely: a company representative has stated that, “We had to build the roads. We had to buy land from government and private parties. When we had a problem with some clearance, the then Chief Minister Jayalalithaa stepped in and sorted it out.” [_]

The second way in which political commitment to industrial development manifested in Tamil Nadu was through the policy consistency that successive, opposing administrations maintained over time. Though the DMK and AIADMK have frequently swapped places in power, the state’s approach to investment has remained relatively stable and predictable. As certainty in contracts and property rights are critical to attract and retain investors, the fact that neither party has reneged on major investments negotiated by the other since 1989 has significantly strengthened Tamil Nadu’s ability to attract investment. [_]

Policy consistency has been an enduring feature of Tamil Nadu’s politics not despite but because of the political competition and rivalry between the DMK and AIADMK. Neither party could wipe out the other on ideological grounds, since as discussed previously, they shared a range of positions. Their similar viewpoints translated into overlapping constituencies, for whom they had to compete intensely and deliver tangible benefits. In addition, ideological closeness increased the chances that power would alternate between the two parties regularly, as they had little policy basis on which to differentiate themselves from one another. As a result, it was not in the interest of any given administration to reverse successful policies or block investments secured by the previous administration; doing so would likely go against their own ideology and the preferences of their own constituents. In fact, as a senior ex-bureaucrat in Tamil Nadu said, “If one party’s policies worked earlier the newly elected party would have no hesitation in adopting and improving upon it.” [_] This policy stability was a boon to productive industrial sectors, and even lured those investing in technology-intensive businesses despite their longer timelines for learning and pay-offs.

Again, the automotive industry provides an interesting example. A change in the investment climate following an Enron scandal and state elections in Maharashtra in 1995 influenced Hyundai’s decision to locate in Chennai. Before Hyundai’s operations had been established there, Jayalalithaa and her party, the AIADMK, were trounced in state elections in 1996 by the DMK, again headed by Karunanidhi. Yet his administration lived up to previously agreed government commitments, enabling Hyundai to roll out the first car from their operations in Tamil Nadu in September 1998. [_]

Summing up both these points, a former executive vice-chairman at TIDCO cited the strong support from the state government and the coherent ideas of political leaders from the different ruling parties as the most important factor in boosting FDI inflows, stating: “Government support is very important to promote investments. The commitment of the government to creating relevant policies and incentives is necessary. In the system of democracy, the government (ruling party) keeps changing. An election keeps coming and after five years the government changes. But an industrial development plan needs 40 or 50 years, it does not respect this change of governments. A successful government should keep the promises of the previous government in pursuing such investment projects continuously. This is business, not politics [for economic growth]. Both the DMK and the AIADMK governments consider investment projects as significant for the industry, so the successive government[s have] honoured such industrial promises of the previous government[s].” [_]

Competent and effective administration

Tamil Nadu has a reputation for innovative design and effective implementation of its economic and social welfare policies, which has proven instrumental for the state’s development. [_] This has enabled the state government to translate its lofty ideals into tangible progress on industrial development, education and health (while also reducing leakages of public funds). Indeed, Tamil Nadu’s overall governance is ranked as the second most effective among Indian states. [_]

A variety of factors have made Tamil Nadu’s bureaucracy strong. During the tenures of Anna and Karunanidhi as Chief Minister in the 1960s and 1970s, the state government actively sought to recruit from lower-caste groups, many of whom were from rural areas and thus could better understand rural conditions and issues. [_] As the civil service became more representative of the population, it became more attuned to the expectations and aspirations of the state’s main political parties, the DMK and AIADMK. As a result, civil servants could play a bridging role between these aspirations at the political level and the realities at the community level, which proved useful in delivering tangible social benefits to the state’s residents. [_]

Interestingly, the competition between the two main political parties also served as an impetus to drive implementation. Given the depth of the competition between the DMK and AIADMK, bureaucrats were forced to choose which party to support; remaining neutral was not a viable option. Committing to and openly identifying with a particular party meant that, when that party was in power, civil servants faced pressure from party officials to execute their development agenda as effectively as possible. At the same time, both parties had similar agendas across several dimensions—for instance, both sought to encourage industrial investments and develop links with the private sector. Hence, despite political divisions spanning not only electoral politics but also the bureaucracy, bureaucrats of either political leaning continued to implement policy effectively even if their party of choice was not in power; after all, they were unlikely to have major differences of opinion on policy with the party that they opposed. [_]

The establishment of TIDCO and SIPCOT, nodal agencies for industrial development, also positioned the bureaucracy to follow through on the state government’s economic vision. The focused mandate of these agencies, combined with the prioritisation of industrialisation at the political level, made clear the task of bureaucrats in these agencies—to facilitate between investors and the state government—and, in turn, empowered them to play this role effectively.

For example, with the limited but critical mission of acquiring and managing industrial land, SIPCOT has developed, maintained and managed industrial complexes and SEZs in 12 districts across Tamil Nadu. Commenting on SIPCOT’s performance in 2012, a former Finance Minister of the state, said: “I think our state does not need to worry about land acquisition for the next 15 years as we have already acquired enough land for building various industrial complexes.” [_] SIPCOT’s ability to execute this mandate has served as a foundation for the state to attract domestic and foreign investment alike.

Likewise, TIDCO has played a key role in promoting the state for investment and in getting the state government to meet investor requirements in order to secure their investment. For example, Chennai was initially Ford’s last choice, behind two other potential investment destinations in India. In response, the Tamil Nadu Export Promotion and Guidance Bureau, set up in 1992 under the oversight of TIDCO, “put together a highly professional multi-media presentation on the state which left a very favourable initial impression”. [_] In further discussions, Ford raised hundreds of detailed queries for TIDCO to respond to. As the TIDCO chairman at the time put it, “they were so particular. They wanted us to make sure that there was no other industry within twenty kilometres which will create dust pollution because of their ultra-modern paint shop.” In fact, TIDCO and the state government went beyond this: they guaranteed uninterrupted power and water supply, and immediately started work on an international school for the children of Ford’s staff. [_] Today, TIDCO has institutionalised its investment facilitation efforts, by creating a thorough monitoring system to attract investment projects and regular meetings to push forward the implementation of investment policies. [_]

Like many African countries, Tamil Nadu’s government and political system has been characterised by intense competition between political parties; networks of patronage encompassing politicians, voters and businesses; and political leaders with big personalities and ambitions. What Tamil Nadu’s development experience in the last several decades illustrates is that these characteristics do not have to render a government completely ineffective in promoting inclusive growth. Indeed, the Tamil Nadu state government, like all governments, has had some degrees of freedom to promote development that improves the lives of a wide range of people in the state. Rather than attempting to detail all of the various elements that have contributed to Tamil Nadu’s development story, the focus of this case study has been on the role that political leadership and administrative capability have played. In particular:

Successive chief ministers of Tamil Nadu in the second half of the 20th century, from Anna all the way through to Jayalalithaa, crafted visions for development in the state that aimed to include disadvantaged groups in the economy and society through job-creating investment/industrial development and broad-based social programmes.

