Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

already saw that majority of the subsistence needs were met from the land itself. When
land itself becomes a form of speculative capital, then subsistence needs will have to be
met entirely from the market. Such a situation would mean that the livelihood patterns
would entirely dependent on the laws of Global capitalist production and exchange,
which means the exacerbation of the contradiction between the elite investors and the
proletarians. Once again, any policy making that would assist the proletarian will have to
deviate from market-friendly agendas.
It is clear that the market-friendly agenda will not be able to create sustainability either
from an environmental or social point of view. The only form of productive investment
possible in the region appears to be that of commercial agriculture using new plant
varieties, with uncertain effects on the environment and on the livelihood patterns of a
large number of people. Large scale industries do not seem feasible, except in terms of
providing land and water, and the region does not have any specifically trained human
labor that could be absorbed into such an industry. The commercial consumerist forms
will increase dependence on the global market, with prospects again uncertain. Hence any
form of development agenda that would ensure sustainability of environment and
livelihood patterns will have to deviate from market –friendly agenda, to agenda that are
based on the all round development of productive sector, based on the growth of social
labor. This will not be dictated by the priorities of the market alone, but on what the
region can provide, in terms of the resources and finished products both as values that can
be consumed or exchanged internally or brought to the global market. This can be done
only with the help of the detailed resource mapping of the region, as has been carried out
in some of the recent exercises, and a detailed assessment of the human labor potential.
This will also involve a detailed social planning, which ensures utilization of natural
resources, social savings in the region and human labor power.