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An inevitable consequence of demographic transition in the Indian state of Kerala is the rapidly declining school enrolment in government-funded lower primary schools. So far studies dealing with demographic transition and falling school enrolment concluded that fertility decline is the sole reason for this. A major limitation of these studies is that they focused only on students enrolled in schools affiliated to the Directorate of Public Instruction without accounting for the enrolments of parallel fee-charging private unaided English-medium schools in the state. Based on the enrolment statistics of the Directorate of Public Instruction, studies argued that fertility decline is the main reason for school enrolment decline, leading to the emergence of uneconomic schools. Our analysis shows that aside from fertility decline, the poor quality of teaching in government-funded schools and the resultant exodus to private unaided English-medium schools is significant in accounting for decline in enrolments. The retention of students in government-funded schools can be sustained only by improving the quality of school education.

AbstractAttempts at measuring decentralisation are still in an underdeveloped stage. The reason for this lies in the failure to devise common standards against which measurement is possible and the lack of consensus about the very meaning of decentralisation. An attempt to measure decentralisation was made by Vengroff and Ben Salem in the context of Tunisia nearly a decade ago. An expanded and adapted version of this model is used to measure decentralisation in Kerala using the same judgmental criteria that they used after involving a panel of nine experts. These experts had a fairly good understanding of the practice of decentralisation to score on the basis of the adapted criteria. An ideal form of decentralisation envisaged in this measurement exercise is devolution. It has been found that on a scale ranging between 0 and 5, the state of Kerala obtained a score of 2.00 in spite of the fact that the investment that the state had made in decentralisation has no parallels anywhere in the developing countries. Such a low score, despite the much publicised campaign for decentralisation, was due to the focus on planning rather than on decentralisation issues. Attempts to measure decentralisation will not only enable us to develop more contextually valid measures of decentralisation, but also contribute to the clarification of the concept of decentralisation, particularly by identifying aspects neglected hitherto. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

India is growing old! The stark reality of the ageing scenario in India is that there are 77 million older persons in India today, and the number is going to grow to 177 million in another 25 years. Kerala, a relatively small Southern state in India, is experiencing the last stages of demographic transition that can be compared to the demographic trend in many aging European countries. Kerala has the highest percentage of elderly population (12.6 %), higher than the national average. Though life expectancy has been increasing steadily in Kerala for the last four decades, the retirement age of the state government employees remained at 55 years until 2011 when it was increased to 56 years. As retirement has become an essential life-stage in older adults, adapting well to retired lifestyle is crucial for long term life-satisfaction of the elderly. Kerala has four lakh pensioners and 12 lakh social security beneficiaries. Though some welfare measures have been taken for the aged persons, these measures are not fool proof. The present paper attempts to capture the dimensions and issues of post retirement adaptation of the elderly in Kerala.Quantitative data were collected from 300 retired elderly from the selected households. The problem is approached from the perspective of changes happening in their social position and relations within their family. The majority of the respondents held that they get the expected care from their spouses after retirement. Though this is a positive sign, the fact that around one tenth of them do not get the expected care invites attention to the emerging situation that the elderly in the state are likely to face more seriously in the coming days.

Land reform and social change; with four comments. Covers nutrition, health, education, women, and unemployment.

AbstractThis paper critiques ethnographic tendencies to idealise and celebratesufi'traditionalism' as authentically South Asian. We perceive strong academic trends of frank distaste for reformism, which is then inaccurately—and dangerously buttressing Hindutva rhetoric—branded as going against the grain of South Asian society. This often goes along with (inaccurate) branding of all reformism as 'foreign inspired' orwah'habi. Kerala'sMujahids(Kerala Naduvathul Mujahideen [KNM]) are clearly part of universalistic trends and shared Islamic impulses towards purification. We acknowledge the importance to KNM of longstanding links to the Arab world, contemporary links to the Gulf, wider currents of Islamic reform (both global and Indian), while also showing how reformism has been producing itself locally since the mid-19th century. Reformist enthusiasm is part of Kerala-wide patterns discernable across all religious communities: 1920s and 1930s agitations for a break from the 19th century past; 1950s post-independence social activism; post 1980s religious revivalism. Kerala's Muslims (like Kerala Hindus and Christians) associate religious reformism with: a self-consciously 'modern' outlook; the promotion of education; rallying of support from the middle classes. There is a concomitant contemporary association of orthoprax traditionalism with 'backward', superstitious and un-modern practices, troped as being located in rural and low-status locations.

Intro -- Contents -- List of Tables -- Preface and Acknowledgements -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Agriculture in Kuttanad -- 3 Agrarian Relations in Kuttanad -- 4 The Agricultural Labourers -- 5 Organization and Struggle -- 6 Conclusion: Agrarian Class Conflict, Trade Unionism, and Democratic Politics -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W.

This thesis explores connections between power and social development through an examination of capabilities and the formation of cultural subjects in tribal and fishing communities in the state of Kerala, India. Kerala has long been studied for its unique development model and, since 1996, its People's Plan for Democratic Decentralisation. Although Kerala is not exclusive in pursuing decentralised planning, its successes make it stand out from other Indian states and even other parts of the developing world. Despite its achievements, several scholars question Kerala's development outcomes including the continued deprivation faced by tribal and fishing communities. Through analysing the disadvantages faced by these communities utilising Amartya Sen's capability approach and Michel Foucault's concepts of power and subject creation, this thesis hopes to contribute to a reassessment of social development in Kerala. By illuminating factors besides income that signify development, and acknowledging cultural contexts that affect the participation of marginalised communities in development planning and decision-making, the thesis proposes ways in which these communities can be empowered while also exploring barriers to this empowerment. Foucault's concepts in particular assist in examining these barriers, which arise from the exercise of power in society. In light of this, I investigate the potential for increasing the capabilities of these marginalised groups by looking at policy options and the need for further research in the field. The empirical data I collected through in-depth interviews and document analysis during a five-month field study in Kerala indicates that equitable development and effective public participation of marginalised communities have not been sufficiently addressed by the state and local governments. The thesis shows that government initiatives have not translated into greater capability for the marginalised, and have even impeded capability building for these communities, creating barriers to ...