These same chief ministers maintained a commitment to industrial investment and development, as well as a consistent policy approach to encourage them—despite alternating power with opposition parties.

Tamil Nadu’s bureaucracy developed capabilities to effectively implement the state’s inclusive development agenda, as the state’s leadership diversified recruitment along socioeconomic lines; set out clear ideological foundations that bureaucrats associated with them could work from; and established nodal agencies to drive industrial development, such as TIDCO and SIPCOT.

The takeaways for many African countries are simple but important. The economic vision should be geared toward the needs and aspirations of society at large, and should be clear to all parts of government, the private sector and citizens. Economic transformation takes time and thus requires policy consistency and sustained commitment spanning changes in political leadership across multiple decades. And implementation of the vision is just as critical as the vision itself, and calls for the bureaucracy to improve its ability to deliver over time—even if the starting point is a handful of specialised agencies that function as “pockets of effectiveness”. Tamil Nadu is still in the middle of its development journey, but its experience thus far underscores how political leadership and state capability can be leveraged in African countries that seek to follow a similar path.

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A. Kalaiyarasan, “A Comparison of Developmental Outcomes”.

Importantly, women, lower castes, minority religions and rural areas have particularly benefitted from growth in Tamil Nadu; see A. Kalaiyarasan, “A Comparison of Developmental Outcomes”.

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Sushila Ravindranath, Surge: Tamil Nadu’s Growth Story (Chennai: Westland, 2016).

Sojin Shin, “Land Management and Industrial Development in Tamil Nadu”, Institute of Asian Studies Working Paper, 2016, https://www.isas.nus.edu.sg/papers/233-land-management-and-industrial-development-in-tamil-nadu1/.

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Pallavi Roy, “The Political Economy of Growth under Clientelism: An Analysis of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Pakistan”, PhD thesis, SOAS, University of London, 2013, http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/18261.

Paul and Sridhar, “The Paradox of India’s North-South Divide”.

A.R. Venkatachalapathy, Tamil Characters: Personalities, Politics, Culture (New Delhi: Pan Macmillan India, 2018).

Roy, “The Political Economy of Growth”.

Ravindranath, Surge.

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Populist Cultural Politics of Dravidianism

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• A. Divya 4  

Dravidian electoral parties have established populist governments in Tamil Nadu since 1967, navigating across E.V. Ramasamy Periyar’s progressive social reform discourses; patriarchal cultures – sustained and preserved in Dravidian electoral cinema – and non-Brahmin resistance centrally manifested through caste-based affirmative action.

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Anandhi S (1991) Women’s question in the Dravidian movement c. 1925–1948. Soc Sci 19:24–41. https://doi.org/10.2307/3517871

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The New Indian Express (2015). Tracing roots of Kannagi’s ruby in ancient Kongu. The New Indian Express, May 3. https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2015/may/03/Tracing-Roots-of-Kannagis-Ruby-in-Ancient-Kongu-755453.html

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Vijayabaskar M, Kalaiarasan A (2021) The Dravidian model: interpreting the political economy of Tamil Nadu. Cambridge University Press, New Delhi

Wankhede HS (2023) The goal of building a popular Dalit agenda. The Hindu, Apr 14

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Divya, A. (2024). Populist Cultural Politics of Dravidianism. In: Chacko Chennattuserry, J., Deshpande, M., Hong, P. (eds) Encyclopedia of New Populism and Responses in the 21st Century. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-9859-0_403-1

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4 Tamils in the Nation: Post-Independence India

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This chapter analyzes the post-independence political competition between the Tamil revivalist Dravidian movement and the pan-Indian Congress in Tamil Nadu and explains how the once separatist Dravidian movement was peaceably accommodated within the Indian nation-state framework. It argues that the competition between the Dravidian movement and the Congress was bounded by overlapping commitments to cultivating Tamil identity and interest that were in turn compatible with the pan-ethnic conception of national identity associated with the Congress party and contained in the Indian constitution. It shows that the peaceable accommodation of Tamil Nadu in post-independence India rests on an inclusive conception of Indian identity rather than the federal provisions of the Indian constitution or the moderation of the Dravidian parties.

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Panels, Politics, and Penn (Women) In The Land Of Tamil Nadu

A report by Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women titled Women In Politics (2017) states, “As on October 2016, out of the total 4,118 MLAs across the country, only 9 per cent were women.” India ranks 151 th among the 190 countries and 5 th among the 8 South-Asian countries.

Equality in Politics – A Survey of Women and Men in Parliaments explains various aspects relating to women’s political representation and parliamentary governance. Overall disparities follow the same trend with the lack of confidence and finance being the major deterrent that prevented women from entering politics. These stats along with the recently released ‘manel’ report by the Network of Women in Medi a (NWMI) 2019 sheds light on the ingrained prejudice against women within the Indian news media.

Panel discussions occupy prime time viewership in the TV news universe, irrespective of the language. The manel report extensively described the biased pattern in prime-time debate shows. While the outright ‘gender imbalance’ was sort of given, one statistic in the report was surprising. It states that the representation of women in prime-time panels was 5% in Tamil and Punjabi channels – the lowest average among the states.

With better literacy, health and other human development indices, the state of Tamil Nadu has often revelled in the numbers that made it a ‘class apart’ within the country. The low score is telling of the accepted model of toxic masculinity and cultural patriarchy, that encompasses Tamil society.

While the male-led leadership fight amongst themselves, to claim the ‘true’ Tamil identity, women get the short end of the stick.

This media representation, however, explains the deeper hypocrisy that is imbibed in the Tamil society. Tamil pride has often been a merger of distinct linguistic and cultural identity. The yesteryear values based on ancient Tamil texts, glorify chastity, virginity, and a submissive female who happily lays down independence for the family or her man’s wishes.

