The Effects of Land Alienation on the Livelihood of Scheduled Tribes in Kerala

An agricultural economy relies largely on the predominance of land. The socio economic status of the population is often determined by the amount of land possessed. In the light of the above scenario, the Scheduled Tribes are the most deprived community in terms of possession of land. The majority Scheduled Tribes of Kerala depends on agriculture (71.98%). Out of these, the majority suffers from land alienation and as a result they are forced to work as casual labourers. The Dhebar Committee also opined that the main cause of poverty among ST families all over India is landlessness (or land alienation). Land alienation resulted in loss of agricultural labour and created a new class of wage labourers. It also resulted in a process of transformation from a self reliant to a highly dependent tribal economy.This paper tries to examine the effects of land alienation, arising from low agricultural activities leading to unemployment, low income, higher indebtedness, poverty and the malignant fact of social exclusion. This analysis is based on the available secondary sources. Aparna P"The Effects of Land Alienation on the Livelihood of Scheduled Tribes in Kerala" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-2 | Issue-3 , April 2018, URL: http://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd12856.pdf http://www.ijtsrd.com/economics/other/12856/the-effects-of-land-alienation-on-the-livelihood-of-scheduled-tribes-in-kerala/aparna-p