236

CHAPTER - VI

ECONOMIC IMPACT OF COLONIAL AND

POST-COLONIAL TRIBAL PEOPLE

In this chapter a detailed discussion on the economic policies of the

colonial and post-colonial states are discussed. While discussing the colonial

period emphasis is given to land revenue and forest policies and to assess its

effect on the tribal life, especially among the Kurichias. In the post-colonial

period, independent state‟s agrarian reforms, occupational mobility and land

reforms were taken into analysis to understand the dynamics of the economic

life of the tribals.

Economy, colonialism and the tribals

The British conquest of Malabar changed the situation by

strengthening its control over the whole area and tightening its grip as a

central imperialistic power extending to every aspect of people's life and

activity. The British came into contact with the tribes in Malabar during their

efforts for the consolidation of the Empire. In the beginning the colonial

Government did not want to go into the roots of tribal problems as they have

no interest in their development. It did not evolve a consistent policy for

tribal development during the 19th

century, but in the 20th

century, a little

attention was paid only to the welfare of the tribes in those areas where the

colonial agents lived.1 But the attempts made during this period miserably

failed to have any positive impact on the tribal economy. J.P. Hutton, the

commissioner of census 1931, has summarized the impact of British rule on

1 Velayudha Saravanan, 'Economic Decline of Tribals in Tamil Nadu – 1947-

2000' in Govinda Chandra Rath (Ed.) Tribal Development in India – The

Contemporary Debate, New Delhi, 2000, p.218.

237

tribals in the following words, “far from being of immediate benefit to the

tribes, the establishment of colonial rule in India did most of them much more

harm than good.” It may be said that the early days of British administration

were highly detrimental to the economic position of tribes through ignorance

and neglect of their right and custom.2

The pre-independent approach to tribal welfare or development was of

a different type. Some policies and legislations were implemented and

enacted during this period to mitigate the sufferings of the tribals and prevent

their exploitation by outsiders. Though these policies of the “Excluded and

Partilly-Excluded Areas were meant to protect the tribals they were in fact

politically motivated. They wanted to secure their own stability and

therefore, they were not necessarily meant to help the people to advance on

the road to progress.3 These policies helped to isolate the tribals and

therefore, prevented them from coming in contact with the general mass. In

such a colonial attitude there was no deliberate attempt to strengthen the

economic base of these downtrodden communities. A few missionary and

voluntary organizations were doing some welfare works among them with

their vested interests and limited resources at that time. Later on, the British

administrators, however, became increasingly involved in the welfare of the

tribal communities in the „inter-war‟ period.4 Senior officers were deputed in

most of the provinces to go into the problem faced by them and to suggest

remedial measures. These were, however, interrupted by the Second World

War and consequent economic changes. Thus the practice of tribal

development or the modern principle of administration whether for colonial or

2 As quoted in G.S. Ghurye, The Scheduled Tribe, Bombay, 1963, p.157.

3 Manish Kumar Raha et al., Changes in Tribal Culture: Indian Context – Tribal

Studies, Vol.I, New Delhi, 1997, p.157. 4 M. Madhava Menon, (ed.) Encyclopaedia of Dravidian Tribes, Vol. II,

Trivandrum, 1996, p. 81.

238

other ends, were first brought to the tribals by the British.5 The colonial

Government dealt with the tribals keeping their own vested interests in mind.

Their approach was basically law and order oriented and primarily meant to

keep the tribals isolated from the mainstream of national life. Their legal

system was complicated and its language was alien to the tribals. It was thus

the colonial period which brought most of the tribals under a common

political organization. It might be the first deliberate attempt towards the

tribals all over India.6 In pursuance of these laws the colonial rulers

maintained a stern posture throughout their rule in India, and even in tribal

areas they enforced them with an iron hand.7

Until colonial intervention and even a little later, the tribes continued

to live with an „internally self-subsistent economy‟ and also self-contented

traditional system. Since the advent of the British there began an infiltration

by outsiders into tribal areas and the autonomous tribal economy was

threatened. There emerged a relationship between tribals and non-tribals .

But the process was reversed when the British policy of isolating the tribes

resulted in large scale exploitation by landlords, money- lenders and

contractors, adding to their already strained life in fighting off the onslaughts

of ruthless nature. The judicial system which had been adopted gave the

money -lenders immense power over their debtors. They had their heyday as

no one was there to check their usurious activities.

5 Though some may claim that Emperor Asoka was the first to mitigate the

process by creating the post of Anta-mahamatya – the minister to look after the

downtrodden – but nothing is known about the steps taken in this regards. 6 P.K. Gopalakrishnan, Notes on Our Development Experience-since

Independence (1950-85), Trivandrum, 1985,p.235. 7 S.C. Dube, 'Inaugural Address' in K.S. Singh (Ed.) Tribal Situation in India,

Vol. 13, Shimla, 1972, p. 28.

239

Question of land ownership

With the British dominance Malabar became a part of the national

market, which was integrated to the world capitalist system.8 The elements of

market economy brought about a radical change in the traditional economic

life of tribal communities. They were confronted with the vagaries of the

colonial market economy that continually eroded their life style and

simultaneously deprived them of an important means of subsistence. Due to

the impact of new economic and politico-administrative measures, many of

the tribesmen lost their moorings from their traditional economy.9 The tribal

world was opened up aggressively and their resources were exploited. All

land in Malabar has been regarded as private land.10

Thus colonial rule was

based on the idea of private property that runs contrary to the experience of

the tribal communities. The private use of land for profit thus replaced the

early system of collective ownership among the tribals. For the first time

tribal resources and land became commodities. The colonial policy of

appropriation of land belonging to tribal groups compelled them to migrate to

interior parts of the forest in search of livelihood.11

In the course of their rule

the British gradually transformed land ownership into private property and

established the legal bases for capitalist production relations among landlords,

tenants, village servants and agricultural labourers.12

But there are scholars

who argue that such property right on land has been there before the British

8 Bipan Chandra Nationalism and Colonialism in Modern India, New Delhi,

1979, p p.3-4. 9 V.S. Upadhyay, 'Special Problems of Minor Tribes', in L.P. Vidyarthi (ed.),

Tribal Development and Administration, New Delhi, 1986, p. 40. 10

Report of the special officer for the Investigation of Land Tenures on the

Recommendatins of the Malabar Tenancy Committee, May 1947, p.144. 11

K.S. Singh, 'Forward in Pariyaram', M. Chicacko (ed.), Tribal Communities and

Social Change, New Delhi. 2005, p. 18. 12

Kathaleen Gough E., Rural Society in Southeast India, London, 1981, p. 121.

240

intervention. William Thackeray, reported that the whole land on Malabar

cultivated and uncultivated was privae property and held by Janmam right

which conveyed full absolute property in the soil, and the Janmakar or

proprietor could dispose of his land as he pleased.13

The same idea was also

given by Thomas Warden, Collector of Malabar from 1804 to 1816. In his

view Janmam right of Malabar vest in its holder an absolute property in the

soil.14

For example, Walker‟s report states that “this much is certain that the

Jenmam possessed the entire right more tenaciously maintained.”15

In the

fifth report also it is observed “the land in general appears to have constituted

a clear private property more ancient and probably more perfect than that of

England:”16

This interest is known in Malabar as Jenmam.17

E.M.S.

Nambudiripad also has stated that unlike other parts of India, in Kerala land

had started developing as private property even in pre British days.18

He

further states that this development of proprietary interest in land was taking

place within the frame work of a predominantly natural economy. Thus the

British agrarian policies and revenue settlement they introduced in Malabar

were based on some misconception. 19

But, William Logan came to the

conclusion that, prior to the commencement of the British rule, no private

property in the European sense of the term had existed in Malabar and that the

13

Willaim Thakkeray, A Report on the Revenue Affiairs of Malabar and Canara,

1807, 7th Sept, Madras, 1911. 14

Thomas Warden, Report on the Land Tenures in Malabar, dated 12th

Sept. 1815,

p.1. 15

As quoted in Report of the Malabar Tenancy Committee – 1927-1928, Vol. I,

Madras, 1928, p. 6. 16

Ibid. 17

The word Jenm mean origin and it signifies the hereditary proprietary interest in

land. 18

E.M.S. Nambudiripad, The National Question in Kerala, Bombay, 1952, p. 73. 19

K.T. Thomas, Jenmi System in Kerala in 19th Century, Unpublihsed Ph.D

Thesis, Department of History, University of Calicut, 1995, p.50.

241

early English inquiries and the English courts had mistaken the Jenmi for a

landlord of the European type and had endowed him with the full European

rights of ownership, especially with the power of ouster, and that they had

misunderstood and misconstrued kanam and other tenures.20

Thus the

perception of the early British authorities in Malabar like Walker, Thakeray,

Warden etc., about the land tenures and agrarian relations in Malabar

completely upst the traditional janmi system.

Finally, it aas to be admitted that British rulers in Malabar supported

the rights of privagte land holding families and executed revenue agreement

with them and treated them as proprietors following the policy of permanent

settlement of Conwallis.21

In fact, the old property relations in respect of land

were changed to suit the pattern of individual ownership for collecting land

revenue. This land revenue settlement of Malabar differs from the ordinary

ryotwary settlement of the Madras presidency in that the existence of a

landlord between the state and the actual cultivators has been recognized in

the theoretical distribution of the produce on which the rates assessment is

based.22

In the ryotwari tracts of the other districts, the ryot hold land on

pattas and are not liable to be evicted by anybody. In the Zamindari tracts,

ryots enjoy occupancy rights. But in Malabar, lands are held under the Jenmi,

but the holders of these land do not enjoy occupancy rights and are liable to

be evicted.23

The legal conception of absolute private property of the British

eroded the traditions of point ownership and sharpened tension within the

tribal society. Under colonialism the tribal people were not considered to

20

As quoted in Report of Malabar Tenancy Committee – 1927-28, Vol.I, Madras,

1928, p.11. 21

Permanent Settlement Regulation, Regulation XXV of 1802, Fort St. George,

dated, 18th July, 1802. 22

C.A. Innes , et al, (eds.), Madras District Gazetteers – Malabar, 1951, p. 304. 23

Report of Malabar Tenancy Committee – 1927-28, Vol. I, 1928, p. 34.

242

have any property right in land as they have no records to prove. Prior to the

advent of the Mysorean rulers, there was no public land revenue in Malabar.24

The public land revenue system introduced by the British in Malabar

was just the same as in every other Indian province. In 1802 Major Macleod,

the first principal collector of Malabar, raised the rate of assessment and the

province rose in revolt.25

In Wynad these measures did much harm to the

landed tribal groups like Kurichias and Kurumans. They were in a position of

confrontation both with the Hindu landlords, and the British colonists as the

latter seriously encroached on their rights and territories. The rights of

transfer in land conferred by the British system of law and revenue made it

possible for the tribals to be manoeuvred into selling their land to non-tribals.

With administrative reforms the tribals were totally deprived of their

economic activities. In the beginning they were allowed to retain hill sides

for shifting cultivation with millets and sorghum and for grazing and their

rights to hunt in the forest was not severely curtailed.26

Later the hillsides in

Wynad largely began to be used for plantations by the British, thus forcing

the tribals to migrate to the interior parts of forests. They were thus deprived

of their only source of livelihood. This did much harm to the productive

capacities of the Krichias. All these tribes who had little option to survive,

were forced to became cheap labourers and raw materials. In their search for

resources the British firms had discovered that the foothill of the mountains

were excellent for large plantation of cash crops. The investment of foreign

capital in plantations had been an emerging phenomenon in India in the 19th

24

William Logan, Malabar Manual, Madras , 1995, p. 599. 25

Guide to the Records of the Malabar District – 1714-1835, Vol. I, Madras,

1936, p. 7. 26

T. Madhava Menon (ed.), A Handbook of Kerala, Vol. II, Trivandrum, 2002,

p. 726.

243

and early 20th

Centuries27

. This opening of plantation economy made a far

reaching impact on agrarian structure of Kerala.28

Large plantations made

their appearance in Wynad during the second quarter of the 19th

century,

prior to which the taluk was practically left to the tribes and covered with

jungle. The first regular coffee estate was said to have been established at

Mananthavadi sometime between 1830 and 1840.29

The immediate result was

the destruction of the traditional rural co-operative work pattern and

conversion of the people into cheap labour force.30

While reducing the tribes

paupers the colonial rule created a condition for their transformation into

proletarian groups without having to undergo the intermediary stages of

transition.31

Thus they were integrated into the larger system of colonial and

capitalist exploitation being led to abject poverty. The problem of tribal

poverty was thus inseparable from the history of colonial exploitation.

Colonial Economic Exaction and Tribal Resistance

The commercial interests of the British led to the socio-economic

transformation of Malabar. Every resource was a potential source of revenue.

They introduced a new system of administration, an array of new taxes, an

army of petty officials and establishment of a central police and judicial

system all contributing to the deterioration of the authority of tribal elders.

The measures to raise the revenue in Malabar were introduced by Thomas

27

K.K.N. Kurup, The Process of Tribal Land Alienation and Disempowerment in

Wynad, Banglore, 2006, p. 2. 28

K. Saradamoni, Emergence of a Slave Caste-Pulayas of Kerala, New Delhi,

1980, p. 114. 29

C.A. Innes, et al., n. 22, p.501. 30

George M. Foster, Traditional Culture and the Impact of Technological Change,

New York, 1965, p. 25. 31

K.S. Sahu, „Health of the Tribes: Issue and Perspective” in M. Viswanathan

Nair, Anthropology of Tribal Health and Medicine in Forest Environment.