Also read: Women and Politics: Women Voters Are Higher Than Men But Why Is Female Representation In Politics Still Low

Simply put, the ideal Tamil female is the virtue of chastity and the Tamil man, an epitome of virility. The proponents of this identity beginning with the speakers of Dravidian movement to many of the modern-day political stalwarts stick to this image adherently. This so-called ‘Tamil’ identity has sexist undertones, “middle-class morality” which are often glorified to forge a partnership among the common people. 

In Tamil Nadu, feminism is often angled with the words of two very distinct personalities, the poet Subramanian Bharati, and Periyar (the founder of Dravian Kazhagam ). The two men are often identified as radical feminist thinkers who articulated thoughts that has shaped feminist thinking in the state. Additionally, the angle of caste forged by the self-respect movement as a common cause for unity has splintered parties along the same lines it sought to diminish. While their commendable efforts have survived, it’s a sad reality that their values have not. They have simply become a poster for others to claim one thing – the women’s vote.

According to the election commission report, in 2016, more women turned up to vote when compared to men. While the vote matters, women as leaders, candidates do not get the encouragement or support. This is in line with the superficial streak of female empowerment practised by regional politics.

• In the last state assembly elections in 2016, the AIADMK and CPI(M) fielded 12% and DMK, 10%. The Congress fielded three of the 41 candidates (7%) the party.
• Women MLAs accounted for 3% to 10% of the Tamil Nadu state Assembly.

Stage culture of Tamil oratory can be an empowering platform for aspiring female leaders but ‘a handful representation’ of female speakers are pigeonholed to score political points. The point of female empowerment or representation gets lost in the wider politics between the parties. This spills into the outrage drama that follows shouting-matches linked to ‘controversial’ statements.

While this passes for prime-time journalism, diversity and representation in these panels are more than often absent. In between film trailers and other product placements, the debate is usually carried on by the same set of women, handpicked by the channels for their political leanings. While representation by women in various issues lack numbers, a handful representing the whole of the state is an acknowledgement of this gender bias.

The whole concept of language bonded nationalism has been the cornerstone of Dravidian politics. While the male-led leadership fight amongst themselves, to claim the ‘true’ T amil identity, women get the short end of the stick.

The state has long had an authoritarian female leadership by the late CM Jayalalitha. As a head of a Dravidian party, unapologetic of her caste, religion, she had a distinctive governance style. Absolute subservience with her central authority was ubiquitous throughout her tenure. This level of internalised patriarchy is common in the toxic world of Tamil Nadu’s politics. 

Also read: Dalit Women in Media and Politics Conference: When #DalitWomenSpeakOut, Revolution Beckons

Though the state has very good indicators with regard to literacy, women still face challenges because of the patriarchal mindset that pervades daily life in Tamil Nadu.

• Total literacy rate in Tamil Nadu has shown an increasing trend over the years, increasing from 62.66% in 1991 to 80.33% in 2011.
• 14 districts have female literacy rates above the State average that is, above 73.86%.

Women leaders of the state have in the recent years have only been meme topics and insults on-stage by politicians. Even insults hurled between men on-stage bear references to their mothers, often demeaning them. This downgrade in stage decorum is a far cry from the flowing Tamil language used to garner public support for the party, during earlier times. This also goes hand in hand with that way political parties slowly ease out women from active participation.

Only 5% of the professional and independent analysts featured on panels were women

Politics has become a man’s domain and women mostly get typecast as symbols for virtue, chastity or as whores. The latter word had caused quite a stir in the state earlier last year, when nuanced argument ceased and war of words flowed defending the chastity of a goddess. This added leverage in the #Metoo debates that followed, as well. While the caste angle was apparent, since its Tamil Nadu, there was a strange backlash and role reversal. During the same time, the murder of a Dalit woman did not garner this support but remained an isolated issue to be handled solely by Dalit activists. This caste schism affects women, and issues of real concern get buried in the 24-hour news cycle.

While systemic patriarchy and caste deter women as political candidates, grassroots are an active platform to inculcate female leadership. In this intrusive social media age and the social reality of “ TV culture is Tamil culture ”, media can be effective to provide role-models.

Gender bias, in the panel discussions, the conspicuous absence of women’s point of view, and the lack of diversity among the women represented are serious causes for concern. The explicit lack of role-models, female leadership continues to manifest as an ineffective debate of issues.

Only 5% of the professional and independent analysts featured on panels were women; the corresponding figures for party spokespersons and subject experts were 8% and 11% respectively. Politics dominate these prime-time debates and by extension our daily lives. On the other hand, in discussions on politics, which constituted nearly half (45%) of all panel discussions on news television, only 8% of the panellists were women.

In a 2015 survey on media and gender in India by the International Federation of Journalists (focusing primarily on patterns of employment and working conditions), only 6.34% of the respondents felt that women were shown as ‘experts/leaders’ in the news. A miniscule 2.17% thought women were depicted as ‘equal citizens’. In contrast, many more respondents said women were generally depicted as ‘victims’, ‘sexual objects’, ‘family figures’ or ‘negative’ stereotypes.

The early gains of the Dravidian party and the popularity of the Congress-old guard in the state was mainly due to active women participation. The shelving of female participation and leadership is not the true essence of democracy. Media shapes the way we think, and when we don’t see representation and assume it is okay, the consequence is a broken democratic setup.

1. Equality in Politics: A Survey of Women and Men in Parliaments 2. Panels or Manels ? The Network of Women in Media, India, February 2019 3. Election Commission Of India reports for Tamil Nadu assembly elections 1996 ,  2001 ,  2006 ,  2011  and  2016 4. Tamil Nadu Human Development 2017

Featured Image Source: Livemint

A homemaker trying to wedge feminism into daily life. Ambica enjoys reading and is a news junkie. She loves political satire, especially by female comedians. Her other interests are films and plays.

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The Political Economy of Industrial Policy

We examine the ways in which political realities shape industrial policy through the lens of modern political economy. We consider two broad “governance constraints”: i) the political forces that shape how industrial policy is chosen and ii) the ways in which state capacity affects implementation. The framework of modern political economy suggests that government failure is not a necessary feature of industrial policy; rather, it is more likely to emerge when countries pursue industrial policies beyond their governance capacity constraints. As such, our political economy of industrial policy is not fatalist. Instead, it enables policymakers to constructively confront challenges.

