Based on the development experience of the southern Indian state of Kerala, refers to the state's achievement of significant improvements in material conditions of living, reflected in indicators of social development that are comparable to that of many developed countries, even though the state's per capita income is low in comparison. Achievements such as low levels of infant mortality and population growth, and high levels of literacy and life expectancy, along with the factors responsible for such achievements have been considered the constituting elements of the Kerala model.
More precisely, the Kerala model has been defined as:
• A set of high material quality-of-life indicators coinciding with low per-capita incomes, both distributed across nearly the entire population of Kerala.
• A set of wealth and resource redistribution programmes that have largely brought about the high material quality-of-life indicators.
• High levels of political participation and activism among ordinary people along with substantial numbers of dedicated leaders at all levels. Kerala's mass activism and committed cadre were able to function within a largely democratic structure, which their activism has served to
The Centre for Development Studies at Thiruvananthapuram with the help of United Nations, conducted a case study of selected issues with reference to Kerala in 1970s. The results and recommendations of this study came to be known as the 'Kerala Model' of equitable growth which emphasised land reforms, poverty reduction, educational access and child welfare. Professor K. N. Raj, a renowned economist who played an important role in India's planned development, drafting sections of India's first Five Year Plan, and a member of the first UN Committee for Development Planning in 1966, was the main person behind this study. He started the Centre for Development Studies in Thiruvananthapuram in 1971, by the request of the Kerala Chief Minister C Achutha