Kozhikode, 1995, pp. 108-109.

244

Warden, the third principal collector of Malabar. Exorbitant taxes and rents

were imposed on land and it was the poor peasants and tribals who were hit

hard. The new taxes were realised ruthlessly by the zealous agents of the

local authority and the traditional system of land control broke down. Not

only were the hereditary tribal chiefs deprived of their land but the tribal

cultivators too lost their land to the new comers.32

The pauperised tribal

peasants were not merely reduced to the status of tenants at-will, share

croppers, and agricultural labourers but were also enslaved. T.H. Baber has

mentioned the despicable conditions of the Kurchias in his minutes that „they

were deprived of their caste by cutting off their lock of hair (the

distinguishing mark of their caste) by making them eat prohibited food and by

otherwise distinguishing and polluting them.33

Such practices have helped to

generate a feeling that even their identity too was in danger.34

During the British period alienation from land due to faulty legislation

pertaining to forest land and lack of understanding of tribal social

organisation were responsible for tribal uprisings.35

The revenue settlement

created havoc in the economic life of Wynad and lay waste the whole valley,

driving the inhabitants from destitution to madness. The Kurichias were

much disturbed by the British insistence of collection of revenue in cash

instead in kind.36

The revenue payment of each individual was raised to ten

32

C.P. Yadav, et al. (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Scheduled Castes and Scduled

Tribes. Vol. IV, New Delhi, 2000, p. 324. 33

As quoted in T.K. Ravindian, Institutions and Movements in Kerala History,

Trivandrum, 1978, p. 163. 34

M.T.Narayanan, 'Tribal Resistance to British Colonialism in Kerala' in S.

Sivadasan (ed.), Colonialism and Resistance Movements in South India. Kalady,

2008, p. 104. 35

M.S.A. Roa (Ed.), Social Movement in India, Vol. I, New Delhi, 1978, p. xxi. 36

C.K. Kareem, Kerala and Her culture: An Introduction, Trivandrum, 1971,

p. 71.

245

per cent.37

The imposition of unified legal ownership system and taxes in

cash was opposed by the tribal communities. Later a system of rent was

imposed on the tribal chiefs, and the demand for money was created enabling

money lenders and traders to step in. This was the immediate cause of the

first wave of the tribal revolts (1799-1859) throughout India, which were

followed by attempts to develop a special system of administration for

tribals.38

In the history of anti-colonial resistance in southern India, the

Kurichias were the first to rise in revolt against the alien rulers. Intense

disaffection was widespread among the tribal societies against the socio-

economic condition which they were forced to accept. They laid siege on the

detachments at Mananthavadi and Sultan Battery. During the first decade of

the 19th

century after the defeat of Tipu Sultan, Pazhasi Raja rose in revolt

against the British.39

He had withdrawn to Wynad where the Kurichias had

already organized under the able leadership of Thalakkal Chandu who

opposed and baffled the British, even the military genius of Colonal Wellesly,

by their guerilla tactics and techniques of archery.40

When the disturbances

became widespread Pazhassi Raja sought the support of the peasants and hill

tribes in the struggle against the British. The capture of Panamaram Fort in

Wynad in October 1802 was the first sign of the rebellion, wherein the

Kurichiyas under Chandu played a significant role.41

37

Ibid., p.104. 38

K.S. Singh, 'Agrarian Dimension of Tribal Movement', in A.R. Desai (ed.),

Agrarian Struggle in India – After Independence, Delhi, 1986, p. 186. 39

A. Yesuratnam, The East India Company and The Principal Raja of Malabar

(1708-1805), unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Calicut, 1977, p.271. 40

Military control of this province was placed under the Madras Government

which appointed Arthur Wellesly in 1800 as the Commander of the Force in

Malabar. 41

It is said that Edachenna Kungan, a rebel leader, was present when a revenue

collector came up and demanded some paddy from Kurichias. Kungan killed

the revenue collector on the spot, and the Kurichias of the locality under the

246

In the middle of these developments, Thomas Warden took charge as

the principal collector of Malabar, and he was ably assisted by T. H. Baber,

Subcollector of North Malabar. Baber was successful in putting down the

rebellion and he fully utilized the service of the kolkars in driving out the

rebels from the jungle.42

His policy of enlisting the support of the local

people for maintaining law and order and the work done by the kolkars soon

cleared the plains of the rebels. Pazhassi and his followers received the

support of a large number of Kurichias and Kurumans who believed that the

British would annihilate them and therefore had, out of fear, deserted their

hamlets and were living in the jungle . 43

The Earl of Mornington, the

Governor General, also felt that the British possession on the coast of Malabar

would not be safe as long as the tribes of Wynad had not been severely

punished .44

The conflict lasted till the end of 1805. It came to a final halt

with the death of Pazhassi Raja on 30th November 1805. All these colonial

attitudes created potential for unrest among the tribal groups. Consequently ,

at the beginning of 1812, a rebellion of Kurichias broke out against the

British. Although the Kurichias fought courageously their sporadic revolt

they raised, armed with bows and arrows, were quickly suppressed by the

mighty military machines of the British. The heroic nature of the rebellious

tribes finds a place in the correspondence of the company. They could use

leadership of their chief Thalakkal Chandu, became the followers of Kungan.

Edachenna Kungan, his two brothers, and about 50 Kurichias attacked the

British post at Panamaram which was held by a detachment of 70 men of the

first battalion of the 4th

Bombay infantry under Captain Deckenson and Lt.

Maxwell (William Logon, p.536.) 42

Due to some setback the British were compelled to change their mode of

operation, instead of deploying the regular army in the thick forest, Captain

Watson raised a force of Kolkars or native police to go deep into jungle against

the guerilla warfare of the Kurichias. 43

Yesuratnam, n. 39, p.271. 44

Correspondence of Marques Wellesly, as quoted in Yesuratnan, n. 40, 1977,

p. 246.

247

bows and arrows with wonderful dexterity .45

A veteran soldier James

Welsh had to admit that his troops were no match to the Kurichias.46

An

analysis of these factors highlights the revolt was in many respect a direct

outcome of the economic policies of the colonial rule in Malabar.

Forest Policies under Colonialism

The vast forest areas in India did not escape from the colonial

economic interests and exploitation. It is a fact that from the beginning of the

19th

century itself, control of colonial state over the forest zones for revenue

was tightened. The procedure for forest settlement had been a matter of

intense debate in the forest administration and the crucial question was how to

balance the opposing interest of the state – as representatives of a general

public – and local users and owners of customary rights.47

To „solve‟ the

problem it was decided that European praxis should be followed. Thereby,

European legal ideas and procedures were introduced to control the Indian

forest zones. Colonial government brought the forests used or occupied by

tribal and other agricultural communities under reserve. But this was an action

indigestible to the tribal and contrary to their ethos. There are documents

clearly indicating the increasing interest of the colonial state in the affairs of

forest of Malabar. These also reflect the changing perception of the colonial

45

Corresponding letters to the President and Members of the Board of Revenue

Fort St. George. Vol.No.2323, Regional Archives, Kozhikode. 46

Ibid. 47

Antje Linkenbach, Forest Future - Global Representation and Ground Realities

in the Himalayas, New Deli, 2007, p.127.

248

rule on the forests of Malabar.48

These reports refer to the private ownership

of the forests of Malabar.49

The control and management of forests by the British government was

closely linked with the expansion of the colonial Empire.50

A perusal of

forest management in India under colonial rule would help us understand the

changing attitude of the British towards the woods and the people who used

them. In the beginning the British were interested only in the exploitation of

forest resources especially timber. They monopolized the timber trade

throughout Malabar and parts of Travancore, disregarding all previously

existing rights.51

Soon Britain emerged as the world leader in deforestation as

they needed huge bulks of timber for military and naval purposes. By 1790

the construction of vessels on a large scale became an imperative and serious

attempts were made to control the extraction and utilization of the principal

product of the Malabar forests.52

Above all, a generally hostile attitude to

forest preservation was reinforced by the belief that forests were an

impediment to the expansion of agriculture and consequently to the

generation of land revenue.53

48

William Thackeray, A Report on the Revenue Affairs of Malabar and Canara,

Madras, 1807, para 2, p. 118. 49

H.Smith, Report of the Bengal-Bombay Joint Commission, Madras, 1862, para

10. 50

K.V. Kunhikrishnan, „The Colonial State and Indias Forest Strategy

Requirements and Policy Shifts,” in C. Balan. (ed.) Reflection on Malabar:

Society, Institution and Culture, Kanhangad, 2005, p.52. 51

Antje Linkenbach, n. 46, p. 125. 52

KV.Kunhikrishnan, Forest Policy and Administration in British Malabar, 1880-

1947.unpublished Ph.D Thesis. University of Calicut. 1995, p. 14. 53

Ramachandra Guha, „Fighting for the Forest: State Forestry and Social change

in Tribal India‟ in Oliver Mendersohn, et al. (eds.), The Rights of the

Subordinat People, Delhi, 1994, p.22.

249

As the British themselves had no tradition of forest management

German experts were invited to establish the Imperial Forest Department in

1864. Since then the Indian Forest Act VII of 1865, the first step to create a

state monopoly on forest and to ensure proper forest management was begun

to execute. The Indian Forest Act of 1878 provided a comprehensive piece of

legislation that served as a model for other British colonies and continues to

be in operation today. The Act ensured the absolute state monopoly over the

forests, with peasants and tribes allowed only a limited access to forests and

forest produce. This Act paved the way for the constitution of massive areas

of reserve forests and their subsequent working on commercial line.54

Such

an arrogation of the ownership of the forests by the British had reduced the

claims and rights of tribals, who had been living in the forest and enjoying

them through the ages. On some occasions the administration even went to

the extent of asking tribal people to produce documentary evidences to prove

their rights on forest lands, on which they were living for generations.55

Forests were opened up through a system of contractors working under the

British, with freedom to use their own labour. The Hill Tribes were engaged

in the activities of collecting Minor Forest Produces (MPF) and in their

relation with outsiders they were exploited by them.56

This incursion into

tribal areas exposed them to the exploitative pressures of money lenders and

land grabbers.

The first national forest policy was implemented in 1894 which

adopted administration of the state forests as a state subject. It also ensured

that the claim of agricultural development would be stronger than forestry.

People were encouraged to clear-fell forests for cultivation speeding up the

54

Ibid., p. 23. 55

KV. Kunhikrishnan, n. 52, p. 14. 56

Fracis Buchanan, A Journey from Madras, Through the Countries of Mysore,

Canara and Malabar, Vol. 1, Madras, 1870, p. 385.

250

pace of deforestation.57

The colonial Government not only claimed but

enforced its ownership over forest resources, thus forests became for the first

time a resource controlled and regulated space of the British Empire. This

brought the colonial regime in direct conflict with forest dwellers with deeply

entrenched notion of ownership of forests.58

The main effect of the colonial policy was felt in the brake up of

traditional tribal village economy .While the colonial game laws made

traditional tribal activities illegal and the state monopoly over trade in forest

produce also seriously affected the tribals who had depended on them for

subsistence .The introduction of commercial crops motivated the colonial

rulers to displace the tribals from their habitat. Where the shifting cultivation

inhibited the growth of plantation, its abolition could conceivably solve what

was at that time one of the plantation economy‟s most pressing problem – a

guaranteed labour force.59

The Indian Forest Act of 1927, as an all India Legislation, denied the

inherent rights of the people.60

This legislation laid emphasis on the

exploitation of the forests for revenue purpose rather than on the value of

preservation or conservation.61

This is also evident from the preamble of the

Act, which states that the laws are framed for regulating transit of forest

produce and the duty leviable on timber and other forest produces. The

tribesmen simply could not understand the new regulations. In effect it made

57

A.P. Dwivedi, Forest – The Ecological Ramification, Dehradun, 1993, p. 36. 58

K.S. Singh, “Rethinking Forest, Forest Dwellers and Ecological History” in B.B.

Chaudhuri, et al. (eds.), Tribe, Forest and socialformation in Indian History.

New Delhi, 2004, p. 46. 59

In this critical situation, tribals were the main source of labour supply and they

were experienced too for such work. 60

Digvijay Singh, 'The Real Issues', in Seminar, No. 552, August, 2000, p. 20. 61

K.S. Singh, Economics of the Tribes and their Transformation, New Delhi,

1982, p. viii.

251

the tribals dependent on colonial market economy which in turn left them

destitute.

It is to be mentioned that the forest administration of the British in

Malabar was no longer a reason for the Kurichia Revolt of 1812. The tribes

were deprived of their traditional right on forests only after the establishment

of the Forest Department in 1864. Depending on the relative pressure of

commercial forestry and the maintenance of social control, some strategies

like banning of shifting cultivation seems to have been adopted in different

regions. Sir Richard Temple clearly stated in 1863 the policy to be adopted

towards shifting cultivation.62

Shifting cultivation was considered harmful for

commercial forestry and it was highly discouraged as a major cause of soil

erosion by the champions of commercial logging. But for the tribes it was

often the only possibility. Henry Cleghorn, Inspector General of Forest in

1867, viewed that it should not be allowed in localities where teak and

blackwood flourished. Finally , shifting cultivation was banned in the

evergreen forests of Western Ghats by an order on 12th

April, 1870.63

By

another order in 1881 the clearing of forests and shifting cultivation even

beyond 6 k.m. of the forest was strictly prohibited. A more practical reason

for such hostility was that shifting cultivation often prevented alternative

economic uses of hilly or forest land. Thus the earlier rights enjoyed by the

tribals, by the grace of rulers, were now transformed into mere concessions.