We thank Bentley Allan, Heather Boushey, Cristina Caffarra, George Dibb, Claudio Ferraz, Mark Lane, Weijia Li, Jonas Meckling, Jonas Nahm, Dani Rodrik, Todd Tucker, and Eric Verhoogen for helpful comments and conversations. We thank Lottie Field, Mikhael Gaster, Saumya Joshi, Nancy Sun, and Esha Vaze for their excellent research assistance and input. We are indebted to Gian Aswin Chansrichawla for guiding our focus to Thailand as a candidate case study, and for helpful conversations and references about the Thai case. Funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is gratefully acknowledged. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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MK Stalin's veiled dig at BJP's poll campaign: 'Those who communal politics...'

Tamil nadu chief minister mk stalin slammed the bjp and accused those engaging in communal politics of disparaging the dmk out of fear of losing..

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• MK Stalin affirms DMK's legacy of social justice, communal harmony
• Says those resorting to communal politics fear losing
• Claims INDIA bloc will win, urges party workers to raise victory flag

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Monday stated that those who engage in communal politics speak ill of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) due to the fear of losing. The Chief Minister said he can "see the fear of defeat in their voices."

Stalin made these remarks in a letter he wrote to the DMK cadres regarding the centenary birthday celebration of his father, DMK stalwart M. Karunanidhi, on June 3, a day before the Lok Sabha poll results.

"Kalaignar [Karunanidhi], by his actions, established that DMK stands for social justice, communal harmony, welfare of the poor, state autonomy, safeguarding language, and initiating progressive schemes. That is why those who incite communal disharmony, oppose social justice, want to usurp the state’s powers, disregard the welfare of the poor, and push for religious politics speak ill of the DMK in whichever states they speak and spread fake news," the Chief Minister said, indirectly referring to the campaign speeches by BJP leaders.

"I can see the fear of defeat in their voices," claimed MK Stalin.

The Lok Sabha election campaign witnessed high-decibel attacks between the DMK and BJP, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The Prime Minister's statement that the missing key of the Puri Jagannath Temple had reached Tamil Nadu was one of the latest remarks that invited sharp criticism from the Dravidian party.

He further added, "Whenever there was a crisis in democracy in India, the eyes of North Indian leaders turned towards the South. No one can deny how our leader worked to safeguard democracy as per their expectations. Kalaignar brought forward the idea of state autonomy across the nation," stated the Chief Minister.

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Tamil Nadu: Agents linked to political parties keep a close watch on EVMs before counting day

K veerakumar on long leave to monitor evms for chennai south constituency. thousands of agents from various parties working 24x7, eagerly awaiting june 4 counting..

K Veerakumar, 42, is on a very long leave from his private company just to watch live CCTV footage of a lock and seal guarding EVMs stored for the Chennai South constituency. It’s been more than 40 days that he has been on this duty for Tamil Nadu’s Opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (AIADMK) candidate J Jayavardhan. “Party comes first for me,” says Veerakumar. Thousands of agents like him representing state’s political parties — DMK, AIADMK, BJP, NTK and independent candidates are working in shifts to monitor the strongrooms 24x7. The wait for counting of votes has been the longest in this southern state which went to Lok Sabha polls in the first phase on April 19. It’s exactly 46 days until counting on June 4.

People aware of the matter said every candidate has roped in two to three agents to work in shifts of 8-12 hours. Jayavardhan has one of the highest number of agents — six AIADMK workers double up to work in three shifts round the clock. The DMK and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here have a total of three agents to work a shift each while there are two independent agents. They monitor the strong rooms for the South Chennai Lok Sabha constituency housed inside the city’s premier institution Anna University. “We have become like family,” says Veerakumar of making friends with agents from rival parties who were engaged in a bitter election campaign. The time spent here brought them close. “We talk a lot about our parties, our candidates. We debate, we gossip, but there is no fight,” he says. Chennai South is one of the most watched constituencies where Jayavardhan who won the seat in 2014 has contested against former governor Tamilisai Soundararajan who is the BJP candidate and incumbent DMK MP Tamizhachi Thangapandian.

At the start of his shift at 10am, Veerakumar and his peers from other parties go together to check on the lock and seal accompanied by the tahsildar and a police personnel. “We have to sign in at least 10 places before we reach the door,” Veerakumar says. The primary job of these agents is to watch the CCTV footage of the lock and seal of these strong rooms and alert election officials and party candidates if there is anything amiss.

Initially, the agents here were sitting on plastic chairs under a tent on the campus. “Due to the heat, we requested the district collector to let us stay indoors,” Veerakumar said. From April 24 onwards, these agents moved inside a classroom on the ground floor where the Greater Chennai Corporation provided them with 10 pedestal fans, a water dispenser and two monitors which would relay footage from two CCTV cameras.

The political party agents across the state received passes valid from April 19 night–when the EVMs were moved from voting centres to strong rooms–until 6am on June 4–when the EVMs would be shifted to 39 counting centres. The counting will be conducted in rooms adjacent to the strong rooms in the same buildings and preparations for which are in full swing in Tamil Nadu.

The passes allow the agents to be inside the heavily secured buildings to monitor the 234 strong rooms where EVMs are stored across Tamil Nadu. The state has 39 parliamentary constituencies. The EVMs of each Lok Sabha constituency are stored by dividing them into assembly constituencies which are 234 in Tamil Nadu. No one is allowed inside the strong room. The buildings where they are stored are cut off from everything where only election officials, security personnel, candidates and their agents are allowed. Every strong room door is locked and sealed and guarded by about 1,300 CRPF deployed across Tamil Nadu round the clock, said chief electoral officer Satyabrata Sahoo. So far, across Tamil Nadu there have been half a dozen complaints of the footage stopping due to power outages. “In the initial days, we received complaints from three districts that due to heating of the electrical circuit, rains and thunder, some fuse (of the CCTV) stopped working so we asked the electrical systems to be strengthened with lightning arrester,” said Sahoo. “We have been guarding them for more than 40 days. It is a long period for us too and it has been smooth,” said Sahoo.

The scene in Coimbatore parliamentary constituency which is witnessing another high stakes battle with BJP’s Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai as candidate is quite different from the camaraderie among agents in Chennai South. “We are not close,” says K L Swaminathan (53) one of Annamalai’s agents deployed to watch the footage. “We greet each other, sit in our respective chairs and just monitor. It’s an eight hour shift and it’s important work so our time goes by fast.” Swaminathan is an old hand who has been with the party for 27 years. “But, this is the longest number of days I’ve done this work.” Swaminathan is a full time party worker. The strong room is inside the Government College of Technology. On May 31, he also inspected the counting centre in the adjacent room since Swaminathan will also be Annamalai’s agent on June 4 when votes are counted. “The tables, speakers, and cameras are all ready,” he says. With Annamalai away campaigning across India, BJP’s Coimbatore district president Ramesh Kumar liaisons between him and the party agents. “We have three agents working three shifts,” says Kumar. “There is no pay involved for any party’s agents because this is part of party work. We arrange food for them and ensure that they have 16 hours of rest after eight hours of work.”

