Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

Malabar rebellion from1926, and a large number of schools in the field area are Mappila
schools.
The revenue settlement of the region during 1906 was another significant event. The
settlement brought about little change in the land relations as such, but helped to locate
the position of all landholders in the area. The settlement demonstrated that vast majority
of the wetlands and parambas in the region were being controlled by a small minority of
the landlords. In one sense, the settlement was even misleading. As land statistics were
being compiled on the basis of desams, it is possible to estimate concentration of land
holdings in each desam. It should be noted that several families held lands in several
desams, which altogether made a substantial share of the total lands in the area. As
pointed out earlier, different members of the same family are treated as different
landowners. Hence, the settlement figures do not present a clear picture of the extent of
concentration of land, but they are sufficient to show the substantial differentiation of
land holdings and the predominance of small holders, holding lands up to 10 acres in the
region. The statistics do not give information on the tenant cultivators, but the number
can be roughly estimated from the population figures. From the figures it can be
surmised that a vast majority of the people were at the subsistence level or even below it.
Another indication of the condition of the people is the information on the wages. For the
laborers, the wages were originally paid in kind and then in cash. The wages for planting,
harvesting and husking was about 2/10 of a seer of paddy or its cash equivalent. Wages
for agricultural work varied from 4annas to 12annas a day, the latter paid for the skilled
labor of ploughing. We should remember that in a large number of the fields only one
crop was produced and fields yielding three crops were few. Hence, the laborers always
underwent the risk of remaining jobless of a considerable period of time in a year. Old
landowning families testified that there was no dearth of labor either for planting or
harvesting, ready to do any kind of work, including, laboring in inhospitable water-