In Wynad, at the same time, the British had to grand several concessions to

the tribes, especially to the Kurichias.64

They were also exempted from the

62

G.S. Ghurye, n. 2, p. 101. 63

O.K. Johny, Wynad Rekhakal (Mal.), Kozhikode, 2001, p. 90. 64

Panoor has mentioned his conversation with some Kurichia elders in 1962 that

their ancestors have enjoyed the cultivation of Rotation Punam under the British

in some parts of Wynad, and they are looking forward to get permission for the

same even now to lead a happy life K. Panoor, Keralathile Africa (Mal.),

Kottayam, 1963, p. 42.

252

provision of the Arms Act with reference to their bows and arrows.

However, these concessions did not extend to granting pattayam to the forest

land that were under the control of adivasis in Malabar.65

The tribes living in

reserve forests were under the control of the Forest Department. So they were

not issued land deeds66

. All Forest policies that curtailed the tribal freedom

and access to hunting and gathering created an acute sense of deprivation

among the tribal committees. Of all communities it was the Kurichians who

suffered much by these policies as they were the major tribal community who

survived on hunting and shifting cultivation.

Post-Independent State and the economy of the tribal people

In this section the present researcher will discuss the post-independent

India and Kerala state programmes and policies in modernizing tribal

economy and their effects. Primarily it will be an analysis of the condition of

the Kurichias. Other tribal communities in the Wynad will also occasionally

come in the discussion. Colonial government through their forest policies and

other administrative reforms had already redrawn the social and economic life

of the tribals of Wynad, including the Kurichias. It could be argued that the

post-independent Indian state also was following many of the colonial

policies. Therefore, while charting programmes for the tribals, the state often

neglected the economic life which was embedded in their cultural life.

Perhaps the continuing subalternity of the tribals could be seen as the result of

the unimaginative policies of the state in „developing‟ the tribals. What

happened to the tribal life in the post-independent period, including the

changing patterns of their means of subsistence, is closely observed in the

succeeding pages.

65

The Mathrubhumi, 10 June 2006. 66

Ibid.

253

It is a fact that the tribals constitute a vital part of Indian society and

therefore, any general change or modernizing of Indian society will have its

effects on tribals as well. But whether such changes were always

advantageous to the tribals is a question of debate. Often, it was seen that, in

the modern development process the tribals are seen straggling behind. It

shows that they are always in a liminal position. They were forced to leave

their ageold practice and they have not reached upto the level of reaping the

fruits of modern developments. It is in this situation tribal development had

become one of the major programmes of the independent Indian government.

Thus considerable emphasis is being laid for the uplift of these people and to

reduce the gap between tribes and non-tribes. But, still, that is, even after five

decades of planning, the tribal development has not achieved its objectives.

It has to be mentioned that even after the implementation of various

welfare and development schemes their participation as an independent

economic unit is extremely low compared to the non-tribals. Nevertheless

they continue to remain predominantly engaged in primary sector activities

like cultivation, agricultural labour, livestock, forestry, fishing, mining and

quarrying, plantation and allied activities. There is also a large scale shift

from the primary sector to secondary and tertiary sectors. All these have

made some significant changes in the occupational and material advancement

of the tribes. An attempt was made in a survey during the 1970‟s to calculate

and study the pattern of some specific occupations of the tribal communities.

Their occupations were classified into 12 groups. (1) Shifting cultivation (2)

Regular cultivation (3) Agricultural labour including farm and plantation

work (4) Livestock rearing (5) Basket making (6) other household industry

(7) Collection of forest produce (8) household work (9) government services

254

(10) food gathering (11) other unspecified occupations (12) private services.67

Though it is clear that most of these occupations do not have enough

significance in today‟s tribal economy and they must be taken into account in

the parameters of change . Their economic problems mainly appear in terms

of „occupational injustice‟ without supportive tribal programmes and

policies.68

Thus the development initiatives have produced dismal results in

the tribal economy of the state.

Agriculture is the main stay of Indian rural economy and all the same

so of the tribal economy. Since agriculture is the mode of livelihood for a

majority of people in rural areas, the changes that took place in it were of

great repercussion for the people who lived there. The Kurichias are

comparatively skillful in agriculture but the land owned by them was neither

fertile nor suitable for irrigation. But they have undertaken agriculture

(particularly cash crop cultivation) as the primary source of subsistance in this

district.69

The Kurichias have also partially mechanized agriculture and

adopted some innovations. In addition to their traditional crops of coffee and

pepper they cultivate ginger, banana and several roots. For ploughing they use

power tillers. They are also using chemical fertilizers along with cow-dung

and insecticides, and have experimented with new varieties of paddy.70

Though agriculture is the major occupation of many Kurichia and

Kuruma households it is marked by low productivity , thus keeping them at

subsistence level. By 2001 census, 90% of ST population depends on

67

Report on Socio-economic survey of Tribals in Kerala 1976-78. Trivandrum,

1979, p.19. 68

Radhakrishna Pandu, 'Tribal Problem: A Study from Macro to Micro', in S.N.

Tripathi (ed.), Tribals in India – The changing Scenario, New Delhi, 1998,

p. 340. 69

T. Madhava Menon (ed.), A Handbook of Kerala, Vol. I, Trivandrum, 2000,

p. 197. 70

Interview with Balan, a Kurichia Cultivator, Manathavadi,16.3.2008.

255

agrarian sector.71

As per a non-Governmental report the land holders above

one acre among the tribes of Wynad are 14%, most of them belong to the

Kurichas and Kurumas, landholding group from 50 cents to one acre is 26%,

from 10 cents to 50 cents it is 33% and the landless labourers are 16% and

most of them belong to the Paniyans, Adiyas and Kattunaikkas.72

The

cropping pattern followed by these people shows wide inter-regional

variations due to differences in climatic and ecological factors.73

Thus a rigid

and uniform economic and agricultural development programmme would not

succeed. Along with this a rapid population growth crated pressure on

agricultural land resulting in the fragmentation of landholding. One of the

crucial factors in the growth of landless labourers and their unemployment is

obviously this pressure of population on land as measured by changes in land-

labour ratio.74

The low per capita lands become uneconomic to cultivate.

Without better irrigation facilities tribal economy cannot be developed as

pointed out by the committee in 1964.

Although the history of tribal economy shows endless variations from

shifting cultivation to settled agriculture , the tribal occupational status

declined from that of cultivators to mere agricultural labourers in the course

of economic transformation in colonial and post-colonial period. As majority

of them were not able to produce enough for their subsistence, they have been

going out to seek employment elsewhere in the slack agricultural season soon

after paddy harvest. In the absence of land, lack of employment opportunities

was also identified as a persistent problem especially among the female .

71

Census 2001, ST. Directorate, Trivandrum. 72

Sreyas, NGO, Sultan Batteri, 2006. 73

P. Sivanandan, “Economic Emancipation through Institutional Reforms and

Development Programmes” in A.M. Abraham Ayrookuzhiel (ed.), TheDalit

Desiyata – The Kerala Experience in Development and Class Struggle, Delhi,

1990, p. 21. 74

Dharma Kumar, Land and Caste in South India, New Delhi, 1992, p. 101.

256

However, agriculture employment is available to women only for two months

in a year, work being available to them for ten to five days at sowing and

weeding time and ten to five days at harvesting time in each cropping

season.75

As women are unskilled labourers they do not get any other

employment within the village and recently they are largely going out of state

for work.76

Their proximity to the forest keep them away from getting

employments in plantation estates. The breaking up of this traditional

economic setup was followed by the weakening of traditional group level

social relation.77

Agriculture in Wynad unlike other districts has historically been

dominated by commercial crops and spices. The export of these commodities

from the state has been recording fairly good growth in the district till towards

the end of the 1990s.78

The decline in productivity and prices affected the

profitability of cultivation, especially on farm using hired labour. Agriculture

thus has now become an area of uncertainty and anxiety for all people in the

district. What makes tribal agriculture worse in the changed situation is that

they are unable to overcome the situation by alternative options. During the

last two decades, despite having mechanised farming, agriculture in the

district has been left to the vagaries of the monsoon. Adding to the problem

of the crisis-ridden agriculture sector, actual rainfall in the district has come

down to 30% of the normal. It is aptly described in the phrase „

karshikaprathisandhi ‘ or „agrarian crisis‟, a phrase now firmly found a place

75

Interview with Chirutheyi, agricultural labourer, Kalpetta ,14.4.2009. 76

Interview with Raman, agricultural labourer, Sultan Batteri, 26.2.2008. 77

P.R.G. Mathur, 'Tribal Movement in Lakshadweep and Southern India' in K.S.

Singh (ed.), Antiquity to Modernity in Tribal India, New Delhi, 1998, p. 334. 78

P.D. Jeromi, “Farmer‟s Indebtedness and Suicide Impact of Agricultural Trade

Liberalisation in Kerala” in E.P.W., August 4, 2007, p. 3241.

257

in the local lexicon . The crisis has sparked off many suicides.79

Of all

suicide cases 20% are reported from tribal communities.80

All these

eventually resulted in a trend towards bidding good-bye to agricultural

occupation by many people. It is a common observation that more and more

tribal youths are abstaining from manual agricultural works. Though it is

not true to state in tribal parlance that the plough has been replaced by

service in government sector. But of course agriculture is the first sphere

where the marginalisation of tribal people has taken place . Development

programmes, especially with capital input, giving a commercial twist to

agriculture have only proved disadvantageous to tribal population.

Forest Policies of the Independent State

The welfare of the tribals is closely linked with the management of the

forests. Everyone agrees that a close relationship exists between the tribals

and the forest. However the forest policies in most cases have failed to take

this factor into consideration. The forest administration and existing

regulations have deplorably overlooked the interests of the tribals. They are

primarily concerned with the revenue from the forests. After 1947, the

adoption of new forest policies as part of economic development was to

prevent indiscriminate use of the forest by the tribal people.

In Malabar, a major part of the forests remained in the hands of

Janmies.81

The Madras Preservation of Private Forest Act, 1949 was passed

79

Report of the Kerala State Farmer’s Debt Relief Commission – 2006. 80

Sreyas, Sultan Battey, 2006. 81

In 1945, the Madras Government conducted a survey to assess the details of

private forests in Malabar and found that 116 Jenmies were in possession of

3,10,000 hectares of forest land. This extension of private forests under Janmies

was more than two times of reserve forests under the government – T.P.

Viswanathan, Keralathile Vanapalanam, Prasnangalum Pariharangalum

(Mal.), Trivandrum, 1990, p. 5-6.

258

by a temporary measure with a view to prevent uncontrolled destruction of

private forests.82

With the influx of settlers money receipt system was

introduced which gave permission to cultivate the land without legally

transferring the ownership. 83

It was a total violation of the Act, and

consequently large areas of forest land were converted to farm land. As under

the British many of the tribes became farm labourers in Wynad.

The forest policy, therefore, was revised at the national level in 1952.

The Forest Policy Regulation (1952) drastically cut down the rights of the

tribals in the forest. Forest was taken as national wealth and was to run on a

commercial line. In these circumstances, the Dhebal Commission which

inquired into the position of ST in 1960-61, recommended an integrated

approach for the development of the tribes as well as the forest area.84

The

commission recommended a basic change in forest policy to enable tribals to

have control of the forest resources. It is a fact that without the active

participation of adivasis forests cannot be protected. The objective of the

Forest Policy was to provide continuous employment to as many tribal people

as possible in various forestry operation in the reserve forests. In the

beginning forest contractors were the employers of tribals in Malabar and the

officers of the Forest Department had expected to see that tribesmen got fair

wages.85

After the formation of a separate department for tribal welfare the

state‟s forest policy became closely linked with it. The state has clearly

demarcated the Revenue Forests to be controlled through the State Forest

82

C.K. Karmakaran, Politics of Vanishing Forest in Kerala, Trissur, 2003, p.27. 83

T.P. Viswanathan, n. 81, p. 7. 84

Dhebal. V.M. Report on the SC/ST Commission 1960-61, New Delhi, as quoted

in L.A. Krishna Iyer, Social History of Kerala, Madras, 1968, p.69. 85

A Aiyappan, Report on the Socio-economic condition of the Aboriginal Tribes of

the province of Madras. Madras, 1948, p. 20.

259

Department. For meeting the manpower requirements for exploitation and

regeneration of forest resources the Forest Department established a few

human settlements inside or in the vicinity of the forest and named them

Forest Villages.86

The forest dwellers in this forest land stand on a different

footing.87

For the protection, advancement and management of the Hill Tribes,

Hillmen Rules used to be framed on the strength of empowering provisions in

the Forest Act. Kerala Hillmen Rules were notified in 1964. 88

These Rules

were not different from the old Travancore Act, 1911. Assignment of land to

the Scheduled Tribes for cultivation is made under the Hillmen Settlement

Rule. The Tribal settlement in the forest is permanently fixed by the Forest

Department and they are under the control of the department. The Scheduled

Tribes living in such settlements were required to register their names with

the Divisional Forest Officer through the Range Officer. The Scheduled

Tribes are allowed the concession of cultivating land free of tax in the

settlement to the extent of 5/8 of an acre per head. The land is not registered

in the name of Scheduled Tribes eventhough they may be traditionally

cultivating the land for long. The Scheduled Tribes who violate the forest

rules are liable to be expelled from the settlement temporarily or permanently.