But, there are those who are voluntarily doing this work with no rest while reporting for their day job. 35-year-old M Tamilarasan is a field officer in a private company in Villupuram district. He completes his day job and reports for night duty to watch CCTV footage of Villupuram’s incumbent MP- K Ravikumar of the VCK (a DMK ally) had contested. On May 4, when Tamilarasan’s shift ending in the morning, he saw that a power outage stopped the recording of the CCTV. “I was about to leave. It happened at 7.28 am and the issue was corrected at 8.10 am,” Tamilarasan says with precision.

Following this and three other incidents, CEC Sahoo instructed state departments to back up all 234 strong rooms with efficient generators and an additional CCTV camera was installed in each of the strong rooms.

While several agents have been passing their time by watching Youtube videos, Instagram reels, cell phones were banned at the Aringar Anna Arts and Science College where Tamilarasan is on duty. “After we reported that incident the district officials did not want us to take photos so we had to leave our mobiles at the gate with the police,” he says.

Tamilarasan who has as M Ed and M. Phil degree has been using this time to complete reading books and preparing for exams to the Teachers Recruitment Board. There is another VCK agent who is attempting to complete Russian writer Leo Tolstoy’s collection while a 65-year-old AIADMK candidate, he says, simply enjoys sitting through the shift. These agents have had a key role to play in India’s long seven phase electoral process and are now keenly waiting for the results.

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Politics Over PM Modi Kanniyakumari Visit | PM Modi Meditation Retreat | Lok Sabha Elections 2024

Posted: 31 May 2024 | Last updated: 31 May 2024

Politics Over PM Modi Kanniyakumari Visit | PM Modi Meditation Retreat | Lok Sabha Elections 2024Prime Minister Narendra Modi is meditating for 45 hours at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Tamil Nadu's Kanniyakumari. During this time, PM Modi will be on a liquid diet and will consume coconut water, grape juice and other fluids. He will also remain in silence and not step out of the meditation hall during the period of meditation. Interestingly, the location of the meditation is where Swami Vivekananda had meditated 131 years ago. PM Modi’s meditation at the memorial’s Dhyan Mandapam comes at the end of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 campaign. But the Congress party alleged that Modi was trying to "circumvent" the silence period restrictions with his meditation trip to Kanniyakumari, and urged the Election Commission to ensure that it is not aired by the media as it violates the model code of conduct. #narendramodi #modi #pmmodi #kanniyakumari #kanyakumari #meditation #vivekanandarockmemorial #meditate #news18 News18 Mobile App - <a href="https://onelink.to/desc-youtube">https://onelink.to/desc-youtube</a>

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A Soldier’s Final Journey Home

Sgt. Kennedy Sanders was killed in a drone attack on a U.S. outpost in Jordan. A collection of photos offers a glimpse into her life.

Photographs and Text by Kenny Holston

Kenny Holston, a Times photojournalist and former Air Force photographer, reported from Waycross, Ga., Dover Air Force Base and Washington.

“This is what they sent us,” Oneida Sanders said, kneeling beside a heavy wooden chest in her living room. “These are Kennedy’s things.”

Sgt. Kennedy Sanders’s belongings were shipped home to her parents after she was killed: Dog tags, identification cards, Polaroids of her family. Gold jewelry and a quarter that appeared to be stained with blood.

The items offered a glimpse into the person, soldier and daughter that Kennedy was and who she had hoped to become.

Kennedy was serving on a U.S. military outpost in Jordan in January when an Iran-backed militia launched a drone attack on the base. Less than 24 hours later, two uniformed service members showed up on the doorstep of Oneida and Shawn Sanders in the small town of Waycross, Ga.

Ms. Sanders wasn’t home that morning, but her husband, Shawn, was. He told her to return home right away and then began calling family members and friends, asking them to come to the house.

When Ms. Sanders arrived, one of the soldiers read a statement informing them that their 24-year-old daughter had been killed in action.

“As soon as I got into the house and saw the two officers standing in the living room, I collapsed,” Ms. Sanders said.

The last time Ms. Sanders heard her daughter’s voice was the day before she was killed. They had talked about the type of Girl Scout cookies Kennedy wanted her mother to send and her decision to re-enlist in the Army.

Kennedy’s unit, a team of engineering specialists trained to deploy on short notice and build infrastructure like roads and airstrips, had arrived in Jordan shortly after the war between Israel and Hamas began in October. The soldiers were supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, a mission to combat the Islamic State, which has claimed the lives of 113 U.S. service members since it began in August 2014, according to the latest Defense Department casualty report .

Sgt. William Jerome Rivers and Sgt. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett were also killed in the drone strike in Jordan.

Kennedy’s parents have grappled with the pain of outliving their child ever since. “It’s heavy," Ms. Sanders said, pausing briefly, her voice notably changed when she spoke again. “It’s heavy.”

Family had always been important to Kennedy. Even as an adult she preferred being home. From a young age, she looked after her twin brother, Kendall. She was protective of her younger brother, Christian.

She was known in Waycross for her athletic ability, leadership, work ethic and style. She was polite but didn’t have time for small talk. But when people got to know her they usually found she was an extrovert, the life of the party, Ms. Sanders said.

During a dignified transfer in February at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Kennedy’s flag-draped transfer case was the last of the three carried off a military cargo plane. President Biden stood, hand over heart, on the cold, wet tarmac to pay his respects as the commander in chief.

Mr. and Ms. Sanders said that Mr. Biden met with them privately at Dover and expressed a genuine understanding of their tremendous pain as he, too, had lost a child.

Mr. Biden posthumously promoted Kennedy from specialist to sergeant and awarded her a purple heart, one of the military’s most distinguished decorations.

After the dignified transfer at Dover, Kennedy’s remains were returned to Waycross.

Kennedy’s parents did not see their daughter’s body until just before the public viewing on Feb. 16. The family still has not received the official autopsy report from the Defense Department, leaving them to speculate about the precise cause of her death.

“You know, if you think about an explosion victim, your mind goes all types of directions,” Ms. Sanders said. “I didn’t know what was coming back to us in that box.” Seeing her daughter’s body in one piece “was a relief for me,” she said.

