Author(s): P. Sivanandan
Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 14, No. 7/8, Annual Number: Class and Caste in
India (Feb., 1979), pp. 475-480
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4367366
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An attempt is made in this paper to examine the interplay of caste and class forces in Kerala.
The presenit level of economic attainments among the major social groups is comlpared with the corresponding level three or four decades earlier in order to see if the contemporary caste-class relation is
any different from that of the past.
The author examines, in this context, some aspects of the distribution of land-holdings and of educational and employment opportuzities among the major social groups.
THE structure of the labour market
Thus the land ownership pattern during the 30s shows that there was a very
high level of inequality in the distribution *of land and in the proportion
of land owners among the various com-
Community
pational mobility and class reorganisation among the lowest castes which
Owner
(Acres)
LAND-HOT nINoS
Size
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KERALA 1968
Community tion of
Acres
(all denominations)
1931
1931
1931
1931
Source: Census of lIndia, 1931, Vol XXVII, Travancore, Vol XXI, Cochin, and Vol X1V,
Madras.
Caste/Communlty
Llterates
nical
Litera- Prima- SSLC Gra- Educates below ry and and duate and tion
Primary below Under- PostSSLC graduate graduate
SC converts to
holdings, the upper castes and the intermediate castes constitute the domi-
Those belonging to the lower castes have occurred during recent decades,
476
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Brahmin
1931 1941 1931 1941 1931 1941 1931 1941 1931 1941 1931 1941
(1) Rentiers 66.7 44.9 5.9 6.4 - 0.9 - 0.8 - -1.3 - (2) Cultivators 22.4 33.9 51.6 45.0 25.3 33.6 18.9 16.2 2.7 23.0 1.1 3.1
(3) Field labour - - 10.7 10.4 15.6 10.1 23.3 14.7 19.1 20.6 87.6 86.1
(4) Industry, trade and transport 3.1 0.9 12.8 15.7 42.7 35.0 40.4 46.5 68.3 41.4 4.9 3.2
(5) Public administration, liberal arts and Professions 3.9 16.7 12.2 7.3 3.4 4.1 2.4 3.5 1.1 2.3 - 0.2
(6) Others 3.9 3.6 6.8 15.2 13.0 16.4 15.3 18.3 8.8 11.4 6.4 fii 7.4
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0j100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
(iii) Travancore- 1921 and 1931 Census
(1) Traditional occupation 11.5 16.1 71.4 68.9 5.6 3.8 72.3 83.3
(2) Farming 32.8 26.9 1.9 0.4 20.2 31.5 3.3 2.9
Source: Census of India, Vol XIII, Madras, Part I, Vol XXI 1931, and Vol XIX 1941,
Cochin, and Vol XXV 1921 and Vol XXVIII 1931, Iravancore.
EDUCATION
With large scale public and private investments, educational and training
opportunities have improved throughou. the state. In this context, a certain
acquire modern education.5 It is remarkable, in this context, that in addition to the government's efforts to set
up educational and training institutions
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Community
Wages
prises
CBrahmin 36.3 1.5 0.1 12.3 2.8 5.1 1.7 3.7 36.5
(A)
Ambalavasi
31.9
5.0
0.3
11.7
2.2
5.6
1.3
3.2
38.8
tNair 32.3 7.2 1.1 6.8 2.2 8.2 2.0 3.5 56.7
[Syrian Catholics 32.8 8.6 0.7 3.7 1.4 8.6 3.7 2.5 37.9
(B) . Jacobites 35.4 6.7 0.8 4.7 1.5 9.5 2.0 2.7 36.7
Marthomites 39.9 5.1 0.9 5.1 1.7 9.8 1.4 3.7 32.3
LCatholics 26.7 13.2 1.4 4.5 0.8 9.3 2.8 3.1 38.2
(C)
(D)
Ezhava 28.6 16.9 2.2 3.1 1.0 6.6 2.3 2.8 36.6
{ Kammala 27.8 15.6 1.2 2.6 0.2 6.6 1.4 2.8 41.9
Muslim
22.2
12.2
0.7
2.0
1.4
8.5
2.6
2.2
48.2
(Scheduled Castes 22.4 33.4 2.2 1.7 0.1 3.6 1.6 2.3 32.6
jScheduled Tribes 15.1 36.3 0.8 0.8 0.4 0.4 3.5 2.0 36.8
(E) . SCconvertsto Christianity 30.2 30.3 1.2 1.9 0.1 3.8 0.9 2.1 29.5
Source: Report on the Sample Survey on Socio-Economic Conditions of Castes/Communities in Kerala, 1968, Bureau of
Economics and Statistics, Trivandrumn.
Community
Commu-
tra.ive
nications
| (iii) Syrian
main occupation.
The 1968 survey gives a detailed desthe various social groups in terms of
(a) Activity Status (Table 7), (b) distribution of gainfully employed persons
Scheduled Tribes (E). The main activIty of these communities is daily wage
employment. There are only a few
among them in the salaried and employer classes. Though about four per
cent of workers among the Scheduled
Castes have reported as self-employed,
the occupations concerned are by and
large related to traditional crafts supplementary to agricultural production.
The broad classification of communi-
478
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Techni-Trade Farm- Crafts Service, Agri- Unskil- Proporcal, and ing Trans- cultural led tion of
Profes- Sale port and Labour Total
tive
rChristians (total) 25.1 18.1 25.6 15.3 13.6 12.2 16.6 17.1
1 (i) Marthomites 3.2 1.2 2.7 0.5 0.7 0.7 0.5 1.3
J(ii) Jacobites 6.1 3.9 5.8 1.0 2.2 2.7 2.0 3.1
(D) Muslim 10.0 36.5 17.7 11.0 17.4 15.4 20.6 16.8
r Scheduled Caste 2.7 1. 9 4.7 7.8 9.1 20.7 12.9 11.4
I Scheduled Tribe 0.2 0.1 1.0 0.3 0.5 4.1 0.5 1.8
verts to Chrisia-
Community
rBrahmin
11.2
20.1
30.1
38.6
Ltianity
62.1
31.7
5.4
0.8
A community-wise distribution of
earning persons in each major category
of employment would, however, provide
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Notes
1 The proportions of households re-.
porting ownership of wet and dry
lands among the various communities are respectively: Brabmins
Trivandrum.
480
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