The tribes do not therefore enjoy any security of tenure in the land which they

cultivate. They are always at the mercy of the Forest Department.

The Kerala Hillmen Rules, 1964, were however, struck down in 1970

by the High Court of Kerala against a petition filed by one Eachara Ittiyathi, a

86

Devendra Takur et al. (eds.), Tribal Life in India, Vol.II, New Delhi, 1996, p. 3. 87

The definition of the term „forest dwellers‟ as people who reside in forest, and

excluding people who live in close proximity to forest. This means the primary

beneficiaries are the people who live in recorded forest villages. Frontline, Jun

12, 2007, p.9. 88

Notification No. MS.575/64/AD dated 19.8.1964.

260

tribal, challenging the constitutional competence of the state legislature in

framing such rules.89

The unholy hand behind Ittiyathi is quite predictable,

since no Hill tribe, in the usual course, may approach the High Court with

such a prayer on constitutional ground, when the said Rules were very much

in their favour in the matters of free enjoyment of government land and of

protection from the exploitation of middle men. But it was only in Keala that

the Hillmen Rule (which govern the people in the forest area) were challenged

and struck down by the High Court which held that these constituted violation

of the fundamental rights.90

In 1971 the State Government, by the Kerala Private Forest (vested and

Assignment) Ordinance, 1971, took over all private forests without

compensation. Soon the ordinance was replaced by the Kerala Private Forest

(V and A) Act, 1971. It was also immediately challenged in the court of law,

and the Kerala High Court struck it down on 21.6.1972.91

All these led to the

distruction of large areas of forests. In 1972 the government issued another

ordinance to protect the forests in Malabar. For the implementation of the

provisions of the Act, a Vested Forest Committee was constituted. It

estimated the tribal colonies in the forests and recommended distribution of

land to tribals in the vested forests as per its report there are 1015.26 hectors

in north Wynad and 14,666.76 hectares in south Waynad.92

The committee

also prepared a model of the scheme for utilisation of the forest land. It was

this land that was used for the Pookot Dairy Farm and Tribal Development

Programme of Valat in Tavinhal Panchayat.93

89

C.K. Karunakaran, n. 82, p. 45. 90

B.D. Sharma, Dalits Betrayed, New Delhi, 1994, p.126. 91

T.P. Viswanathan, n. 81, p. 7. 92

C.K. Karunakaran, Keralathile Vanangal Noottandukaliloode (Mal.), Vol. 2,

Trivandrum, 1995, pp. 78-79. 93

Ibid.

261

The forest laws do not seem to have been framed to suit the needs of

these tribes. The earlier relationship of tribals with the forest is no longer

valid; the traditional right on concessions may be used by the community only

to supplement marginally their incomes. But in tribal experience, forest and

game laws reduced their access to the fruits of nature.94

By the provisions of

the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1981 no tree in the forest area can be cut

except for the purpose of replanting the area. As interpreted and implemented

in Kerala State, this prohibition has been used to stop all tribal development

activities in the forest. In addition to the Forest policies relentless

deforestation ruined the tribals and forcedthem to move out. After

independence all these have happened in the name of „development'.

Statesponsored development drawn up for short-term monetary gains is also

responsible for this deforestation.95

The period also witnessed escalation of

tension between forest officials and forest dwelling communities, the

enhanced role of timber mafia acting in collusion with a section of the tribal

people and the bureaucracy, and also increasing incidence of protest and

violence and movements to project and protest people‟s rights. 96

There are large scale clearing of tropical forests in Sultanbatteri and

Mananthavadi regions. The tribals in these areas have lost control over their

resources and have become daily wage earners. This finally led to causing

misery to the tribals who depend on forest for food, employment and non-

timber forest produces. Immediately after World War II, throughout Malabar,

Cochin and Travancore, forest lands were converted into settlements and

turned over agriculture under the „Grow More Food Campaign”. Another

instance is the migration of ex-servicemen through the Wynad Colonisation

94

Ramachandra Guha, Savaging the Civilized – Varrier Elwin His tribals and

India. New Delhi, 199, p.150. 95

P.R.G. Mathur, n. 77, p. 334. 96

K.S.Singh, n. 61, p. 41.

262

scheme which has also adversely affected the forest and forest dwelling

people like the Paniyas.97

The demand for timber, fire wood and reckless use

of forests continued to rise substantially during this period. In less than a

decade between 1960 and 1970, all the accessible and fertile areas were

occupied. During this rapid thrust the area of cultivation was extended further

into the interior parts of the forests. The tribal properties thus were alienated

from their possession by all kinds of ruses.98

This systematic encroachment

on the preserves of the tribals, accompanied by the attempt at forest

conservancy by the government, had already caused the migration of tribal

families northwards to Mysore and Coorg.99

The deforestation in Wynad has totally changed the district. A careful

study of the records throws light on some startling truths. From 1900 to 1995,

in about a century, a new and different Wynad has emerged. A good chunk of

thick forests has vanished, gigantic trees have disappeared, innumerable

species of wild life have dwindled and some have even become extinct. The

Wild Life Protection Act 1972 and strict enforcement of its provisions led to

conflicts between the tribal people and the Forest Department. The

government policies had put the forest dwellers between the mill-stones of

department officers and settlers. The consequence of the increasing alienation

of the tribal people from the Forest Department have been disastrous to the

protection of forests themselves. The relationship seems to be strained

mostly on account of the strong action being taken against tribal people for

petty offences and even against legitimate collection of MFP.

97

2nd

FYP-Kerala, Trivandrum, 1958, p. 112. 98

T. Madhava Menon (ed.), A Handbook of Kerala, Vol. I, Trivandrum, 2000,

p. 54. 99

Dilip Menon, Caste, Nationalism and Communism in South India – Malabar

1900 – 1948. New Delhi, 1994, p. 12.

263

Economic impact of migration to tribal areas

Wynad happened to be an important centre of settlement of migrant

Travancoreans. Therefore, in popular usage, this migration to Malabar is

sometimes referred to as „Wynadan migration‟.100

The large scale migration

of small farmers from the Travancore and Cochin regions to Malabar during

the second half of the 20th

century had far-reaching and disastrous effects on

the tribal communities.101

The most significant impact was felt on the

economic front, and it had always adversely affected the tribals. The large

scale influx of migrants to Wynad resulted in the progressive depletion of

common property resources including the forests .They not only grabbed the

tribal lands, but encroached into the forest land in which tribals exercised

considerable user rights. This finally caused the loss of non-farm

employment opportunities.

There could be a number of economic parameters like the level and

composition of income, extent of employment, pattern of employment,

cropping and land and asset holdings. As per the project report of the

Ministry of Environment, there was no significant change in the composition

of income. While farm income remained almost stable, there was a marginal

appreciation in the share of wage income. The only notable change was the

fall in the share of self-employment income. It was really caused by a sharp

fall in incomes from crafts, collection of MFP and other forms of self-

employment generated through the utilization of forest products like bamboo,

reeds, medicinal herbs etc. 102

100

P.K. Michael Tharakan, 'Dimensions and Characteristics of the Migration of

Farmers from Travancore to Malabar, 1930-1950', Journal of Kerala Studies,

Vol. III, Part 2, June 1987, p. 290. 101

Ibid., pp. 287-88. 102

Mohandas, Impact of New Settlers in the Western Ghat Region on the Socio-

Economic conditions of the Tribal Population. Thrissur, 1992, p. 75.

264

There have been changes in the cropping pattern of significantly larger

proportion of households. Even though the average area under cultivation

went up there was only a very marginal increase with respect to individual

crops. Change in this regard was a shift in favour of perennial cash crops

like coffee and pepper from paddy and other miscellaneous crops. It is also to

be noted that coffee and pepper were not cultivated by any of the tribal

households earlier.103

In the post-migration period, it is found that substantial

areas have been brought under coffee and pepper by many of the Kurichia

Tarawads. All these resulted in the decline in the area under miscellaneous

crops including farm agriculture. The emergence of pepper and coffee as the

major commercial crops in the district due to organized efforts of settlers has

a strong demonstrative effect on the tribals.104

In many areas the settlers

entered into joint – cultivation arrangements with the tribals, especially with

the Kurichias and Kurumans, which helped the latter to make the desired

change in their cropping pattern. At the same time it also adversely affected

the tribals in many ways. In the beginning the settlers worked on their own

agricultural land, but after that they themselves became a larger labour force

for agricultural practices of others. Thus the wage labour in the estates

available to the tribals declined when settlers also joined the labour force

competing for the limited job opportunities.

Some writers saw only the positive side of the impact of migration, that

tribals could learn new cultivation practices from the settlers which led to

improvement in production and productivity of their major crops. Migration

may thus have helped in bringing skill to this area where they could most

profitably be utilized and in contributing to a better utilization of human

103

Interview with S. Joseph, a cash crop cultivator, Pulpally, 11.8.2008. 104

Interview with Varchese, cash crop cultivator, Thavinhal, 11.8.2008.

265

resources.105

But they ignored the role played by migrant people on the

destruction of the tribal ethos. Compared to the Kurichias and other tribals of

Wynad, the non-tribal peasants had superior agricultural technology, but they

produced surplus with the help of tribal labourers only.106

Even after

substantial changes took place in cash crops and techniques of cultivation the

rural economy of Wynad remained stagnant.107

The non-tribals of the cities

were also getting interested in practicing cash-crop agriculture. This led to

the origin of a kind of neo-rich farmers who in practice provided all

incentives to the tribals to get their land sold or mortgaged. This resulted in

land alienation to settlers who have been lured by the fertile soil of Wynad

eminently suited for cultivation of a variety of high value cash crops. Not

only was the land of the tribals alienated, they were virtually alienated from

the development of the area which resulted in the degradation of the economic

conditions of the tribals. Although the establishment of farms and estates by

the settlers created more employment opportunities the self-employment from

dairying really declined as a consequence of the loss of grazing lands due to

their conversion into cropland by the settlers.

The destruction of the traditional tribal economy reduced the tribals

into the status of wage labourers and were forced to buy most of their

requirements from the market. Thus the traditional self-reliant, non-

monetised tribal economy gradually got transformed into a dependent and

monetised economy making them highly vulnerable to external economic and

social environment with the arrival of outsiders with their highly monetised

105

K.C. Zachariya, „Bombay Migration Study: A pilot analysis of Migration to an

Asian Metropolis,” in General Breese (ed.), The City in Newly Developing

Countries, Princeton University, 1969, p. 365. 106

Vidyut Joshi, Tribal Transition in India Issue and Development (ed.), Jaipur,

1998, p. 23. 107

Thomas W.Shea, 'Barriers to Economic Development in Traditional Societies in

Malabar', A case study, in Journal of Economic History, Vol.x1x, No. 4, Dec.

1957, p. 522.

266

profit oriented culture, the socio-economic interdependence that existed

earlier broke down.108

The migrants developed the economy, started

educational institutions and led an affluent life. This life and living style of

settlers had a little effect at least on some of the tribals as they also started

aspiring for similar economic conditions. But many of the poor tribes were

marginalized to interior areas of the forests. Along with this, their perception

and attitude towards money also underwent significant change. This attitude

was confined to certain landlholding communities and they began to impart

better education to their children. Whereas many others like the Paniyas and

Adiyas due to loss of their traditional life support system, were forced to

depend heavily on poorly paid casual work for livelihood.

Agricultural proletariats

In the changed economic situation the tribal folk, especially the

Kurichias, were transformed as labourers. They were heavily concentrated on

the primary sector for their subsistence. Their occupational structure,

especially in agriculture, with the features of paltry level of income,

possession of fewer assets, lamentably low levels of literacy, concentration in

traditional activities and high incidence of indebtedness further weakened

their condition. So their problems have now become identified with the

agricultural labourers from non-tribal communities. Since agricultural

labourers occupy lowers position in the occupational hierarchy, the obvious

conclusion is that these agricultural labourers are drawn from the lowest

socio-economic group. A distinct feature of the tribal agricultural labour is

the preponderance of women and children as wage earners. Although the

increased wage rate, better living condition, fixation of working hours etc are

major changes taken place among the agricultural labourers there was a

108

T. Madhava Menon (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Dravidian Tribes, Vol. I,

Trivandrum, 1993, p. 88.

267

negative relation between the number of agricultural labourers and the wage

rate among the tribal people.

A study of the wages is essential for a proper understanding of the

living condition of the tribals. Agricultural labourers led a life of poverty as

they got only a meagre amount as wage. So in the household economy their

wants are few and limited. There are ameliorative legislations for agricultural

development which mainly aim at the general development of agricultural

labourers. The first step in this regard was the promulgation of the Minimum

Wage Act in 1948 by the Government of India. Even before the adoption of

the Constitution the Minimum Wage Act helped to safeguard the interests of

agricultural labourers in many parts of the country. This Act casts a duty on

the appropriate government to fix the minimum wages payable to employees

specified in the Schedule of the Act. These provisions are designed to deliver

justice to workmen. Their meagre demand for labour can be met from the

vast armies of unemployed workers available around and at a rate of wage

fixed by them. An element essential to the success of the achievement of the

social objectives of this enactment is the parallel and strict enforcement of the

provision of this Act. The fixation of minimum wage was desirable for many

reasons, particularly to indicate the State‟s anxiety to protect this group from

undue exploitation. Although this Act has little effect on rural agricultural

labour, the ostensible purpose of fixing the minimum wages of agricultural

labour was never realized, as the Act was seldom seriously implemented.

