Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
the British. The three regions upheld rigid feudal caste-relations until
just after independence and the Communist-led reforms.15 For example,
prior to statehood, higher-caste Hindus owned land, while lower-caste
communities of various backgrounds were regularly barred from land
ownership, government jobs, and even government- funded schooling.16
In Malabar, landlords called janman , composed of higher-caste Hin-
dus, owned vast tracts of land that were farmed by tenants. These tenants
were often from the Mappila, or Muslim communities, and they had no
guarantee to the land they tilled; they could be kicked off at any time.
Additionally, they regularly paid rents and other levies to their land-
lords. Colonial officials maintained these pro- landlord policies in their
quest to collaborate with the powerful elites in the area, to gain access to
Malabar's timber and spices, which intensified the inequalities of feudal
society. Some of these resources were grown on plantations farmed by
tenants.17 As a result, taxation and oppression in Malabar's feudal system
increased under colonial rule.
Around the turn of the twentieth century, many Mappila communities
revolted against landlordism and the British. The Mappila groups had
initial support from the Indian National Congress, one of India's major
political parties. This party, led by Mahatma Gandhi, lobbied for Indian
independence from British colonial rule. In 1921, Kerala's land revolts cul-
minated with the Mappila Rebellion, which led to the arrest and deaths
of several people in the mostly Muslim movement. These events left an
important political legacy: they spurred the introduction of several land
reform policies in Malabar and then in the nascent state of Kerala.18
In the south, in the Travancore region of Kerala, lower-caste commu-
nities (such as Ezheva Hindus) experienced daily discrimination prior
to statehood. They could not atend government-run schools and access
other government services, were banned from entering several Hindu
temples, and were forced to practice many humiliating lower-caste pol-
lution rituals (such as leaving one's breasts uncovered). Even members of
Kerala's Syrian Christian community, although they occupied a higher
caste stratum than Ezheva Hindus, were denied government jobs and ac-
cess to government-run schools, as these places were reserved entirely
for higher-caste Hindus. To combat these societal restrictions, Hindu
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