Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

a) The geographical features of the Tirurangadi region have played a major role in
the making of the livelihood patterns of the region. The geography is
characterized by undulating terrain with uplands, slopes and low lying regions and
the Kadalundi River, flowing across the region has played a major role in the
making of livelihood. Agriculture in the region was a matter of hard labor, and it
involved both land and water management. Large part of the wetlands and
parambas were controlled by a few landlords.
b) Proximity to the coast, the use of Kadalundi River as a means of transport and the
existence of coastal ports of trade such as Calicut also promoted trade and
commerce in the region. Although the region could not produce enough surplus to
support large political powers, it could facilitate local trade. Trade and cultivation
along the River also facilitated expansion of settlements in the area.
c) British rule exacerbated the contradiction between the already existing landlords
and small cultivators and laborers. The British rule legally supported the rights of
the landlords, introduced their own administrative mechanisms, and also were
probably instrumental in creating the antagonism between nayars and Muslims.
The conditions of social and economic oppression resulted in social conflict,
which also took the form of anti-British revolts.
d) The decline of landlordism was a result of the widespread upheaval that took
place all over Kerala, which had its impact in the region also. This created an
economy of small holders, who were made to face the difficulties of sustaining
themselves and satisfying the needs created by the livelihood patterns created by a
capitalist civilisation. Thus increasing costs of living necessitated a corresponding
increase in productivity that would be sustained by remunerative prices of
agricultural products, but this did not take place. The farmers were also burdened
by the increasing wages of workers and the shortage of skilled agricultural labor,
and most of them never used their household labor for agricultural production.
This resulted in the decline of agriculture in the region, and both the landholders
and workers have looked other livelihood patterns such as Going to Gulf,
commerce, construction and other modes of accumulating money. However, this
has not resulted in the establishment of any major industry in the area.
e) The commercial consumerist economy sustained by gulf remittances and the
creation of lifestyle and tastes that would sustain commerce came into being. The
faith in the market has also created a corresponding increase of religious faith, and
a combination of these two has determined the cultural practice of the people in
the region.
All these naturally raise the question of the future. At present a future based on
agricultural production seems to be out of question, at least for a large number of people
in the area. Either they do not consider it a safe option in the light of their own
experience, or they are not equipped for it. No other alternative, apart from a continuation
of the present mode of sustenance, with its quota of pleasures and uncertainties has
emerged. However, any attempt at a long term planning for the future cannot ignore the
importance of production based strategies that has sustained the livelihood patterns in the
region from a historical and human geographical perspective.