The Report of the Committee on minimum wage pointed out that the

distressed state of the agricultural sector as a whole cannot be rectified by

mere wage fixation and it would affect the major sections of the population.

While a uniform minimum wage could not suit all localities, any wide

differentiation between zones may result in disturbing the agricultural

268

economy of the state.109

The problem of fixation of wage was therefore

very delicate and difficult and it has been approached form the angle of

comparative wage level in other occupations and it was found that there could

not be any great disparities between the standard of requirements of the

agricultural labourers and of others.110

Unlike the industrial workers, agriculture labourers are not organised

with the result that they do not have much bargaining power. It is, therefore,

the recommendations in the 1964 Report that have been made to take

necessary steps to enforce the Minimum Wage Act strictly and with due

regard to the cost of living index. A special survey in Wynad during 1976-78

has revealed the existence of various kinds of wage systems among the

tribals. Even after many decades of independence there existed payments in

kind. The Paniyas were given it in the form of foods. Till recently, they got

rice and curry in the morning before they entered into the field of work and

the same might be taken to the field at noon where they were working to

avoid the loses of time .A combined system of payments existed and the paid

wages were much below the minimum wage fixed for these areas. This

phenomena is result of the lack of organisation among the tribal agricultural

labourers. Simultaneously with this, consequent upon the phenomenal rise in

the level of unemployment among them in the district, there is massive unflux

of migrant labourers into this tribal area leading to the displacement of tribal

folk. In this situation, it is known for the increasing spread and militancy of

trade unionism among the agricultural laboureres backed by leftist parties.

The problems of scheduled sections have been recognised only as trade

union problems and not as a larger political problem.111

This is to say, even

109

Report of the Minimum Wage Committee for Employment in Agriculture - 1956,

Ernakulam, 1957, pp. 4-5. 110

Ibid. 111

M .Kunhaman, Development of Tribal Economy, New Delhi, 1989, p. 88

269

though various political parties have been organising them into trade unions

so as to obtain improvement in wage-rates and better labour conditions, no

attemptshas so far been made to end the alienation of these people from the

means of production.112

In the matter of forming organisations among the

agricultural labourers, there is competition among the political parties of

different ideologies while keeping these people permanently as agricultural

labourers.

The Left parties are far ahead in implementing beneficiary schemes for

agricultural labourers. An epoch making change in this regard was the Kerala

Agricultural Workers Pension Scheme, which came into affect from 4th

January, 1980.113

Although the tribals are mainly agricultural labourers in

Wynad these pension holders are comparatively very less.

A further study on the trends in real wage rates of agricultural

labourers during 1950-51 to 1971-72 has pointed out that Kerala is one of the

States that has shown a consistent rise in real wages since 1950-57.114

Higher

wages in the context of an increasing supply of labour underline the

importance of collective bargaining in securing high wage rates in the state.

How far this is applicable in the case of tribals is a matter to be discussed. The

present researcher‟s observation reveals that these trends of increasing wage

due of the higher bargaining power are not seen among the tribals of Wynad.

Moreover, such an attempt from the side of the tribals are always opposed by

powerful classes in Malabar. Though the Kerala Government has fixed the

minimum wages for labourers engaged in agricultural, it has not been

enforced in Kozhikode as the notification was invalidated by the High Court

112

Ibid. 113

The scheme initially provided a monthly pension of Rs.45 to each agricultural

worker who attained the age of 60 and whose annual income was below

Rs. 1500/-. The monthly pension was enhanced ro Rs. 60 per month from 1987-

88 and to 70 per month from 1.8.1991.It was revised to Rs.100 in1995-96. 114

As quoted in K. Saradamani, n. 28, p. 232.

270

on a writ petition filed by a few landlords.115

There was only negligible rise in

the wages of unskilled workers in the agricultural sector. The wage rate of

Rs.77.17 of male workers in the year 1995-1996 witnessed a rise upto

Rs.174.67 in 2005-2006. The corresponding figures for the female workers

are 51.17 and Rs.119.80 respectively.116

In short, tn the case of tribal workers

of Wynad the ageold tendency of paying lower wages still prevails.

Work Participation

The distribution of the tribal workers in the primary, secondary and

tertiary sectors gives a broad indication of the nature of their participation in

different sectors of the economy. The tribals were generally engaged in

miscellaneous occupation apart from some specific occupations. But in the

new economic scenario all these have changed and the communities like the

Paniyas .the Adiyas, the Kattunaikkas, etc are agriculture labourers. Whereas

a substantial percentage people belonging to the Kurichiya and the Kuruma

communities are still agriculturists.117

Statistics shows that presently the tribal people who constitute only

1.14% of total population of Kerala form 13% of the total agricultural

labourers in the State.118

They are mere agricultural labourers and only very

few own agricultural land. Even the well-known Land Reform Act of Kerala

had been of only marginal help to them. In 1990s in Kerala the agriculture

sector provided employment to 78% of ST workers, of whom 57.5% are

labourers and 20.5% are cultivators. In 2000 the cultivators in STwere

115

A Sreedhara Menon, Kerala District Gazetteer - Kozhikode, Trivandurm, 1958,

p. 552. 116

As quoted in the Report of Kerala State Farmers Debt Relief Commission,

Trivandurm, 2006. 117

Report of the Commission on the Socio-economic Condition of SC/ST 1978,

Vol. I, Part I, Trivandrum, p. 10. 118

Economic Review, 2004, p. 345.

271

reduced to 17%.119

The work participation of ST is 46.04% and SC is

41.21% as against the state average of 31.43% for the whole population. The

major reason for higher rate of work participation is the involvement of tribal

women in this field. Atribal woman can be a multipurpose worker.While

average work participation rate of the women in the state is 15.85%, the

rates for SC and ST women are 31.73 and 36.90% respectively.120

The

proportion of female workers is largely in occupations attached to the

households and in unspecified works.

The ST communities contributed the vital man power to the agrarian

economy of Wynad. The work participation rate of tribals in the district is

higher than any district as the largest agricultural labourers of Paniyans and

Adiays fully depend on agriculture. ST cultivators are becoming agricultural

labourers due to deforestation and large scale land alienation. Decline of

these work force from cultivators to agricultural labourers is a clear indication

of the deterioration of tribal economy . The immediate effect of dispossession

was enslavement in the 19th

and 20th

centuries and proletarianisation of tribal

labour. The process of proletarianisation was accelerated during the 2nd, 3rd

and 4th decades of the 20th century following the large scale migration.121

The migrants purchased land with bonded labourers from the Janmies and this

led to emancipation of more tribal slaves and they became wage labourers.

Occupation mobility among the tribals

The occupation that the STs traditionally followed can not fetch them a

livelihood in the present. So their occupational mobility is an important item

on the agenda concerning their development. The condition of labour in

certain organised sectors, especially in plantations, improved much. Hence

119

Economic Review, 2000, p. 188. 120

Ibid., p. 186. 121

Kunhaman, n. 111, p. 45.

272

there is an influx of others to this area and the plantation owners and factory

owners are willing to engage others as labourers.122

As a result, a large

section of tribals are losing their occupation every year at a fast rate. At this

critical juncture mobility in their occupation has been a major aspect

influencing their socio-economic condition.

Occupational mobility refers to shifting of occupation from traditional

sector to non-traditional sector or occupation in village to occupation in town

with a view to improve one‟s socio-economic status. Higher social and

professional status as well as better and stable income are the main incentives

for achieving occupational mobility. The traditional sector includes all the

cultivators of the family agricultural land, agricultural labourers and other

daily wage coolies and the non-traditional sector includes all government

employees, industrial workers, plantations labourers, and those people who

are running small business establishments.123

Many factors have contributed to the occupational mobility among the

tribes of Wynad and its rate varied from tribe to tribe due to education and

receptivity. The new employment opportunities and education are creating

certain amount of mobility in their occupations. The growth of towns like

Kalpetta, Mananthavadi and Sultanbatteri were very conducive to provide

such opportunities. However, even unskilled manual labour in the town

entails a pay-schedule with a better cash component than the typical work in

the villages. The urban workers unlike their counterparts in the settlements,

no longer find themselves totally dependent on a village agricultural

economy in which their subordinate economic position entails an inferior

122

Interview with Kumaran, a plantation worker, Kalpetta ,5.6 .2009. 123

J.R. Raghu Ramadas, 'Occupational Mobility among the Kurichias' in A.C.

Swarankar (ed.), Indian Tribes - Health Ecology and Social Structure, Jaipur,

1995, p. 210.

273

status as well.124

In the light of these facts, it may be argued that urban

employment confers some 'mobility - advantage' even in the case of manual

labour.

This mobilisation has slightly improved as a result of the welfare

measures adopted by the government. Such mobility naturally affects the

younger people who are forced to give up their traditional occupation which

has been the cause of their social distance from the non-tribals. 125

Younger

generations prefer generally white collar jobs for the purpose of upgrading

their lifestyle. Raghu Ramdas in his study on the occupational mobility

among the Kurichias has analysed their present occupation in preference to

their traditional occupation. He states that the youngsters are moving into

nontraditional occupations in great number though the traditional continued to

be predominant source of living.126

This trend is largely observed among the

Kurichias and Kurumas.

Tribal Welfare Department has been giving training to high school

educated youth in various skilled jobs. The youngsters of Paniyas and Adiyas

till recently were treated as illiterate and were thought to be unfit for

technical posts and their employment was confined to low grade works of the

unorganized sector. Sometimes such family members were forced to be

affiliated with the unorganized sector for the sake of employment. It could not

be denied that social stigma prevents many of them getting mobilized. The

working condition, the type of wage payment and the hours of work done are

hard to tolerate, but they desperately undertake it. But it can be said that a

large number of Kurichias and Kurmas moved to non-traditional sectors with

the help of development programmes. Other sections of the tribals sought

124

Ibid., p.214. 125

A. Balakrishnan Nair, Government and Politics of Kerala, Trivandrum, 1994,

p. 297. 126

J R .Raghu Ramdas, n. 123, p. 210.

274

mobility primarily through new employment opportunities outside their

panchayats due to town employment. Contact with non-tribals is another

factor which leads to occupational mobility among the tribes of Wynad. The

rate of contact of tribes with others varied from tribe to tribe. Many of the

small tribes are far removed from the general population and are not able to

break their barriers. After the disintegration of the joint family setup the

Kurichias began to settle independently. Most of them are living in the midst

of non-tribals and plantation work is the major non-traditional sector where

both men and women tribal folk are engaged as paid workers.127

The economic servitude is not only confined to agriculture, but met

within small artisan industries. Uralikurmans of Wynad, work as artisans for

their agrarian neioghbours. It has been noticed that many tribes, especially the

Uralis, had to abandon their traditional occupations due to migration and lack

of availability of raw materials. The Kattunaikkans who were food-gathers

have hunters and become farm labourers and mahouts. The Paniyas and

Adiyas also have improved their working conditions with the advent of

plantations. But the quality of their work has not much improved.128

The

rate of labour mobility is also very low among the tribals like the Paniyas,

Adiyas, Kattunaikkas, etc. But the new generation, especially among the

Kurichias and Kurumans, has been gradually moving towards non-traditional

occupation.

Tribal Indebtedness

Indebtedness is one of the major problems that upsets all the

developments of the tribal people. The chronic indebtedness among them is

mainly due to their poverty, ignorance, extravagant expenditure on social and

religions ceremonies, lack of credit facilities and consequent dependence on

127

Ibid., p.215. 128

Interview with K.K. Kochu, dalit writer, Kottayam, 19.11.09.

275

usurious and unscrupulous moneylenders. The emergence of new credit

agencies has also contributed to this phenomenon. The forest laws have

reduced their chances of earning, so their capacity to repay the loans is

decreased. Unless this evil is effectively curbed the programmes undertaken

for the economic advancement of these people will not have the desired

results.

Tribals are the main customers of moneylenders in Wynad. The needs

of tribals are fulfilled by the moneylenders as they are already settled in all

villages and towns of Wynad. It is during the lean season that they mainly

depend on moneylenders to meet their daily requirements. This pattern was

almost uniform under the survey of 1976-78 in the three major Tribal Blocks

in Wynad.

As the tribals are illiterate and ignorant they have no idea of what is

maintained in the account registers of the moneylenders. They give their

thump impression very obediently wherever required by the moneylenders

and that seals their fate for the future and for the future of the coming

generations.129

It is very easy for them to obtain these kinds of loans as they

are trustworthy in repaying the loan. These loans are conditional. If they are

unable to repay, they have to deliver agricultural and forest produce to them at

prices much lower than the market rate.130

Thus a new social order is created

in the tribal society, the agents of these order being represented by non- tribals

and the outcome is that the 'tribal poor' find themselves exceedingly indebted

and alienated from their resources.

These unorganised local moneylenders lend money without any

formalities because he deals with them at personal level and has no

129

Interview with Raghavan, the Secretary of the Society for collecting MFP,

Sulthan Battery, 11.8.2008, 130

Interview with Chandu, The President of Adivasi Kshema Samithi – Wynad,

11.2.2008.

276

confounding form and procedure.131

The moneylenders were able to keep the

tribesmen away from any contact with co-perative societies leading to the

failure of all developing programmes of the government.132

Under such a

system there could hardly be any practical control of moneylending in the

tribal area. No effective legislation has been enacted in any state to curb these

illegal practices . The only law common to deal with the problem of

indebtedness is 'Debt Relief Act'. 133

In pursuance of its provisions various

state governments have promulgated and enacted a number of laws and

regulations. In Kerala there is 'The Kerala Money Lending Act of 1958‟.134

But all these are ineffective, and in the changed economic scenario money

lending cannot be checked completely by legislation alone.