People from Waycross and the surrounding area filed into the viewing for Kennedy. For hours, friends and neighbors approached Ms. Sanders in tears to hug her, pray with her and offer their condolences.

“I don’t feel strong,” she said, referring to the day of the viewing. “I feel like, at any moment, I can have a breakdown, at any second, but it is a very deliberate and conscious effort just to get up every day and shower, brush my teeth, do basic things.”

The next day hundreds of people attended Kennedy’s funeral service at the local middle school. Ms. Sanders was overwhelmed with emotion as she and her family slowly made their way down the aisle to see Kennedy one final time.

As the service ended, pallbearers placed Kennedy’s flag-draped casket in the back of a horse-drawn carriage to be taken to Oakland Cemetery.

At graveside, service members folded the flag, and an officer knelt to hand it to Mr. Sanders, himself a former Marine.

Kennedy and her family — her father, cousins and uncles — dedicated their lives to the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force.

The family has found that it is not alone, as the city of Waycross has come together to preserve Kennedy’s memory.

The street she grew up on is now named after her, a sprawling mural has been painted on the side of a business downtown, and scholarships in Kennedy’s name have been created. Her name was recently engraved on the Waycross Veterans Memorial.

Months after her death, a task as simple as opening the mail can bring the harsh reality of Kennedy’s absence rushing back, as it did in April when Ms. Sanders received a letter from the county election office informing her that her daughter would be removed from the list of registered voters.

“Whenever you deal with this, you are in disbelief and shock for a long time,” said Ms. Sanders. “But every now and then, you know, something happens that makes you realize that it’s really real, and she is really gone.”

Kenny Holston is a Times photographer based in Washington, primarily covering Congress, the military and the White House. More about Kenny Holston

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UNDERSTANDING TAMIL CINEMA AND ITS SOCIO-POLITICAL CONTEXT

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Tamil Cinema in the Twenty-First Century

Vijay Devadas

VEDA PUBLICATIONS

VEDA'S JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE [JOELL]

Cinema is a popular medium of art. In earlier days, cinema in India did deal with social problems in a peripheral way. It often failed to address the social realities, especially caste disparities. Cate issues were always portrayed as economic backwardness. But recent times have witnessed that popular and commercial cinema has begun to open up towards the discussions of gender and caste. In the case of caste discussion, it is the Tamil Cinema industry that creates more movies on it. Tamil cinema is comparatively rich with Dalit representations in the arena of filmmaking. Some directors, writers, and actors initiated the discussions of caste hierarchy in popular cinema. The political situations of Tamil Nadu have been a deep influence in molding these directors and their courageous ventures of popular cinema with Dalit subjects. Dravidian Ideology, Mandal politics, and the recent revival of Ambedkarite politics have been fuel for this. Still, fitting Dalit issues into the frames of the popular and commercial film have both pros as well as cons. Hence, this article analyses the relevance of the socio-political situations of Tamil Nadu in initiating mainstream Dalit cinemas. It also looks into the pros and cons of the popular narrative of Dalit subjects.

IRJET Journal

The aim is to examine some of the changes that have taken place in Tamil cinema over the last hundred years, especially the Tamil cinema films that have generated great expectation, commercial reception, and success over the past decade and their social thoughts. The content analysis methodology is adopted in this research. Success of films depends on many factors. The success list goes on and on, depending on choice of films that have been accepted by the majority of the people, Tamil films that have been acclaimed by the majority of film critics, Tamil films that have received less investment and higher profits, and which have been released in more theaters and have earned more revenue. Films like Nallathambi, Parasakthi, and Manthirikumari were selected for this analysis. Recently released Tamil films which had social contents were also taken for this analytical study. This research clearly shows the social reflection and social changes during the past hundred years. Studies on the societal perspectives behind modern Tamil cinema have not been fully analyzed. Although the impact of cinema on Tamil society has been around for a century, complete studies on it have not been analyzed. In addition, it is important to examine the modern trends in Tamil cinema that reflect society.

UGC Care Group 1 Journal

Judy Anitha

This research is to study about political Ideology in Tamil films in Tamil Nadu. This study explores the Extensive Use of politics in Tamil films. The qualitative method has been applied to identify Tamil films and the usage of politics in cinema. This paper applies content analysis technique for which the primary and secondary data was utilized as a source of data collection of this study. It proceeds to introduce the entry into the Tamil film industry of M. Karunanidhi, whose films were treated as the primary source for this study to understand politics in Tamil films.

Soudhamini Soudhamini

Published in 'Behind the Scenes in Hindi Cinema', Kit Publishers, Netherlands

Nithin Kalorth, PhD

A new wave in Tamil cinema is happening on screen which contrasts conventional film style of Tamil Nadu. A visible layer of difference between urban and rural identity and new perspectives of nationhood is being seen in Tamil cinema. The formulas of films are shifting and it can see from the presentation of the character in the marketing of the film. This paper tries to understand the characteristics and outline the Tamil new generation (new wave) cinema.

manoj P jinadasa

The objective of this study is to explore the psychic, moral, ethical and logical significances in the spectatorship of Bollywood and Tamil film in the Sri Lanka. Bollywood and Tamil film has been taking a very popular cultural performance in Sri Lanka. The original Indian spectatorship of these film traditions has been diverted by the cultural and political psychology of Sri Lanka. Hence, this local orientation of the Indian cinema remains a quite metamorphosis and deconstruction in its appreciation and screening in terms of the social, cultural and political features that deeply-rooted in Sri Lankan history, culture and geographical limitations. For this study, several film texts, which include typical Bollywood and Tamil film characteristic features were used and observed on how they have been absorbed in the Sri Lankan cultural society. And on the other hand, some audience surveys specific to different film appreciation contexts were conducted. They included urban slums, semi-rural Muslim societies, north and east areas of Tamil villages, Colombo urban society, Tamil state areas and Kandyan Sinhala rural villages. In the textual analysis of the film content, implicit psychological narrations and their social and aesthetic interpretations were revealed in the analytical explanations. Using the audience surveys, many different opinions that can be traditionally filtered in the screening and appreciation of these film traditions specific to their living cultural settings were also identified. In conclusion, perception in Sinhala film has been considerably designed by the experience of Bollywood and Tamil film spectatorship is deducted by this study. Hence, not only this social trend affected to the appreciation of film in local general audience but also in all the facets of film production (script writing, shooting, acting, dialoguing, music and choreography and screening) has also significantly being influenced by the Bollywood and Tamil film. As a result of this evolution of local film culture, most recent trend in Sinhala film noir is also being followed by the early subjective consequences of Bollywood and Tamil film culture in Sri Lanka.

