The lessons and non-lessons of Kerala: agricultural labourers and poverty

Mencher, Joan P.

article

The lessons and non-lessons of Kerala: agricultural labourers and poverty

Economic and political weekly • 15 (41, 42, 43) • Published In 1980 • Pages: 1781-1783, 1785, 1789, 1793, 1795, 1797, 1799, 1801-1802

By: Mencher, Joan P..

Abstract
In the 1960s and early 1970s, the government of Kerala undertook a series of public campaigns that resulted in higher literacy rates and improved access to health, reflected not just in an expansion of clinics but in real drops in child mortality, food insecurity and other health risks. The state was hailed as an exemplary case for improving the wellbeing of rural people without political revolution or huge amounts of development aid. This study examines the validity of this optimistic claim based on detailed accounts of changes at the household and community levels. Focusing on Kerala’s large agricultural labor class, the study concludes that the majority of these workers did not benefit from "the miracle of Kerala," not even from the land reform for which they had militantly fought.

Research and development