Another factor which has accelerated this indebtedness is the merciless

exploitation of tribal people by non-tribals and sometime by their own people

who are more advanced. Methods employed extend from snatching away their

land and making them labourers on their own land to sexually exploiting

their women. The nature and magnitude of exploitation varies considerably.

Though the exploitation of the tribals have come to the notice of the

administrators and policy makers from time to time, practically nothing has

been done in this regard.135

It is, therefore, not only necessary but also

agreeable to protect the poor tribals from such wicked people. It seems that

the entire fabric of tribal community will be disrupted to suit the needs of

131

A. Aiyappan, 'Tribes in Southern India' in Devendra Thakur et al., (eds.) Tribal

Life in India Vol. I, New Delhi, 1996, p. 95. 132

S. Narayan, Indian Anthroplogy, Delhi, 1998. p.74. 133

Report on the Evaluation committee on the welfare of SC/ST-OBC in Kerala

state, Trivandrum, 1964, p. 48. 134

Ibid., p. 98. 135

P.K. Bownick, 'Social Scientists, Social Action and Social Progress', in George

Pfetter et al., (eds.), Contemporary 'Society Tribal Studies, Vol. II, New Delhi,

1997, p. 112.

277

exploitative non-tribal neighbours through their economic power and

political influences .

Tribal exploitation may not be a new phenomenon, but it is quite

possible that the exposure of tribal communities to external exploitation has

increased with the expansion of modern communities and state institutions. It

pointed out that the Government has been responsible directly or indirectly

for the economic malaise that has inflicted the tribesmen. Aiyappan states

that "they have failed to give the minority - the weakest of our minorities - the

protection it deserves from exploitation by the stronger members of majority

communities”.136

The tribal people were also exploited by their own personnels whom

the government had appointed to develop these people.137

The major

exploitation of tribal people was mainly due to a wrong development strategy.

The question of implementation of many tribal schemes depended on the

bureaucracy.138

Unfortunately, in Kerala, we do not have a pro-people

bureaucracy. The idea that servants of the state are the masters of the people

has become strongly rooted in the whole machinery. Everything sponsored

by the bureaucracy was looked upon with distrust and suspicion by the tribals.

Efforts made by the government to impart short training in tribal life and

culture to different levels of bureaucracy were not very effective due to lack

of proper understanding of tribal problem and their felt need. Many things

done in the past in the name of tribals have not really reached them due to the

legal and administrative lacuna added with the double standard adopted by

some of the politicians and exploiters. Basically ignorance and apathy of the

tribal people have also contributed to this to a large extent. The present day

136

Aiyappan, n. 131, p. 94. 137

Hoshiar Singh, Tribal Development Administration, Jaipur, 1994, p. 31. 138

Bureaucracy is largely recruited from the upper social category and retains its

'elitist' character.

278

exploiters of the tribal people are qualitatively different from the traditional

landlords. The tribes do complain that even some of the bureaucrats beloning

to the Scheduled Castes have exploited them or at least neglected their cause

cruelly.

Tribal poverty and Alleviation programmes

Poverty as an existential reality is quite old, but its interpretation from

a multi-dimensional perspective is something new. Though it was prevalent

among all sections of the people, its incidence is much higher among the

economically and socially disadvantaged groups like Scheduled Castes and

Scheduled Tribes, and the rate of reduction in poverty over a period of time

was also lower among them than other sections of the society. The lack of

employment, education and low earning have left the tribal people in a

constant state of poverty. It is widely believed that poverty and hunger are

relatively recent among the tribal communities and are created from outside

and not evolved from within.139

Scholars find several reasons for the

continuing poverty of tribals. For some, it is due to their own drinking habit.

A few others attribute the continuing external exploitation as the reason.

Some argus that it is nothing but the fate of the tribals.

Although an understanding of the basic problem of the genesis of

poverty is not so crucial here, but it cannot be denied that the state of poverty

is the direct offshoot of an unequal possession of wealth and power by

members within the society.140

Such inequalities will deny opportunities to

the downtrodden people.141

The result is that 'poverty breeds poverty”. In

139

Govinda Chandra Rath, Nehru and Elwin on Tribal Development; Contrasting

Pespectives‟, in Tribal Development in India, New Delhi, 2006, p. 70. 140

K.C. Alexander, 'Rural Development Studies in Eighties' in M.S. Gore (ed.),

Third Survey of Research in Sociology and Social Anthropology, Vol. II, New

Delhi, 2000, p. 258. 141

As per the Human Development Report of 2005, the denial of opportunities for

general category is 29.5%, whereas it is 45.5% for SCs and 57.9% for STs. In

279

such a condition no developmental strategy meant to remove poverty cannot

be considered successful, if it does not touch the genuine problems of the

tribal people.

Poverty alleviation programmes had received priority in the early Five

Year Plans, but it could not make much headway. Tribal way of life and

habitation are under constant threat and they are left with little way of

livelihood options. The Paniya, Adiya and Kattunaika communities are still

fighting for survival. Their days start and end with the battle for food, and

they seldom find time to earn for other essential purchases. 142

This is not

measured statistically but can be identified with the specific depriving social

conditions such as nature of work, standard of education, level of housing

pattern, attitude towards lifestyle, equality of dress style, food and consumer

articles etc. It should not be taken to mean food only, qualitatively and

quantitatively but ignorance, illiteracy, immobility, suffering from easily

curable diseases and the like. Thus poverty within the poverty can be

identified in the case of the Paniyas and Adiyas.

The incidence of poverty among the SCs and STs of Kerala is only half

that at all India level. The poverty rate is lower in rural Kerala (31%) and in

urban Kerala (23%) compared to 36.7% and 30.5% at all India level

respectively.143

A category-wise rating of poverty will clearly reveal the

incidence of poverty among the tribals. The SC constitutes 19% of the BPL

population in Kerala, though they are only 9.81% of the total population of

the state. It shows that the poverty among the SC people is about double that

of the population of the state. Whereas ST constitute 5% of the total BPL

population the proportion of ST population is only 1.14%. It implies that the

the case of STs in the 10 districts it is more than 50%. Wynad, Idukki, Palakkad

and Kasargod occupy the highest order in this regard - Human Development

Report, 2005, as quoted in Economic Review, 2008, p. 364. 142

Interview with Joseph, a Rtd. Tribal Officer, Mananthavadi, 11.10.2007. 143

Economic Review, 2008, p. 363.

280

incidence of poverty among them is more than 3 times that of the total

population of the state. Scientific data on BPL and APL, especially of tribal

people are not available. A recent survey conducted by Kerala Adivasi Forum

has found that more than 3000 tribal families in the district had been included

in the APL category by the government.144

The criterion for division of APL

and BPL itself was not accurate. As per the available data of district-wise

profile of the tribal Kerala in 2000, Wynad district has the largest tribal

concentration. It also has the largest level of poverty at 60.38% as shown in

Table below.

TABLE 13

District-wise profile of poverty among the Tribals in Kerala

Sl.

No. District

Total number of

ST Families

ST Families

BPL

Percentage of

ST Families

1 Trivandrum 4059 2161 53.24

2 Kollam 925 95 10.27

3 Pathamthitta 1647 722 43.84

4 Alappuzha 651 47 7.22

5 Kottayam 3999 749 18.73

6 Idukki 11516 6422 55.77

7 Erankulam 1212 118 9.74

8 Trissur 967 430 44.47

9 Palakkad 8610 4571 53.09

10 Malappuram 2362 1247 52.77

11 Kozhikode 1215 288 23.70

12 Wynad 23287 14063 60.39

13 Kannur 3635 196 5.39

14 Kasargod 5355 2555 47.71

Total 69441 33664 48.48

Source: TSP, 2000, Government of Kerala

144

The Hindu, 25 November 2009.

281

The incidence of poverty is relatively higher among the tribals

indicating their low earning, and lack of assets, malnutrition and poverty-

related diseases. Thousands of them are struggling due to serious ailments

and starvation . In 1993, about 30 people died due to starvation in Noolpuzha

Panchayat, where the Paniyas are in a majority.145

Newspapers have reported

the volume of hunger and hunger deaths in Wynad quite frequently. A report

published in 'Mathruboomi’ a Malayalam daily, titled 'Will Wyand become

another Ethiopia', explains the pathetic conditions of starvation among

them.146

Such causalities were reported from the Wynad district and the

immediate response of the state government was to dismiss it as exaggeration

by the media. There is no starvation death in government records.147

In

1978, the Government of Kerala declared in the Legislative Assembly that till

the beginning of 1978 no STs had died of starvation but only due to lack of

nutrition.148

The same case of diseases continued in 1983 among the tribals in

Wynad .149

But the reality is that malnutrition makes them more vulnerable

to diseases. The low life expectancy of the Paniyas and Adiyas (about 40-45

years) is mainly due to prolonged malnutrition and excessive drinking habit

without adequate food.150

Despite the strong refutation by the governments

there is a general consensus among the media, political activists, social

activists, researchers and public at large that starvation death in Wynad is a

recurring fact.

145

The Malayala Manorama, 17 July 1993. 146

The Mathrubhoomi, 12 December, 1993. 147

Sundra Ramananda Iyer, Social Development in Kerala, Illusion or Reality,

Aldershort, 2000, p. 88. 148

Proceedings of Kerala Legislative Assembly, 15th Feb, 1978, 3rd Session, Vol.

VI, p. 589. 149

Proceedings of Kerala Legislative Assembly, November 25th, 1983, Vol. No.

LIX, p.78. 150

Interview with KC .Kunhiraman (Ex-MLA), Mananthavadi, 6.1.2008

282

Anti-poverty programmes

Antipoverty programmes had been strengthened over the years to

generate additional employment, create productive assets and import technical

and entrepreneurial skill to raise the income level of the poor. The cost of

each component of all these programmes is shared by the central and state

governments. A large share of each programme has been earmarked for the

SCs and STs and implemented through Panchayati raj institutions. They are:

1. Swanrajayanthi Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) 1999.

2. Indira Awaz Yogana (IAY)

3. Sampoorna Grama Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) 2001.151

4. Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

5. The Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) 1978-79.

6. National Rural Employment Programme (NREP), 1971.

7. Kerala State Development Corporation (KSDC)

8. Intensive Habitat Development Programme (IHDP)

9. National Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Finance and

Development Corporation (NSFDC)

10. Valmiki Ambdekar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY) 2001-02.

Besides these the State Poverty Eradication Mission has also

formulated a specific project for destitute identification, rehabilitation and

monitoring called 'Ashraya' with the assistance of the Central Government to

reach out to the downtrodden. The mission also implemented the

'Kudumbashree' programme by organising the poor by creating community

structures of women below poverty line which focus on demand-led

convergence of available services and resources under the leadership of the

local government.

151

SGRY was launched in Septemebr 2001 by merging the ongoing schemes of

Jawahar Grameen Samridhi Yojana (JGSY).

283

A critical analysis on the implementation of the poverty alleviation

programmes shows that the destitute category like ST who are in the lower

strata of the BPL list always got sidelined or their interests were not

adequately protected due to some reasons. They are:

I. The conventional programmes aimed at reducing poverty on economic

terms only.

II. The various needs of the destitute category such as housing, drinking

water, sanitation facilities, education, social problems etc., were not

taken into account.

III. The incapacity of the destitute to set up and run profitably a micro

enterprise.

IV. The destitutes were sidelined in wage employment programmes.

V. No consideration of the awareness level of the destitute.

VI. No holistic approach in tackling the multiple dimensions of poverty.

VII. The various programmes were implemented parallel to one another and

never led to a demand- led convergence.

VIII. The destitutes never constituted a vote bank.152

In short, all the

schemes and programmes, including land reforms, implemented by the

government for tribal development intended to eradicate poverty did

not contribute to any significant measure to bring up the tribals over

the property line.Various reasons like lack of active participation of

tribal consumers, failure of identifying the problem and felt-need,

centralised and highly bureaucratic approach and mismanagement and

152

Economic Review, 2004, p. 325.

284

misappropriation of funds are pointed out for the failure of these

programmes

Tribal Co-operative Movement

A Co-operative is an association of people for their common economic

and social progress. In Kerala it plays a vital role in the economic

development of the Backward Classes. It was thought that the co-operative

efforts of the STs would come into existence when the members of their

communities joined hands on the basis of the principle of co-operation and

carry on economic activities. It was expected that this would be able to bring

about radical changes in their living conditions. Along with legislation to

check money lending, exploitation and indebtedness there were some

alternative arrangements to provide credit facilities to the tribal people

through the agency of co-operative societies. During the First and Second

Five Year Plan period, there were on the whole 293 co-operative societies

working among the Backward classes under HWD.153

In 1980, it was raised to

463 for SCs and 72 per STs.154

In view of the importance of co-operation in the economic uplift of the

Backward Classes there are separate co-operative wings for both SCs and

STs. Among such societies in Wynad there are about 12 major and active

societies, its memberships reserved exclusively for the STs. A list of these

societies are given in Appendix 7.

The ST Co-operative Federation involved in the functioning of these

co-operative societies by providing financial help for collecting Minor Forest

produce (MFP) from the tribals, helping to start consumer stores, co-operative

153

221 for SC, 55 for ST and 17 for OBC. Report on the Evaluation Committee on

the welfare of SC,ST and OBC in Kerala, Trivandrum, 1964, p. 50. 154

Proceedings of Legislative Assembly, 9th July, 1987, 9th session, Vol. LXIV,

No. 4, p.47.