Karthikeyan Damodaran , Hugo Gorringe

Acknowledgements: We are immensely grateful to Stalin Rajangam for insightful comments and to the anonymous reviewers of the journal who helped to sharpen the argument. The authors are indebted to the University of Edinburgh and the ESRC respectively for funding the fieldwork that enabled the discussions and observations on which this paper draws.

Sathya Prakash

This paper tries to address some of the intriguing aspects related to representation of Telugus in Tamil Cinema. It further tries to assess the impact of Tamil cultural politics in the last century on Telugu identity and the efforts of Telugus at identity re-fashioning in the public sphere(s). The paper makes an attempt in this direction by piecing together and correlating diverse evidences from political and cultural spheres, including Cinema.

“The 1970s Tamil Cinema and the Post-Classical Turn.” South Asian Popular Culture (Routledge), 10 (1), April 2012, pp. 77-89.

Swarnavel Eswaran

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.

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I moved to Thailand, started a family, and can't picture ever returning home to Scotland

• It's been 14 years since Duncan Forgan left Scotland and he's unsure whether he'll ever return home.
• He says that bad air quality and traffic congestion can make Bangkok a difficult city to live in.
• But shares four reasons he's continued living in Southeast Asia after all these years.

A friend recently said that living in Southeast Asia was akin to winning one of Willy Wonka's golden tickets. And it's impossible to dismiss a long list of advantages that include the cuisine, cultural heritage, diverse landscapes, low cost of living, and generally friendly, laid-back hosts.

There are trade-offs, including terrible air quality, horrendous traffic congestion, and temperatures that veer toward the inhumane. But on the plus side, I get sun-kissed winters, palm-fringed beaches, and a less stringently regulated existence.

Like anywhere, life in Bangkok has its difficulties. The city is enervating, largely incomprehensible, and as batty as Mr Wonka. Yet, overall, I do feel like I was handed the keys to the proverbial chocolate factory.

With its gilded temples, sci-fi-worthy skyline, and heady mélange of sights, sounds, and smells, Bangkok could barely be more vivid. This intensity helped me fall for Thailand's lovably deranged capital when I first traveled here 14 years ago.

Here are four other things that have kept me in Southeast Asia's occasionally grubby grasp.

1. Food is one of the city's chief keepers.

From pavement vendors serving up banquets for just a few dollars to bustling markets packed with produce and vibrant with color, the city has a knack for whetting appetites, including my own.

Bangkok is often cited as the planet's street food capital . For high-quality street food in a safe, clean environment, it's hard to beat Or Tor Kor Market. It's a great place to sample a wide range of tasty creations, from som tam (spicy green papaya salad) and kao ka moo (braised pork served with rice) to mango sticky rice. Another choice destination is Yaowarat Road in Chinatown where delicious noodle dishes and roast meats such as pork, duck, and goose are the order of the day.

The diversity of options still floors me. On a recent Sunday, I started my day with a bowl of Chinese-Thai jok (rice porridge) from Jok Prince, where charcoal fire imparts added smokiness. I then had lunch at South Indian stalwart Tamil Nadu and finished the day off with a dinner at Ojo, the sky-high signature Mexican restaurant at the crown of the MahaNakhon Tower, Thailand's tallest building.

2. It's easier to tune out of the news cycle

This one is such an exile privilege that it comes with caveats.

Many Thai friends despair about the country's broken politics and surface-level media which favors soap opera-style stories over critical analysis.

But personally, I find it liberating to detach from the yoke of everyday consumption of Western news outlets through choice or osmosis.

Related stories

The pandemic was a giant story in Thailand, as it was everywhere. Yet Western media obsessions — US presidential elections and divisive identity politics, to name but two — are not given the same relentless prominence here.

Social media makes it difficult to ignore the vicissitudes of the global news agenda. However, I appreciate the added scope to tune out the noise.

3. The amazing destinations on my doorstep

I've experienced some transcendent moments across the Asia-Pacific region.

My travel writing gigs have encompassed dancing to obscure soul music in a sweaty underground club with Kansai's mod contingent, piloting a vintage Royal Enfield to hunt down the best bowl of khao soi in Chiang Mai , and hacking my way along the Nullarbor Links from South to Western Australia.

Recently, I visited Phong Nha in north-central Vietnam for the first time and spent three days exploring the karst scenery. A motorbike loop from the Phong Nha Farmstay was a worthy introduction to the area. But the grand finale — a one-day trek involving waterfall jumps and a swim into the extremities of a river cave — was unforgettable.

The cliché about there always being something new to discover is well-worn. And, in the case of Asia, it's true.

4. Life at home gets harder to visualize

I'd be lying if I said I never feel the call of home.

When I left London for Asia at the end of 2010, I felt pretty done with the UK due to a combination of factors, ranging from relationship woes to despair about my spluttering career.

For a while, I was happy enough to redeem the return portion of my airfare whenever I made my yearly trip home.

The arrival of my son, Alexander, along with a nearly three-year pandemic-imposed gap between trips, and a long-term Bangkok resident's gratitude for clean air and quiet have helped soften my perspective. These days, the annual pilgrimage to Scotland is something to anticipate rather than to tick off.

For all my renewed appreciation of my homeland, relocating there still feels like a stretch. I've not lived in Scotland since 2007, and the axis of my life — wife and son, friends, work networks, clients — is almost entirely Asia-orientated. Also, years of encountering diverse cultures, ways of life, and perspectives in Asia have altered me to the point where I'm not confident of readjusting to home .

We are heading back to Scotland this July, and I can't wait to catch up with friends and family and show my son Alex the Highlands for the first time. But post-trip, I'll resist the temptation to place rose-tinted spectacles on overly misty eyes.

Got a personal essay about living abroad that you want to share? Get in touch with the editor: [email protected] .

Watch: How a Thai mask-maker is keeping a 600-year-old tradition alive

• Main content

Donald Trump found guilty in historic New York hush money case

A New York jury on Thursday found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records — the first time a former U.S. president has been convicted of a crime.

The jury reached its verdict in the historic case after 9½ hours of deliberations, which began Wednesday. 

He'll be sentenced on July 11, four days before the Republican National Convention. He faces penalties from a fine to four years in prison on each count, although it's expected he would be sentenced for the offenses concurrently, not consecutively.

Follow live updates here.

"This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt,” Trump fumed to reporters afterward.

