To Main Global Exchange Page 26-page Description of Panjal excerpted from Frankes book [a pdf file] Panjal Village Behind Kerala's statistical indicators lies a century of struggles for redistributing wealth and the expanding public services to benefit most people rather than a small elite. (See the Kerala Fact Sheet for the statistical indicators.) In 1986-87, we conducted research in the central Kerala village of Panjal to ascertain the effects of these struggles at the local level. In keeping with anthropological practice, we gave the village a pseudonym. People in Kerala, however, are aware that Nadur (Centreville) is none other than the central Kerala village of Panjal. Panjal village has many typical features of Kerala, historically, geographically, and sociologically. Panjal lies in the former princely state of Cochin. In terms of land reforms, Cochin lies between the former princely state of Travancore, now southern Kerala where many changes took place in the 19th century, and Malabar, now northern Kerala, where the most protracted and bitter land struggles occurred. Panjal was the scene neither of intense battles between tenants and landlords in past decades nor of land occupations by radical peasant groups in the late 1960s as took place in some other villages. At the same time, Panjal has had its share of land reform militants and Communist organizers so that it represents a kind of mid-way point in terms of land reform struggles in Kerala. Geographically Panjal is in the lower foothills of the Western Ghat Mountains and contains intensive wet-rice paddy fields typical of the lowland areas of Kerala, as well as cashew and coconut gardens and hillside fields more common in the central midlands. It also contains some upland rubber and forest lands more like the parts of Kerala in the higher elevations to the east. In both history and geography Panjal is thus in the middle of the range of types found in Kerala. Panjal's 5,000 plus residents include representative numbers of all the major castes of Kerala except the Christians. Like many Cochin villages, Panjal has a higher than average percentage of Nambudiri Brahmins, one of the most important former landlord groups in Kerala. It also has Nair caste members in several occupations, craft castes, Ezhavas, and Pulayas. The Panjal sample in 1987 contained only 2 households with workers sending large remittances from the Persian Gulf states. Panjal's near absence of such households makes it a controlled case in which the redistribution of the land reform should show up more clearly than in areas where remittances have flooded the village economy. The Field Research Panjal had been studied by Professor Joan Mencher who kindly made available to us copies of her 1971 household survey. Although the Kerala land reform was enacted in 1969 and went into effect in 1971, land titles in 1971 were still held by landlords and several households were paying rent. The 1971 survey, with a few assumptions, can be taken as pre-land reform, while our 1986-87 survey describes the situation 15-16 years later, after all land reform transfers had been completed. By comparing the two surveys we could ascertain how the land reform affected land ownership, income distribution by caste and class, and upward and downward income mobility of selected households. The Findings In the Panjal sample, abolition of rice land tenancy resulted in the transfer of 52.25 acres of land from 10 large landlords (6% of the sample) to 47 tenants (29% of the sample) who became fully entitled small holders. The former tenants received on average 74 cents each. One hundred and three landless households (64%) were not affected by the rice land reform. The abolition of house compound tenancy benefited 92% of households. Rights to 47.87 acres were transferred from 7 households (4%) to 156 households (92%). The average tenancy in 1971 was 51 cents while the average owned in 1987 was 54 cents. The poorest laboring families gained title only to small and often inferior plots. Rents and interest dropped from 7% of total sample income in 1971 to 1% in 1987 (Franke 1996:110). Declining land and income inequality. We used the Gini Index to measure inequality. A decline in the Index means a decline in inequality. In Panjal, the Gini Index for rice land ownership inequality dropped 13 points. For house compound land, the Gini dropped 39 points between the two surveys. During the same 16 year period, the Gini Index for income inequality declined by 5.3 points. Although forces outside the land reform pulled both towards greater and less inequality, land reform must have caused much of this decline in income inequality. The 1974 Kerala Agricultural Workers' Protection Act may also have played a role in these figures. Declining caste inequality. In Panjal, a reduction in caste inequality is one of the clearest consequences of the land reform. The Nambudiri Brahmin hold on land and high incomes was broken. In 1971, 12 Nambudiri caste households had incomes that correlated 0.86 with rice land and 0.89 with house compound land owned. In 1987 the figures changed to -0.09 and -0.19. Nambudiri incomes rose far less rapidly than those of other castes. Nair and Mannan caste households gained the most while the lowest caste Pulayas raised their relative position slightly. Mannans and Pulayas probably gained more from programs other than the land reform such as the reservation policies. The political conditions for these programs, however, included the power of tenants and their allies in the land reform movement. Land reform struggles reinforced the leverage for these lowest caste groups to move upwards economically. Class inequality. Panjal's class structure was altered dramatically by the elimination of landlord and tenant classes. Former landlords dropped from garnering 6.5 times the sample average income in 1971 to 1.5 times the average in 1987. Former tenants did not gain much on average, but several occupational groups slightly improved their economic positions. Households depending primarily on farming raised their relative share of income from 60% of average to 90%. Land reform played an important but not determining role in these class changes. Social and economic