285

Maveli stores and providing long term loans .155

These societies have been

given sufficient financial grant for stocking and disposal of forest produce.

The lease of right to collect MFP is as far as possible given to these

societies.156

MFP and all the forest produce other than wood play an

important role in tribal economy. Earlier the right for collection of MFP was

sold in public auction to private individuals, but from 1978 onwards, this right

is entrusted to the tribal co-operative societies.157

The societies are also given

contract of MFP as a special concession. The MFP collected by the Girijan

co-operative societies are sold to the Kerala Harijan and Girijan

Development Co-operative Federation at prices fixed by the MFP committee.

The spread and growth of co-operative movement in different sectors

were nurtured under development plans with government initiative and

government finance. The economic assistance to SC and ST co-operative

societies is given from SCP and TSP respectively. Although the tribal co-

operative societies play a great role in improving the economic condition of

the tribals still they are suffering from major setbacks. But, of a total of 797

SC and ST co-operative societies under the Registrar of Co-operative

Societies, only 575 are functioning in the State. Many of the ST societies in

Wynad are dormant due to lack of involvement of the members. The overall

participation of members in ST societies is less than 20%.158

The major

problem of lack of management of societies by the tribals themselves, as

pointed out by the Report in 1964, has not been solved even after four

155

Proceedings of Kerala Legislative Assembly, 19th

December, 1983, 4th

session,

Vol.LIX, No.17, p.352. 156

2nd

FYP Kerala. Government of Kerala, Trivandrum, 1958, p.192. 157

C.K. Karunakaran, „Legislative and Executive Measures for Tribal Welfare in

Kerala' in Leelakrishnan et al. (eds.), Tribal Welfare Law and Practice, Cochin,

1985, p. 209. 158

Bhaskaran. A. A study of ST. Co-operative Societies in Wynad District –

Performance Problem and Prospects, unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Cochin, 2006,

p. 178.

286

decades of their functioning. These societies have, therefore, invariably to

depend on outsiders for management. The secretaries of most of the societies

are non-tribals. They are working without considerable felt-need of the

members.159

The societies could not save the members from the exploitation

of moneylenders. They were unable to create a sense of awareness among its

members as they are the custodians of these societies and it totally failed to

create a positive impact in the socio-economic outlook of their members.

Granting credit is one of the important objectives as per the bye-law of all ST

societies. But most of the societies do not grant credit to its members due to

shortage of funds and nonrepayment of old debts.160

Above all these societies

functioning in Wynad District are carrying on the traditional objectives only.

They are not innovative. The reason for all such weaknesses has been

attributed to the large percentage of dormant membership and its inactive

condition. But the political interference, lack of professional management,

mismanagement and misappropriation of funds as their common features

could not be ignored. Neither the members nor the societies themselves have

developed due to lack of co-ordination among the different departments

involved in the administration of the societies.

Land Reforms and Its Impact on Tribals

Land control is the basis of agrarian hierarchy and therefore the means

by which the dominants have subordinated the landless, especially the

scheduled sections in all villages. So, Land Reforms were an important issue

on the agrarian agenda in India after independence. The central question in

ST development strategy is land and its equitable distribution because the

159

Ibid., p. 177. 160

Interview with Soman, a member of SBSTSCS, 11.5.2008.

287

main problem facing the STs is lack of assets in the form of land.161

Reforms

are necessary not only for bringing about equity and social justice, but also for

laying sound foundation for viable growth. The transfer of assets can be

achieved through effective implementation of land reforms and enforcement

of land relation and ceiling laws, both in rural and urban areas.

Land ownership confers power and prestige. Thus the relation of

social structure and land system has been pointed out both by Indian and

Western scholars.162

Historically, landholding was an outstanding and

inseparable economic feature of the tribal society. So, when the importance

of land increases political activity increases manifold. The principal means of

livelihood for tribals is the land, and their development is linked with the

development of their land. Thus the possession of landed-property by the

members of a group or tribe has dual meaning.

After independence the Government of India has taken various

programmes and strategies of development. This has given rise to a change in

property structure. Basically during the initial stages of planning, State

intervention was geared more towards a structural change keeping land

reform in the forefront. Land reforms mean the legal amendment in the

existing rules of land ownership and its management. If land ownership is

always an indispensable passport to high rank, it certainly facilitates upward

mobility.163

As land is always equated with power, land reforms mean the

161

The term „land‟ is used to mean commonly such land as is held or let for

agricultural purpose but not connected with horticulture, pasturage or groves etc. 162

As quoted in Banvir Singh, „Land: Reforms and Social Change‟ in K.S. Mathur

et al. (eds.), Studies in Social Change, Lucknow, 1973, p. 177. 163

M.N. Srinivas, Social Change in Modern India, Bombay, 1960, p. 12.

288

restructuring of power. Therefore, the traditional power structure has been

shattered in favour of a democratic system.164

Indian Constitution has put agriculture and land reforms in the purview

of the province of the State (a state subject). Although similar steps (abolition

of intermediaries, tenancy reforms, land ceilings and land consolidation) were

taken in all parts of the country, the legislation and their implementation

varied from region to region. As Kerala has invested heavily on social sector

after independence, it was the first state in the country to introduce radical

land reforms in 1957.165

The agrarian reforms in Kerala over the last three

decades are generally believed to have been more far-reaching and effective

than elsewhere in India.166

But there had been much obstacles faced by the

Government. When the Communist Party come to power in Kerala in 1957

big landlords rightly apprehended that their feudal interest on land would be

at stake.167

After the formation of Kerala, the first major achievement was Kerala

Agrarian Relation Bill, 1957 which was introduced in Kerala Legislative

Assembly.168

It was passed on 15.10.1960 as aresult of the pressure from

below.169

In Malabar region the peasant struggles pressurized the state to

implement it. Thus the genesis of this could be traced back to the earliest

164

K.K.N. Kurup, „The land Reforms and Social Change in Kerala‟ in Jamal

Muhammed (ed.), Perspectives of Kerala Studies, Kalady, 1999, p. 147. 165

Land Reforms Act originally brought by the first communist Government in the

State in 1957 was the main foundation stone for the uplift of the small time

farmers and downtrodden in the state. Agrarian Relationa Bill, Ernakulam,

1959, p. ii. 166

K.N. Raj, et al (1983) as quoted in EPW, May, 22, 1999, p.1273. 167

Report of Land Reforms Survey in Kerala – 1966-67. Trivandrum, 1968, p. 95. 168

Agrarian Relation Bill, Ernakulam, 1959, p. ii 169

Paramjith S. Judge, Social Change through Land Reforms, New Delhi, 1999,

p. 173.

289

phases of tenancy reforms set in motion as an outcome of a series of

protracted struggles by the peasantry against the evils of landlordism such as

rack renting and frequent evictions.170

But this Act was repealed in 1961 and

was substituted by the KLR Act, 1963.171

Under section 82(i) of the KLR Act

1963, the ceiling of land area was fixed for individuals and joint families.172

But the Congress Ministry, after the fall of the first Communist Ministry,

passed another legislature in 1964 after diluting some of the provisions of the

1957 Bill. Had not this Bill of 1957 been passed at this time the next Ministry

of anti-communists would not have implemented land reforms at all.173

In

1967 again a coalition government led by the Communists decided to amend

the Act of 1964, and a drastic amendment was brought in 1969 as the basis of

LR in the state. Individuals were prevented from owning, holding or

processing land in excess of the ceiling limit w.e.f. Ist January 1970. The

result of this Act was to redistribute excess land to all agrarian labourers and

dwellers. Thus the implementation of LR started from 1.1.1970, based on the

LR (Amendment) Act of 1969. Later the Act could not be implemented as

the Ministry resigned on account of inner party rivalry.174

In the history of land reforms, Kerala is one of the states in India where

it was effectively implemented with a motivation to restructure the entire

agrarian system along with the elimination of land monopoly by a few

170

P.Sivanadan, n. 73, p. 13. 171

KLR Act, 1963 (Act 1 of 1964) in the principal LR law in the state of Kerala

and it was included in the 9th

schedule of the Constitution as item 39 by the 17th

amendment. 172

Agricultural land ceiling in India was also set high by Asian standard. 173

N.Jose Chander, The Legislative Process in Kerala-1957-1969. Trivandrum,

1980, p. 141 174

The KLR Act, 1969 was practically implemented by the C.P.I. led Ministry

under the leadership of C. Achutha Menon.

290

traditional landlords.175

The LRAct, 1969 is considered one of the most

radical and successful legilsation even in South Asia. In a state known for

effective implementation of land reforms based on the slogan, „land to the

tillers,‟ the high sense of socio-political awareness among the downtrodden

sections and pro-poor bias of the architects of the land reforms were

evident.176

The reforms have brought about many significant changes in the

traditional social structure of the agrarian community. But the rate and

magnitude of changes obtained by different societies on the implementation

of land reforms may vary according to tribe-caste-composition, ratio between

land holders and the landless peasants and distribution of land holdings.

The traditional agrarian society in Kerala had been chracterised by the

existence of three distinct strata, such as the upper one claiming control over

land, the middle one consisting of tenants and with control over product and

the lowest consisting of the real tillers of the soil but without any control over

either land or its production. The third category of agrarian labourers

comprised mostly of SC and ST whose conditions were pathetic. They could

be bought and sold or mortgaged. This structure of the agrarian society

corresponded to the caste structure.177

The genesis and evolution of this

structure had been historical and began to change as a result of agrarian

response.

175

K.K.N. Kurup, n. 164, p. 147. 176

Land for tiller,‟ a slogan, for the first time raised by the Congress during the pre-

independence days was mainly for mobilising the peasantry and the proletariat

as part of its anticolonial struggle, at its 45th

session of 1931 at Karachi and later

in its 50th

session of 1936 at Faizpur under Nehru. A.K. Gopalan,

„Manninuvendi‟ Trivandrum, 1975, p.3. 177

M.Kunhaman, „Left Parties and the Dalits in Kerala,‟ in M.A. Abraham

Ayrookuzhiel (ed.), Dalit Desiyatha - Kerala Experience in Development and

Class struggle, Delhi, 1990, p.84.

291

Effective implementation of land reforms is one of the crucial tests of

the government‟s will to improve the condition of these weaker sections

traditionally engaged in agricultural activities under dependent relations. So

there had been various objectives as abolition of landlordism, imposition of

ceiling on land holdings and distribution of surplus land among the landless

labourers and nominal farmers. Other major objectives are reordering of

agrarian relations in order to achieve an egalitarian social structure, abolition

of intermediaries, reduction of poverty among the rural poor, realising the age

old goal of „land to the tillers,‟ strengthening the asset base of the rural

poor.178

It is also considered that the main instruments for the re-distribution

of income wealth, status, power and opportunities have been brought to the

land reforms.

In Kerala experience the land reforms had been to make the tenant

cultivators secure in their land-holding by declaring them to be permanent,

protected and non-evicted tenants. Whereas, what is least known is the fact

that some of the traditionally vulnerable sections which ought to have

benefited more from the various reforms became the victims of such reforms.

These vulnerable groups especially tribals did not benefit from the land

reforms.179

Another clear case in point is the heavy price that the STs were

forced to pay in the course of the implementation of land reforms in the

state,180

The impact of KLR Act, 1963 on tribal owners had a surprising

effect because of leases under which non-tribals used to cultivate tribal lands.

The enactment of these progressive Legisltion had a strange consequence of

making the tribal owners impoverished, often because tribal owners,

especially the Kurichias, had more land than they had resources to cultivate.

178

Economic Review, 2004, p. 330. 179

M.A. Oommen, Essays on Kerala Economy, New Delhi, 1993, p.10. 180

Kunhaman, n. 177, p. 1.

292

A good portion of their holdings was left fallow owing to the pattern of

shifting cultivation So the practice was to lease the land orally to settlers

by accepting nominal amount or in most cases liquor. The land reform

legislation enabled such non-tribal immigrants to establish their ownership

right over such leased land; for, according to the interpretation of the

legislation the tribal became „landlord‟ and the nontribal immigrants, tenants.

These tribals also came under the mischievous provisions of the Kerala

Agriculture Income Tax because of large holdings. The law-makers

mechanically applied borrowed accounts, inflicting gave injustice tribals. The

law treated them as owners of forest lands which they traditionally cultivated

and hence landlords.181

By good words and charming persuasion, the tribal

owners, ignorant of the provisions of the KLR Act, could be induced to induct

a non-tribal as a tenant cultivator, who then proceeded to use the provision of

the Law to get the land assigned to himself, paying a nominal, if any,

compensation to the original owners.182

Often the „tenant‟ would be the

owner of many acres of rubber or other exempted plantation which are outside

the ceiling provision of the Act. Thus the KLR Acts was a „government-sent‟

boon to the settlers and it made a favourable impact on peasant migration.183

The KLR Act,1963 as amended in 1969 and then in 1979 covers most

of the aspect of land reforms, namely tenancy, ceiling and allotment of land to

the hutment dwellers. A ceiling on the maximum land holding was an

important provision of KLR Act, 1963, which was expected to have made

available large areas for distribution among the landless poor sections. This

expectation was defeated, however, as a result of successive amendments to

181

B.R.P. Bhaskara, "Look in Back Kerala Land Reform" in K. Raman Pillai (ed.),

Land Reforms, New Delhi, 2011, p.111. 182

T. Madhava Menon, „Law and Tribal Societies in Kerala” in P. Leelakrishnan et

al. (eds.), Tribal Welfare-law and Practice, Cochin, 1985, p. 168. 183

T. Madhava Menon, n. 4, p.162.

293

the ceiling limits and provisions of exemption from ceiling under political

pressure exerted by the neo-rich peasant class. The land exempted from

ceiling limit was mainly plantations and private forests. This gave an

incentive to concentrate their attention on plantation.184

So all the land beyond

the limit has been shifted to plantation.185

. This resulted in partially ending

the implementation of distributive land reforms and surplus land distribution.

