Strikes in Kerala ! !

Perhaps the resident IMers in Kerala or the Imers visiting Kerala would know.

I have read news reports that new political strikes, hartals, agitations are happening in Kerala over some issue related to text books.

I was told that these strikes and police actions happen atleast three times a week and during these strikes buses, stores, cars and trains are generally shut down.

My question is how do people travel around during these times. How has it affected tourist areas such as cocin and trivandrum.
I am concerned that it will affect my trip to Kerala in August

Usually the only vehicles on the road would be 2 wheelers, and not many of them. It's good to read newspaper in Kerala to be prepared for strikes.

Life is dead during hartal, the only good thing is: usually it is only for one day.

There are demonstrations and hartals all the time, but most of them will be not be general, i.e. they won't shut down public transport, shops etc. I definitely would not worry about it. However, when you arrive it is a good idea to enquire the locals about any planned hartals. There are India wide, Kerala wide and district wide hartals that may affect your plans. Hartals will usually only last one day so any disruption should be minimal.

At the moment the biggest worry in Kerala is the lack of rain. If it doesn't arrive soon, it will be impossible to generate power in the dams, which may result in days of continuous power cuts.

Thought of Sharing a related interesting link on Kerala Strikes !.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jul/06kerala.htm

Kerala, it seems, is celebrating hartals. If a hartal is called by any outfit � regardless of its political clout-- Malayalees love being at home, watching television channels, which sometimes beam special programmes.

Staging over a 100 hartals annually in recent times, causing loss of hundreds of crores of rupees to the state exchequer, Kerala has earned the dubious distinction of being the only state in the country where shutdown calls by any political party will be a sure success.

Strikes in Kerala have a long tradition, but there are enough people who are fed up with them.

The article you are quoting is very polemic, more like an ironic comedy than telling real facts (mazha has linked to this article in another thread already)

Many people do work during hartals in Kerala, as long as they are able to come to work as there would be no local transport.

These shutdowns are a "success", because people fear that their cars or shops get damaged during the hartal if they don't take part. That doesn't mean they support the reason behind the strike.

@Federica,

I had been in Kerala When Hartals were taking place and Quite a lot of My office Colleagues are from Kerala (Especially North Kerala , Kannur / Kozhikode Districts) and they will discuss about the numerous Strike Calls by different movements / Parties and different kind of reasons behind it and when I saw a Write-up in Rediff I thought of Just quoting it as the OP discussed about the strikes and wanted to know the Impact.

Yes After I posted this , I saw Mazha had already linked it in other thread !

WOW. According to the article 57 hartals the first six months of the year. That is approximately 10 a month, which is atleast two hartals a week. This is precisely what i am worried about.

I am spending a lot of money to travel and spend three weeks in kerala. This investment will be a waste If I have to stay in the hotel due to a hartal. Or even worse if one of us gets injured as a result of an unfortunate event.

Thanks for the responses. i appreciate it

Two hartals a week doesn't mean there are two country-wide hartals a week. If there is a strike in Kannur district and you are in Trivandrum, it will not bother you at all. And lots of hartals are limited to one district/city.

You are travelling in August, not at all peak tourist season in Kerala. It means as long as you stay informed about hartals (newspaper, online newspaper), you can most probably skip them. Just change your itinerary.

Just take them as most of the Malayalees do: it's there, unavoidable, so why bother and get upset.

If you would observe, there are no Bandhs in Kerala. Only Hartals. Thats because A court had banned Bandhs in kerala a few years back based on a PIL.

But what is the difference between Bandh and Hartal? I have no clue, as things on the ground havent changed a bit. Just a name change thats all.

The local Hartals are the most frustrating as most of them come without warning and will leave you stranded on the road as you may be caught unawares while driving past the area concerned.

Once upon a time, a hartal meant just closing shops, a bandh meant there would be blocks on the road, and violence if you tried to cross. The two were used based on the degree of perceived injustice. The court order just got rid of this nuance in response, making the ground situation worse than before. Now the two responses have merged, with shops being shut, but no blocks on road, but violence expected.

This Write-up is based on Only Tourism point of view & it's Just My perspective !!

@Malayalee,

As per My personal experience I could say the Tourist Circuits like Trivandrum - Kollam-Cochin-Munnar [Souyh Kerala] are relatively less affected by these calls [ I mean Eventhough Locals may observe , tourists are not targeted / Affected] and Hmmm in Kannur district [ Malabar Region / North Kerala] especially , Hartals were observed 100% with all the Shops locked / No buses plying etc and even Violent protests are part of the normal processions !

As other IMers pointed out nothing much to worry and it's very difficult to predict on the Area / Intensity / Number of hours of Hartal [ Usually Majority of Hartals are Dawn to dusk [ 6 am to 6 pm]].

And the best thing is , Atleast as per my knowledge "NO TOURISTS" were targeted during any of these Strike Calls.

Hope this Helps.

Happy Travelling !!

Many of these hartals/ bandhs are not state wide and only have local impact. So, a resident may not be as impacted as the article makes it out to be.