IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/prodev/v21y2021i4p397-418.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

COVID-19 in India: A Comparative Analysis of the Kerala and Gujarat Development Models’ Initial Responses

Author

Listed:
  • Shelli Israelsen

    (Independent Scholar, Utah, USA)

  • Andrea Malji

    (Hawaii Pacific University, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA)

Abstract

Significant variations in infection, testing, and mortality rates have exposed key differences in the initial COVID-19 response by Indian states. At the onset of the pandemic, states like Gujarat, known for its large economic output, suffered high COVID-19 case fatality rates, a disorganized response, and poor access to healthcare. In contrast, Kerala, a less industrialized state on India’s southwestern coast, experienced low infection rates and fatalities. The low case fatality rate was accompanied by widespread access to care, extensive testing, and an organized response by the state. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to compare how the Gujarat and Kerala models performed. Since 2000, the Gujarat model has emphasized industrialization and economic development, often at the expense of social development. In contrast, the Kerala model emphasizes social development, often at the expense of economic development. This article analyses the initial response to COVID-19 by Kerala and Gujarat and finds that the Kerala model and its emphasis on social development helped the state respond more effectively to the first wave of the pandemic compared to Gujarat.

Suggested Citation

  • Shelli Israelsen & Andrea Malji, 2021. "COVID-19 in India: A Comparative Analysis of the Kerala and Gujarat Development Models’ Initial Responses," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 21(4), pages 397-418, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:21:y:2021:i:4:p:397-418
    DOI: 10.1177/14649934211030462
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14649934211030462
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/14649934211030462?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dutta, Anwesha & Fischer, Harry W., 2021. "The local governance of COVID-19: Disease prevention and social security in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    2. Sanjay Basu & Jason Andrews & Sandeep Kishore & Rajesh Panjabi & David Stuckler, 2012. "Comparative Performance of Private and Public Healthcare Systems in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(6), pages 1-14, June.
    3. Heller, Patrick, 1996. "Social capital as a product of class mobilization and state intervention: Industrial workers in Kerala, India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 1055-1071, June.
    4. Heller, Patrick & Harilal, K.N. & Chaudhuri, Shubham, 2007. "Building Local Democracy: Evaluating the Impact of Decentralization in Kerala, India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 626-648, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Emma Akpan & Surajudeen Abiola Abdulrahman & Nne Pepple, 2020. "Comparison of the Level of Adherence to Laboratory Quality Management System between Public and Private Secondary Health Facilities in Southern Nigeria," Global Journal of Health Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(12), pages 1-27, November.
    2. Caroline Patsias & Anne Latendresse & Laurence Bherer, 2013. "Participatory Democracy, Decentralization and Local Governance: the Montreal Participatory Budget in the light of ‘Empowered Participatory Governance’," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(6), pages 2214-2230, November.
    3. Gore, Radhika, 2021. "Ensuring the ordinary: Politics and public service in municipal primary care in India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    4. Saguin, Kidjie, 2018. "Why the poor do not benefit from community-driven development: Lessons from participatory budgeting," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 220-232.
    5. Jafar, K, 2014. "A Note on Peoples’ Planning Initiative -Possible lessons from the Kerala Experience," MPRA Paper 65610, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Tafesse, Wiktoria & Chalkley, Martin, 2021. "Faith-based provision of sexual and reproductive healthcare in Malawi," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    7. Harmeet Kaur Kang & Bandana Bisht & Manmeet Kaur & Obrey Alexis & Aaron Worsley & Denny John, 2024. "Effectiveness of interpersonal psychotherapy in comparison to other psychological and pharmacological interventions for reducing depressive symptoms in women diagnosed with postpartum depression in lo," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(2), June.
    8. de Renzio, Paolo & Wehner, Joachim, 2017. "The impacts of fiscal openness," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 82521, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Titeca, Kristof & Vervisch, Thomas, 2008. "The Dynamics of Social Capital and Community Associations in Uganda: Linking Capital and its Consequences," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 2205-2222, November.
    10. Fischer, Harry W. & Ali, Syed Shoaib, 2019. "Reshaping the public domain: Decentralization, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), and trajectories of local democracy in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 147-158.
    11. Choi, Jaerim & Lim, Sunghun, 2023. "Ostrom Meets the Pandemic: Lessons from Asian Rice Farming Traditions," 97th Annual Conference, March 27-29, 2023, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 334543, Agricultural Economics Society - AES.
    12. Tiangboho SANOGO, 2017. "Does fiscal decentralization enhance citizens’ access to public services and reduce poverty? Evidence from a conflict setting," Working Papers 201715, CERDI.
    13. Zoe Dettrick & Hebe N Gouda & Andrew Hodge & Eliana Jimenez-Soto, 2016. "Measuring Quality of Maternal and Newborn Care in Developing Countries Using Demographic and Health Surveys," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(6), pages 1-20, June.
    14. Titeca, Hannes, 2016. "Healthcare Spending: The Role of Healthcare Institutions from an International Perspective," MPRA Paper 73678, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Soonman Kwon & Eunkyoung Kim, 2022. "Sustainable Health Financing for COVID‐19 Preparedness and Response in Asia and the Pacific," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 17(1), pages 140-156, January.
    16. Huixia Zou & Shaowei Li & Huiyuan Zou & Wei Sun & Yingnan Niu & Chengqun Yu, 2022. "Livelihood Sustainability of Herder Households in North Tibet, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-14, April.
    17. Igaune Edīte & Liepa-Balode Ilze & Hermane Agnese, 2016. "The Mutual Reciprocity of Education, Non-Formal Cultural Education and Social Capital," Economics and Culture, Sciendo, vol. 13(2), pages 35-43, December.
    18. Beaussier, Anne-Laure & Demeritt, David & Griffiths, Alex & Rothstein, Henry, 2020. "Steering by their own lights: Why regulators across Europe use different indicators to measure healthcare quality," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(5), pages 501-510.
    19. Sulakshana Nandi & Helen Schneider & Priyanka Dixit, 2017. "Hospital utilization and out of pocket expenditure in public and private sectors under the universal government health insurance scheme in Chhattisgarh State, India: Lessons for universal health cover," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(11), pages 1-18, November.
    20. Harry Blair, 2018. "Citizen Participation and Political Accountability for Public Service Delivery in India," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 13(1), pages 54-81, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:21:y:2021:i:4:p:397-418. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.