mobility. In Panjal upward mobility occurred in 16 households that gained land but only one that lost land. Downwardly mobile households included 2 that lost land and 5 that gained. Overall, changes in income levels correlated 0.19 with changes in rice land ownership, and 0.21 with changes in house compound land. Both associations are statistically significant. Many other factors interacted with the reform. These include access to highly paid wage labor, age and health of household head, number of wage earners in the household, and access to reservation and targeted development programs. Land reform in Panjal helped foster upward mobility in conjunction with other social and economic processes. Exploitation. One of the most effective components of Kerala's land reform was to end the threat of eviction of tenants by their landlords from either rice land or house compounds. The success of the land reform, however, has produced new tensions. In place of the struggle between tenants and landlords, former tenants are now at odds with their hired agricultural laborers. Where once the poor were pitted against the rich, now the poor are pitted against the slightly less poor. This development may present an obstacle to progressive forces in Kerala in rallying small landowners to their programs. Landlord response to the land reform. Panjal's Nambudiri caste landlord households adopted various strategies to prevent the land reform from depriving them of high incomes and good futures for their children. One strategy was to send their children for higher education to make professional employment the chief landlord response to the reform. This response has benefited Panjal because formerly parasitic landlords have become teachers, administrators, and small business people who contribute to the economy in ways their ancestors did not. Kerala's high unemployment of the educated, however, threatens the former landlords' escape route and could result in impoverishment for some. Other Redistribution Programs in Panjal Our Panjal study found that other Kerala programs also had measurable effects. School and nursery lunches added 3% to the incomes of the poorest households with children in school and raised their calorie intake by 5%. The lunches improved the distribution of calories and income by caste, class, income, and land ownership groups (Franke 1993:360). Panjal's ration shop effectively reduced income inequality by 5% in 1987, providing 10% more income for the bottom two quintiles which include mostly labor and agricultural labor and low caste households. The lunches and the ration shop became particularly important in July, near the end of the long lean season before the August harvest. By making available subsidized food, they probably reduced the need for borrowing by many poor households. Even so, 11% of Panjal sample households reported food shortages so severe that, at least once during the reference year, they had to reduce food intake. Altogether 46% reported eating less, borrowing money, or borrowing food at least once in the year (Franke 1996:176). Agricultural labor pensions played a small but significant role in reducing inequality and bringing up the income levels of the poorest groups. Our research showed that 91% of Pulaya caste households received at least one pension, and that the pensions raised the average incomes of all households receiving them by 17%. The ration shop, school lunches, and agricultural labor pensions benefited female-supported households more than male-supported households. They thus contributed to reductions in one aspect of gender inequality (Franke and Chasin 1996:628). Literacy in Panjal rose from 60% in 1971 to 74% in 1987. Among members of the age cohort 15-29 years, the average years of schooling was 8.1 for males and 7.6 for females. The age cohort 61+, by contrast, had below 2.5 years of school (Franke 1996:228). Every caste and class group experienced increases in the percent literate and the average years of education between 1971 and 1987. Muslims and Pulayas experienced the greatest increase in years of education, thus tending to improve their position vis vis the other castes. The rate of passing the SSLC also improved, but remained low, with only 14% of the cohort 15-29 having passed. Those included 75% of Nambudiris but only 5% of Pulayas, 14% of Nairs, and no Muslims in that cohort. The challenge for Panjal's educational system clearly comes in creating conditions favorable to real school success for those groups most disadvantaged in the past. The Panjal sample displays the same characteristics as have been noted in other parts of Kerala with regard to education, late marriage, and declining birth rates. After age has been controlled for, age of marriage and years of education play statistically significant roles in accounting for the number of births to females (Franke 1996:239). Overall, our research in Panjal strongly suggests that redistribution has been beneficial to the lowest castes, lowest income groups, agricultural laborers, and female-supported households. During the 16 year period between the 2 surveys, several poor households experienced upward social mobility (Franke 1996:241-64). The percent of tiled roofs went from 59% to 91%, and the average number of rooms per house increased by one (Franke 1996:267). Electricity went from 8% to 23% of houses (Franke 1996:270). Still, Panjal residents have few household furnishings or consumer goods (Franke 1996:270-71). Only 22% had enough cots for all household members; the average household income was Rs 6,871 ($529), in 1987 (Franke 1996:112), an increase of about 10% over 1971 when adjusted for inflation. Most people remain very poor by international standards. Source: Franke, Richard W. 1993. Life is a Little Better: Redistribution as a Development Strategy in Nadur Village Kerala. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. 1996 updated edition available from Promilla and Co., New Delhi. To order this book in the US for $21.95, go to Bibliophile Asia, the US outlet for Promilla and Co. Publishers. Enter Nadur into their Search facility. Table of Contents. To Main Global Exchange Page 26-page Description of Panjal excerpted from Frankes book [a pdf file] |