The verdict was read in the Manhattan courtroom where Trump has been on trial since April 15. He had pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment his former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential election.

Trump looked down with his eyes narrowed as the jury foreperson read the word "guilty" to each count.

The judge thanked the jurors for their service in the weekslong trial. “You gave this matter the attention it deserved, and I want to thank you for that,” Judge Juan Merchan told them. Trump appeared to be scowling at the jurors as they walked by him on their way out of the courtroom.

Trump's attorney Todd Blanche made a motion for acquittal after the jury left the room, which the judge denied.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg would not comment on what type of sentence he might seek, saying his office would do its talking in court papers.

"While this defendant may be unlike any other in American history, we arrived at this trial and ultimately today at this verdict in the same manner as every other case that comes to the courtroom doors — by following the facts and the law in doing so, without fear or favor," Bragg said. Asked for his reaction to the verdict, Bragg, who was inundated with threats from Trump supporters during the probe, said, "I did my job. We did our job."

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, immediately set out fundraising off the news, posting on his website that he's "a political prisoner" and urging his followers to give money.

Legal experts have told NBC News that even if Trump is sentenced to time behind bars, he'd most likely be allowed to remain out of jail while he appeals the verdict, a process that could take months or more. That means the sentence would most likely not interfere with his ability to accept the Republican nomination for president at the July convention.

And it likely wouldn't impact his ability to be elected. "There are no other qualifications other than those in the Constitution,” Chuck Rosenberg, a former U.S. attorney and NBC News & MSNBC Legal Analyst said following Thursday’s verdict.

President Joe Biden's campaign praised the verdict in a statement but stressed that Trump needs to be defeated in November.

“In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law," said the campaign's communications director, Michael Tyler, but the "verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box."

In his closing argument this week, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the jury that “the law is the law, and it applies to everyone equally. There is no special standard for this defendant.”

“You, the jury, have the ability to hold the defendant accountable,” Steinglass said.

Trump had maintained that the DA’s office had no case and that there had been no crime. “President Trump is innocent. He did not commit any crimes,” Blanche said in his closing statement, arguing the payments to Cohen were legitimate.

Prosecutors said the disguised payment to Cohen was part of a “planned, coordinated long-running conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, to help Donald Trump get elected through illegal expenditures, to silence people who had something bad to say about his behavior, using doctored corporate records and bank forms to conceal those payments along the way.”

“It was election fraud. Pure and simple,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said in his opening statement.

While Trump wasn’t charged with conspiracy, prosecutors argued he caused the records to be falsified because he was trying to cover up a violation of state election law — and falsifying business records with the intent to cover another crime raises the offense from a misdemeanor to a felony. 

Trump was convicted after a sensational weekslong trial that included combative testimony from Cohen, Trump’s self-described former fixer, and Daniels, who testified that she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 after she met him at a celebrity golf tournament. Trump has denied her claim, and his attorney had suggested that Cohen acted on his own because he thought it would make “the boss” happy.

Other witnesses included former White House staffers, among them adviser Hope Hicks, former Trump Organization executives and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker.  

Trump didn’t take the witness stand to offer his own account of what happened, even though he proclaimed before the trial began that he would “absolutely” testify. The defense’s main witness was Robert Costello, a lawyer whom Cohen considered retaining in 2018. Costello, who testified that Cohen had told him Trump had nothing to do with the Daniels’ payment, enraged Merchan by making disrespectful comments and faces on the stand. At one point, the judge cleared the courtroom during Costello’s testimony and threatened to hold him in contempt. 

Cohen testified that he lied to Costello because he didn’t trust him and that he’d lied to others about Trump’s involvement at the time because he wanted to protect his former boss.

Cohen was the lone witness to testify to Trump’s direct involvement in the $130,000 payment and the subsequent reimbursement plan. Blanche spent days challenging his credibility, getting Cohen to acknowledge he has a history of lying, including under oath.

Cohen said he was paid the Daniels cash in a series of payments from Trump throughout 2017 that the Trump Organization characterized as payments pursuant to a retainer agreement “for legal services rendered.”

Prosecutors said there was no such agreement, and Cohen’s version of events was supported by documentary evidence and witness testimony. 

Blanche contended that the series of checks then-President Trump paid Cohen in 2017 “was not a payback to Mr. Cohen for the money that he gave to Ms. Daniels” and that he was being paid for his legal work as Trump’s personal lawyer.

Testimony from Jeff McConney, a former senior vice president at Trump’s company, challenged that position. McConney said the company’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, told him that Cohen was being reimbursed for a $130,000 payment, and prosecutors entered Weisselberg’s handwritten notes about the payment formula as evidence. Cohen said Trump agreed to the arrangement in a meeting with him and Weisselberg just days before he was inaugurated as the 45th president.

Weisselberg didn't testify. He’s in jail on a perjury charge related to his testimony in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil fraud case against Trump and his company. Cohen, McConney and other witnesses said Weisselberg, who spent decades working for Trump, always sought his approval for large expenditures. 

In all, the prosecution called 20 witnesses, while the defense called two.

Trump had frequently claimed, falsely, that the charges against him were a political concoction orchestrated by Biden to keep him off the campaign trail. But Trump eventually managed to bring the campaign to the courtroom, hosting top Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Sens. JD Vance of Ohio and Rick Scott of Florida, as his guests in court. Trump also used court breaks to tout political messages to his supporters, while his surrogates sidestepped Merchan’s gag order by attacking witnesses, individual prosecutors and Merchan’s daughter.

Merchan fined Trump $10,000 during the trial for violating his order, including attacks on Cohen and Daniels, and warned he could have him locked up if he continued violating the order.

Cohen celebrated the verdict in a post on X. "Today is an important day for accountability and the rule of law. While it has been a difficult journey for me and my family, the truth always matters," Cohen wrote.

Trump was indicted in March of last year after a yearslong investigation by Bragg and his predecessor, Cyrus Vance. The charges were the first ever brought against a former president, although Trump has since been charged and pleaded not guilty in three other cases. None of the three — a federal election interference case in Washington, D.C., a state election interference case in Georgia and a federal case alleging he mishandled classified documents and national security information — appear likely to go to trial before the Nov. 5 presidential election.

Adam Reiss is a reporter and producer for NBC and MSNBC.

Gary Grumbach produces and reports for NBC News, based in Washington, D.C.

Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.

Tom Winter is a New York-based correspondent covering crime, courts, terrorism and financial fraud on the East Coast for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

Jillian Frankel is a 2024 NBC News campaign embed.