Chapter l;

INTRODUCTION

~,1 ~he studY of Migration ~J'O

'ltig~a tion is a topic of common ill terest to

severa~ social science disciplines, The demographer,

for example, considers migration as one of the factors

affecting the structure, distribution and growth of

population in a given region, the other factors being

fertUity and mortality, The town planner is concerned

with rural~urban migration as a factor generating several

urban pr.oblems such as overcrowding, slum-dwelling etc.

"Spatial processes and spa\tial interaction are of more

concern" to the modern geographer "than a concern with

~patial patterns 111 and hence the importance of the

territorial r~distribution of population, To the

economist, geographical mobUity of people is a pre­

condition for economic development since the logic of

industrial:ization demands that manpower is available at

p~aces where industria~ enterprises are ~ocated.

~he sociologist who studies migration is

· basically interested in the following aspects;

{a) the ·causal factor in migration \-Thich may be

based on the· motivational and personality structure

of the individual mdgrant or in the socio-econo~c

structure of society \'Thich encou1·ages migration; .,.. :

2

(b) t~.proc~ss .of migration including the decision

to ai&rate, planning and prepration, mobUi.sation 'of

J>esouroe•l

(c) the nature of interaction between the migrants

and the local popUlation; and

·( 4) ' tbe consequences of migration tor (1) the llig:rant

g·~up; (11) the aocial structure of the sending coJIIIlunit;y;

arid (111) ·i;be soCial structure ot thfil J'eceiv1nl community:;)

~a apit~ of the number of studies Qn migration b.1

~cholars ti'Oa ~1-~st all pranches of social science,

theory buUd1ng 1n th1.- field has been ~;~tatic ~d . . . .

inadequate. This 1a inspite of "the ·dntalilic quality ot

a~g~tlOD 1-elf and the extraordinary importance vhic}l

moveaent• ot popul•tion ass~ both as a catalyst and an

1ngredien' ot social cl;lange"• 2 Mo•t theories of micration ' ,, -- . . '

tend to lie "tiae•bound, culture-boun.~ an~ situation-bound"• 3 .

The iDadeq~ate theoretical development 1n the field is

partl7 4ae to the absence ot inter-disciplinary research '

~th the result that "there has been little •ttempt to

. order tM contusion wi.th theoret1ca1 propositions and

models ~oh wouad lend both elegance and qnderstand1ng

to thia laqe and important subJect".~

- 3

1!here are also several myths and misconceptions

regarding m~ration. It is often believed that man is

universally sedentary, that "movement away from the natal

place is a deviant activity associated with disorganiza~ion

and a threa,t to the established harmony of Gemei,nschaft

relation~hips which are implied by a life lived within a

fixed social framework". 5 However, there are societies

where migration is a way of life. For example, in

societies wh~re inheritance is governed by primogeniture

the younger males are expected to migrate. Among nomads

shifting Qf residence is the rule rather than the

exception. Another misleading assumption regarding (l.

~gration is its snapshot characte~Aonce and only once

phenomenonf, But a significant part of the world

popUlation ,today consists of what Richmond calls

"transilients",6 that is, people who spend periods

of their life, outside. their country of birth, return

home and again migrate'!]

~ost research in the field of migration has

been done by demographers and economists with elegant

lo6k1ng mathematical models and with an almost exclusive

emphasis on rural-urban migration. Even sociological

studies haye been restricted to studying the problems

of urban integration of migrants, race relation in

4 ..

metropolitan cities etc. The urban bias in migration

studies has resulted in ignoring other important types

. of migra tio~

~.2 Txpefl of Mig;at~on

J:!t would be useful here to cl.assify the different

types of migr~tion. The geographical boundaries which

the migrant.~ .gross _may be one basis for identification

of migration ~y.pes. If migration takes place Vi thin

the boundaries of a given nation state, it may be termed

~ntranational (internal) migration; if the movement

crosses national boundaries t-re have international

migration. T~e persons involved 1n internal migration

·are called • i~~migrants' with reference to the receiving

area and 'out-migrants • with reference to the sending

~rea. Simila;rly, international migrants may be designated

by the terms ·~immigrants' and 'emigrants •:;J

The level of development of a society may have

important cons~qu~nces for the composition ef migrants.

For example, in the pre-industrial European nations and

in the contemporary Third world, persons involved 1n urban­

"tvard ndgration are largely unsk.Uled labour. They are

~ecruited from the poorest and over populated rural areas

5

and consist· of large number of unmarried males. The

reverse is true for societies which have reached a high ' ~ ' ....

level of economic development. Brain-power, rather than

muscle power is.in demand in those societies. Consider-

ations of na~ionality, race and welfare may also govern

·the selection and composition of migrants. For example,

nationality laws, sons of the soil policy, ethnicity,

planned relocation of popUlation (particularly in

socialist societies) etc. are relevant considerations

in contemporary internal and international migrations.

