THE KERALA MODEL: ITS CENTRAL TENDENCY AND THE OUTLIER" 71 When people allude to the 'Kerala Model* they are refer to the 'average* situation. Only the central tendency of the distribution of the indicators are used to establish the point. (CDS, 1975; Ratcliffe, 1978; Rajeev, 1983; Panikar & Soman, 1984; Franke & Chasin, 1989; Dreze & Sen, 1989, Jeffrey, 1992). However, as in all distributions, the 'Kerala Model' also has its 'outliers'—communities that seem to have been left out of the domain of public action for what Dreze & Sen have referred to as 'capability building' (Dreze & Sen, 1989). Getting insights into the factors that explain the position of the outlier in this distribution is important particularly since the credit of Kerala's success is given to development which was driven by enlightened state policy and public action rather than market-led, individual initiative. The purpose of this paper is thus two-fold: First, against the background of the 'central tendency' of the Kerala model, it attempts to provide some of the statistics of an 'outlier' in Kerala's economy—its marine fishing community—where the indicators of the quality of life pose no paradox of the kind noticed when considering the state as a whole: instead, one is confronted with the 'normal' relationship of low incomes with the associated poor quality of life. Second, it makes, preliminary attempt towards an understanding of the factors which hindered public action for 'capability building' in Kerala from permeating into the fishing community and thus provide some insights which can be drawn from this by those who wish to emulate the Kerala Model. THE KERALA MODEL: ITS CENTRAL TENDENCY The history behind the statistics of the 'Kerala Model' is replete with a wide variety of forms of public action. These start intensively from the era of British colonialism in India which had its influences on the region which presently constitutes Kerala state. The reform movements among many of the lower castes and communities were matched by actions of the native rulers of the region who responded to these demands by providing basic social services to a wide section of the population. These initial social movements laid the foundation for the emergence of more secular movements along class lines among the peasants and workers which were led by radicals with leftist leanings. In the post-independence period this led to the creation of political history when the world's first democratically elected communist government came to power in Kerala State in 1957. The public action measures which this government initiated in the agrarian sector such as land reforms, abolition of tenancy, granting of homestead rights,