Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

involves heavy mental and manual labor is not preferred, and many Gulf migrants and
their relatives are happy to have their money deposited in a bank or any other financing
firm, or even convert them to gold and other assets. There are a number of Co-operative
banks in the area, which run entirely on the basis of this money (The attractive interest
rates offered by these banks cannot be offered by the scheduled banks and hence, the
latter are forced to hunt for deposits). Thus the gulf money has apparently created a
floating middle class, without any real economic foundation, and subsisting on the
uncertain benefits provided by the market forces. This is at the basis of the artificial
prosperity which we indicated before.
This prosperity has created a rise in prices and living standards, which has imposed a
heavy burden on those who have not been benefited like the floaters. They include mostly
menial laborers of various kinds, mostly unskilled or semi-skilled labor. Most of them are
employed in nadanpani of various kinds, working under a skilled laborer, such as
construction labor, digging wells and tanks, agricultural labor, stone cutting, sand mining,
and working as semi-skilled laborer in industrials and other small enterprises. Almost the
entire Scheduled caste population and the depressed groups who live in colonies, belong
to this kind. Those who are driven out of agricultural labor and other forms of
conventional labor, which have been classified as marginal workers, also belong to this
group. A number of them are employed as drivers, cleaners and mechanics in a large fleet
of vehicles of all varieties in the roads. Construction workers and those working in small
scale industrial units, and drivers, are more regularly employed. .Others do not get
regular work, and may be called underemployed The extent of underemployment in the
area can be gauged by the number of persons applying as casual laborers in the
University campus. The displacement of labor in recent years has meant that the number
of underemployed has increased substantially, and they are ready to take up any
remunerative occupation. Unfortunately, their ideas of occupational choices are mostly