The Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan’s choice of the New Indian Express editor Santwana Bhattacharya for his first major media interview after assuming office 50 days ago comes as no surprise. Both are noted intellectuals and humanists at the core with a rare ability to synthesise to form a new unified whole. Ancient Greeks meant the word ‘syntithenai’ as the act of ‘putting together’.
Satheesan presented a vision anchored on ‘aspirational Keralam’ and eschewed the combative spirit and oneupmanship characteristic of his predecessors. When he was invited to draw comparison with his immediate predecessor, he sounded bored and felt relieved to turn his back on it. And with a smile, he told Santwana, “Conventional politics has changed. The new generation doesn’t accept such things… Everybody is asking for a repeat, but I can’t.”
The ease and candour with which Satheesan could talk about the hugely sensitive issue of the antipathy in the recent years between the Christian and Muslim communities of the state who constitute almost half the population, brought out the best in him. While the Sangh Privar overtly, and the Left covertly, stoked the fires of communal polarisation, which apparently made sense to them as smart vote bank politics, Satheesan positioned himself as a ‘mediator’ in the fratricidal strife. He modestly recaps, “Now there is no problem. All communities voted for us”. Period.
Indeed, to my mind, this was the single biggest outcome of the last state election in May — the consolidation of the inherent secular temper of the Malayali people. Satheesan asserted, “Yes, I believe in the secular psyche of Kerala. I have been noticing this from my college days. That’s why we said the CPM and the so-called Left are not left. They are extreme right.” What a devastating expose of Kerala politics!
The three pillars on which Satheesan’s vision stands — first, bringing ‘legacy universities’ to Kerala and transforming the state as an ‘education destination’; second, making Kerala a ‘health destination’; and, third, of course, the dream project of every Malayali transforming the state’s six-hundred kilometre coastline as a ‘Port City’ that generates jobs, creates world class infrastructure and integrates the state economy into the world economy (as it used to be in ancient times) — are a realistic agenda for optimising the state’s strategic assets of the highest average literacy levels and health conditions and life expectancy, which are components of human development.
Kerala is stuck as the eighth most developed state in India in terms of nominal per-capita gross domestic product (per World Bank) with a real growth rate over the past decade lower than that of the national average. Certainly, going forward, the structural transformation towards the services sector by prioritising human capital development, especially education, makes great sense.
But a caveat must be added here. The world is at the threshold of fundamental changes in all spheres of activity in the coming AI era — in the economy, education, science, culture, and the labor market. Clearly, focused attention must be given to this aspect. The early bird gets the worm.
I read in the Russian press recently how China in the ambit of a new five-year plan for education development for 2026–2030, is switching to AI education at all stages of education. Some excerpts from the article are worth reproducing:
“[In China], AI is becoming a basic skill for the masses. China officially defines AI literacy as a key competency for schoolchildren and students. The goal is not simply to teach children how to use tools, but to give them an understanding of the principles of the technology and the ability to apply AI to analysis, design, and real-world problems.”
“AI is being integrated into the very mechanics of school… AI, big data, and digital platforms are expected to transform exams, assessments, school management, teacher training, research, and educational pathways. That is, AI is becoming not just a thing on a shelf, but an infrastructure through which the entire education system operates.”
“Chinese universities are already restructuring. They have closed or suspended 12,200 “outdated” undergraduate programs and launched 10,200 new majors focused on future industries. These include robotics, embodied artificial intelligence, and other areas at the intersection of AI, industry, and engineering.”
“This is a painful but revealing transformation. China isn’t simply adding new courses; it’s changing the structure of its training. Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and other cities have begun moving ahead of the national plan. In Beijing, AI education has reached over 1,400 schools and nearly 2 million students. Schools are already testing AI for essay checking, foreign language practice, calligraphy analysis, teacher assistance, and homework personalisation.”
“The main point of the reform is that China is preparing a generation for whom AI will not be an external service, but a natural part of thinking, learning, and working.”
I have no doubt these winds of change will sweep India too at some point — hopefully, sooner rather than later, given Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s focus on an AI-driven economy in a conceivable future. Kerala must position itself to be in the vanguard of change in the sphere of education. This is where the underpinning lies for the implementation of the central government’s grand gesture to make Thiruvananthapuram one of the proposed 5 university hubs in the country.
A good beginning will be that Shashi Tharoor undertakes an early visit to China.
Satheesan’s remark that his government has decided not to adopt a confrontational path with the Centre and that he does not intend to declare war against the Centre becomes the leitmotif of the interview. “Whenever there are issues, we will try to sort it out”, he said, while affirming that the state would prefer to have cordial relations with the Centre, but also underscoring at the same time that “We’ll fight over political issues.” Satheesan singled out that “I have made courtesy calls to the prime minister, the home minister, the finance minister and the minister for ports.”
It is a progressive approach. And it signifies that the Congress Party’s transition to the new state leadership matches the transition of the BJP’s state leadership under Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Quite obviously, the Left has a lot of catching up to do in this respect, as the politics in the state transits to a new algorithm.