Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

migrations to different parts of India and the Gulf region, underline the relationship
between construction boom and the impact of the gulf.
All these mean that a large part of the money coming from the gulf is going for
unproductive investment, or simply as dead money capital. However, the money
circulation in this form has resulted in an artificial prosperity in the area, which is shown
by the exponential expansion in housing, use of all forms of commodities including cars,
bikes, jeeps, buses, household appliances, electronic gadgets, music systems, VCDs and
DVDs, mobile phones, cosmetics, garments of all varieties including the purdah. None of
these commodities are produced in the region, and many of them have to come from long
distances, including the gulf, but almost all of them are readily available in the local
market. This means that there has been an exponential rise of demand in the area, which
has to be met by imports from outside the region. With the liberalization process , the
controls over imports have been taken away, and as a result, more commodities are
coming in, which has forced even the non- migrants to look for means to purchase them,
for which they have to depend on credit from various sources, or on illegal monetary
transactions or speculation, which may include the various online lotteries. Even
marriages have become a part of fortune hunting, and there are a number of cases in
which women from poor households have been tricked into marriages. The murder of a
girl from Nannambra, after a trick marriage with a person from Delhi had become major
news in the course of the survey period. When money flows at this level, moneymaking
becomes a major dream, and productive labor at home is the lowest choice for such
people. It is not surprising that the term ‘business’ in these parts always meant trade,
brokerage or speculation in some form, including land speculation, and production in any
form has meant labor (pani).