A case study by the CDS on the decade of 1957-66 indicates that from the

beginning of the agrarian reforms enactment itself, the capitalist classes of

Kerala had started protecting their landed property. To overcome the threat of

ceiling on holding they transferred ownership of about 0.22 million acres of

land and out of this about one quarter of land was already leased out when

the ownership transfers took place. 186

Due to this widespread evasion of the

ceiling laws much of the surplus land could not be discovered and whatever

land was redistributed, had gone to the detriment of the lower strata.

Extensive land holdings of many Kurichia mittoms came under the „ceiling‟

provisions of the KLR Acts, despite the marginal protection accorded to

„deemed‟ partition.187

The benefits of land reforms in Kerala have been viewed from various

points. It is viewed that land reforms in Kerala had essentially benefited the

middle class and tenants – especially the Syrian Christians and Ezhavas – but

these had not substantially benefited the landless agricultural labourers of SCs

184

Report of Land Reforms in Kerala 1966-67, Trivandrum, 1968, p. 96. 185

A new definition to the term „Plantation‟ was made to protect particular

interests. As per this definition the land principally cultivated with tea, coffee,

cocoa, rubber, cardamon or cinnamon will come under the plantation. 186

Poverty, Unemployment and Development Policy – A case study of selected

issues with reference to Kerala, C.D.S. Trivandrum, 1997; p.64. 187

K.S. Singh (ed.), People of India, Vol. 27, Part II, New Delhi, 2002, p. 718.

294

and STs.188

The impact or significance of the KLR Act was not so decisive as

the Agrarian Relation Act. Besides, the LR Act of 1963 may be said to be a

victory for the landed classes.189

When this reform generally changed the

structure of ownership and operation of landholding the other communities

became a new class of peasant proprietors.190

In view of the Communist

Party, the peasants like Pattakkar, Varakkar and Kanakkar were the real

beneficiaries of land reforms as mediators in between landlords and

agricultural labourers. The people below the rank of Ezhava community,

especially SCs and STs, would never come in these categories.191

These

scheduled sections, as a class of traditionally agricultural labourers from time

immemorial, were not allowed to hold tenancy right and were, therefore, left

entirely out of the process of transfer of ownership.

The provisions in the KLR Act for conferring right to tenants and

Kudikidappukar (hutment dwellers) might have benefited some SC and ST

families. These families were permitted to set up a „kudi‟ or hutment on the

landed property upon the understanding that they participated in the agrarian

activities of the Janmi and even of his or her ‘Kudiyan in return for the right

to habitation. This institution is to be seen as a timeless arrangement central

to feudalism in Kerala, and its principal role was to ensure a supply of labour.

They became landowning households by virtue of their status of hutment

dwellers by the land reform legislation. The members of each hutment were

entitled to ten cents, five cents or three cents of lands surrounding the kudi

188

Paper presented by M. Tharakan on Agrarian Reforms and Rural Development

in Less Developed Countries, at Culcutta, Jan 3,5, 6, 2002. 189

M.J.Javernesa Begom, 'Impact of the Land Reform of 1958 and 1963 on Kerala'

in Journal of Kerala Studies, Trivandrum, 1983, p. 144. 190

K.S. Singh, n. 187, p. 31. 191

Interview with K.K. Kochu, a Dalit writer, Kottayam, 19.11.2009.

295

on the basis of ‘Kudikidappu avakasam‟.192

The others were settled in the

marginalised coners of Lakshamveedu colonies and Harijancolonies.193

Some

conclude that land reforms in Kerala has not benefited a majority of

agricultural labourers.194

Land reforms have helped them to reduce some incidence of

landlessness, but failed to transform them to cultivators as it is one of the

main aims of the legislation.195

But the only qualitative change in the

position of the traditional tillers has been their transformation as free wage

labourers. The distributed tribal land located mostly in the undulated terrain

of the forest areas are unsuitable for intensive cultivation and not proved to be

a viable source of livelihood. Thus the Dalit and Adibvasi sections not

getting even a small piece of farm land. In land reform they were left in

lurch.196

The result was that the tribals were uprooted from the soil. It is in

this sense that we may speak of land reforms as having created a labour

market where it did not exist hitherto. By the 1970s this arrangement has

been largely confined to the Malabar.197

There is only very little evidence of land being bought by tribal people.

As per the provision of the KLR Act, 1963 surplus land taken over by the

state government was to be distributed to the landless agricultural labourers

of which 50% was to be distributed among agricultural labourers belonging

192

Proceedings of Kerala Legislative Assembly, 3rd

session, Vol. x, No 18, 1960,

p. 1834. 193

K.K. Kochu, Mathrubhoomi Weekly, March 12-18, 2006, p.47. 194

J.P.Mencher, 'The Lessons and Non-Lessons of Kerala Agricultural Labourers

and Poverty', in E.P.W, Vol. 15, No. 41, 42, Oct. 1980. 195

Economic Review, 1999, p. 206. 196

K. Venu, 'Land Reforms in Kerala – Some observations' in Raman Pillia (ed.),

Land Reform, New Delhi; 2011, p.116. 197

Pulpre Balakrishnan, 'Land Reforms and the Question of Food' in Kerala in

EPW, 22 May 1999, p. 1273.

296

to scheduled groups with prohibition of alienation of these land, for a

minimum period of 12 years from the date of distribution.

In the discussion it has to be admitted that land reforms in Kerala had

several historic achievements to its credit. The conferring of the ownership

rights to Kudikidappukar is an important result of this Act (1963) which is

described from section 75 to 80 G. Abolition of tenancy and conferring the

ownership right to tenants is contained in the law, i.e, from section 3 to 74.

The provision to distribute the land in excess of the ceiling limits to the

landless was incorporated in the law from section 81-88 A. Therefore, this

Act bans the creation of fresh tenancies, confers on the tenant the right to

purchase his owner‟s land and prescribes a ceiling in regard to the extent of

land that can be owned by a family. The greatest achievement made by the

amendment of 1969 was the abolition of the Janmi system, the greatest

landmark in the agrarian history of Kerala in particular and India as a whole.

Thus the feudal land relation has completely disappeared in the state. As an

historical process this was strengthened by political activism of the peasantry,

peasant disturbances and legislative measures.198

But the land reforms were

not successful in vesting ownership of land in the hands of the tiller,

succeeding only in transferring it to intermediaries.199

This intermediary caste

groups have come to dominate the socio-economic and political scene in the

state200

The proportion actually distributed is less than half that targeted. Upto

1.7.1978, the number of such beneficiaries were 29000, i.e. the 44% of the

total beneficiaries.201

The assignment details upto 1.7.1978 shows that 21728

198

K.K.N. Kurup, Modern Kerala – Studies in Social and Agrarian Relation,

Delhi, 1988, p. 161. 199

Pulpre Balakrishnan, n. 197, p. 1273. 200

M. Kunhaman, n. 177, 1990, p. 84. 201

Report of the commission on the socio-economic condition of SC/ST – 1978,

Vol. I, Trivandrum, 1979, p. 100.

297

hectares were distributed to 78760 scheduled families. This constitutes only

14% of the area and 19% of the beneficiaries in the State. Thus there was

deficiency in the percentage stipulated under the rule.202

It was only after

1990, as per the tribal development programme, that the details of surplus

land distribution were estimated. As per the declaration in Kerala Legislative

Assembly, a total of 62628 acres of surplus land has been distributed to

134047 beneficiaries, of which 57196 (42.66%) were SCs and 7087 (5.28%)

STs. The details are given below

TABLE 14

The district-wise details of

distribution of surplus land to ST and SC till 30.10.1990

(In acres)

Sl. No. Districts ST SC

1. Kasargod 720 3510

2. Kannur 1757 3432

3. Wynad 2596 1316

4. Kozhikode 240 3816

5. Malappuram 34 7440

6. Thrissur 50 7129

7. Ernakulam 39 3672

8. Palakkad 1191 11822

9. Idukki 353 2186

10. Kottayam 75 2381

11. Alappuzha 32 3718

12. Pathanamthitta -- 330

13. Kollam -- 3419

14. Trivandrum -- 3025

Total 7087 57196

Source: Proceedings of Kerala Legislative Assembly, 12th

session, December 20,

1990, Vol.LXXXI, No.4, p.42.

202

Ibid. By a 1978 survey the total account of SC and ST given detailed separate

account is not available.

298

In the detailed account of surplus land were distribution upto

31.12.1991, 63088.0 acres of surplus land were distributed to 137257 total

beneficiaries in Kerala. 7168 (5.22%) of ST beneficiaries got 5107.0 (8.09%)

acres of land and 58705 (42.77%) of SC beneficiaries got 24704.0 (39.15%)

acres of land. The ST beneficiaries in Wynad was only 2596, i.e., 36.21% of

the state ST share, 38.53% of the district total up to 31.12.1991. The

distribution of surplus land to ST in Wynad was 1516.0 acres, i.e., 29.68% of

the state ST share and 45.78% of the district total.203

Although in official

records the beneficiaries of surplus land distribution to scheduled categories

in Wynad is 48% of total apto 31.12.91, the highest number of landless tribes

is also found in this district.

In a comprehensive tribal development programme, a special scheme

for providing land to the landless and house to the homeless is being

implemented in the state. As part of it the Tribal Development Mission

(TRDM) has been formed to undertake reliabilitation activities based on a

Master Plan. Till 2003 TRDM has identified 22052 landless tribal families

and 32131 families with less than one acre of land in the state. The highest

number of landless tribes is found in Wynad and it is 13303, i.e. 60.32% of

the total landless tribal people in the state. The highest number of tribes

holding less than one acre of land is also found in Wynad and it is 12184, i.e.,

37.91% of the state total. The acres of land distributed to tribes in the district

was 1974.90, i.e., the highest rate of 38.15% of the state. The average acres

of land distributed was 3.37 acre per family which covered 583 (18.73%)

families in the district.204

Landlessness among the tribal farm workers is still higher in Kerala at

55.47 percent as against the national average of 32.99 percent. District-wise

203

Economic Review, 1991, p. 256. 204

Economic Review, 2004, p.352.

299

details of landless tribal families and families benefited from land distributed

under Tribal Development Mission (TRDM) is given below.

TABLE 15

District-wise details of landless tribal families and families benefited from

land distributed under Tribal Development Mission

Sl.

No. District

No. of

landless

tribals

No. of

Tribals 1

acre of

land

No. of

families

covered

Acre of

land

distributed

Average

area per

family

1 Kasargod 226 171 69 73.43 1.6

2 Kannur 1395 2249 400 304.37 0.76

3 Wynad 13303 12184 585 1974.90 3.37

4 Kozhikode 318 889 420 600 1.43

5 Malappuram 339 2224 61 46.38 0.76

6 Palakkad 5389 2637 10 4.44 0.44

7 Thrissur 271 840 20 5.68 0.28

8 Ernakulam 132 888 296 428.90 1.42

9 Idukki 190 5436 1072 1583 1.48

10 Kottayam 153 1340 19 19 1.0

11 Alappuzha 117 568 114 27.75 0.24

12 Pathanamthitta 68 1032 24 1.39 0.1

13 Kollam 138 572 128 114.68 0.9

14 Trivandrum 13 1101 -- -- --

Total 22052 32131 3208 5173.92 1.61

Source: Report of TRDM.

But the details of surplus land distribution in the state from1.4.2003

to 31.10.2004 show that 648 acres of land were distributed to 2415 total

families. 799 SC and 506 ST families were benefited under this scheme and

they received 159 and 168 acres of land respectively. But the SCs and STs of

300

Wynad district were not beneficiaries under this scheme.205

Regarding the

distribution of surplus land to tribals the present Minister for Tribal affairs

said that 30000 tribal families in the state had less than one acre of land and

22000 families were landless .So the government needs at least 7000 hectares

to reliabilitate the landless, but only 3500 hectares are available, the scarcity

of land is the major impediment in the distribution of land.206

It is the lack of

interest to recover the waste land by the government and the growth of tribal

population that has resulted in the shortage of land.

The distributive land reforms of the state government has continued to

a great extent till recently bringing about changes in the socio-economic

status of the scheduled groups. It seems that „the land for tillers‟ has gone

out of political agenda.207

The recent struggles for land hves been suppressed.

The land reforms supposed to radically change the pattern of land ownership

in favour of landless classes have partially come to an end. Above all the

implementation of these laws has been dilatory and half-hearted which has

frustrated the basis purpose. It is also pointed out that the frequent changes

of governmenst have also made it difficult for the left in Kerala to implement

land reforms in a thorough manner. Even in the face of intermittent setbacks

to the implementation of land reforms caused by judicial and political

interventions the government was able to protect the land rights of the

peasantry and finally to abolish landlordism in the state.

205

Economic Review 2004, p.255. 206

The Hindu, 15 July 2006. 207

As the term „tiller of the soil‟ was not properly defined, many rich tenants who

had been keeping under possession large areas of land and cultivating them with

hired labour, acquired full ownership right over their possession by virtue of

these enactments.