~Another typology of migration may be obtained

from the scope for individual choice 1n the decision to

migrate. Thus migratio~ may be tree or forced, Refugees

who migrate du~ to political or ethnic causes, persons

displaced by natural calamities, slaves bought and sold

etc are exampl.es of forced migrants~

. ~prom' the urban-rural character of sending and

receiving are~§ .we get the following types of migration:

·{ i) rural to ~ural; (11) rural to urban; (111) Ul"ban to

:t;qral; and (1:-v) urban to urban. {Hural-urban migration

catches att~n~~pn of most students of migration in

developing co~~ries due obviously tQ the visibll1ty

of rural migr~nts in urban areas and due to their impact

- 6 -on urban amenities, job opportunities, patterns of

living, delinquency, crime etc. As a result, the other

migration stre~ms are given scant attention~At least

one demographer has expressed dissatisfaction at this

state of affairs. 7

••• a whole edifice of demographic investigations awaits to be built up around three phenomena of rural to rural., urban to rural and urban to urban migra~ion, because, in the context of economic and social development in developing countries, material and cultural progress depends largely on activating the rural base through the raising of agricultural production and expansion of agro-based industries.

~here is evidence to show that in recent decades,

the volume ~~ ~rural to urban migration in India has

decreased and.~he other streams have gained 1mportance.8

Zachariah's study9also suggested a change in the

character of ~igration after 1951 1n the sense that

urban to urban and rural to rural migration might

have become_more 1mporta~

~ban to ~ural. migration is comprised of t~ro

elements. The first is rural migrants returning to

their original villages after retirement or demobi­

lization. This is also called tum-over lldgration.

7 -

The second is the flo't'l of skU led manpower, whether

~dministrative ~· scientific or technical, to rural areas

under government incentives such as hardship bonuses,

higher salaries etc. The urban to rural migrants "act

$S a critical mass for bringing about accelerated

social change. among seemingly stagnant soc1etiesu .§

~~~rom the angle of sheer volume and number of

people involved, rural to rural migration occupies

pride of place in developing countries. (The most

common form of rural-to-rura1 migration is marriage

migratio~ resulting from village exogamy and virilocal

residence. In lndia about three fourth of the <rural

to rural migrants is comprised of females; In South

India, on the .other hand, 't-rhere village exogamy is

less rigid, the proportion pf rural-to-rural migrants

•to total migrants is consioJerably less.ll However

1 t would al~o ,not be corre4t to assume that all female

migration is .mar.riage migr~tion, since working class

rural women migrate either . 3ingly or "t-Tith families to

· urban or rural areas. J:!l ~~~Another type of lrur,l-rural migration is the

seasonal migr~tion of agr19u1tural labour from agr1-I

culturally backward and employment scarce areas to

relatively developed and la oour scarce are~. The

movement of labourers from Easte~ U.P and Bihar to

8 -to Punjab is .a good example of this typey This movement is

seasonal, related to the agricultural cycle, and temporary

since the labourers return to their native places at the

end of the season. However, during the next season the

labourers may again go in search of employment. Hence

it is also called circular migration. This m~gration

has important consequences both for the sending and

receiving area.s. For the sending <D mmun1ty remittance

of migrants and the release from underemployment may

act as effective cushions for economic backwardness •

. The remittances may also help acquire new assets or

finance the education of a relative thereby raising the

economic an~ social status of the migrant's family.

~he return1n~ migrants may also bring along with them

n.ew values and behaviour patterns. In the receiving

community the availability of cheap migrant labour may

depress wages of local labour and reduce their bargaining .. pol-Tar, thereby increasing the power of landowners and

perpetuating the poverty of the labourers~

[A third subtype of rural to rural migration is

the mjg ration of \_labourers to plantations, mines and other

extractive and processing industries located in rural

areas•j In most Third World countries the development of

plantations and mining was the direct result of colonial

rule. Interestingly, the planters, who were mostly /

.. 9 -

foreigners, preferred to recruit outside la mur partly

because the latter was cheaper and partly because the

local. population was reluctant to give up their. tradi·

tional occupations. Indentured labour and ~ecru1tmant

through 1ngen1ou$ systems such as the 'leader• system

(also kno~ as the parq,an or the AAoPni system) t1ere

··characteristic features of the early development of

.plantations Emd mines. Several people from India,

including tU-banites_, migrated to Ceylon, Malaysia, BUI'Clat ... , and to some African countries as plantation labourers or

miners. In India also several plantation centres developed

chief among which were the foot bill zones ot Brahmaputra

and Surma valleys in Assam, the Dar3eel1ng-Jalpaigur1

tract of 1-:est Bengal, the tieatorn Ghats of Kerala (High

l~anges of Travancore and WJnad of Malabar), Kama taka

(Coorg) and T.amU Nadu (the Nilg1r1s) •1!)1

~olon1zatlon of agricultural waste, either

~brcugh government sponsored schemes, or through spont­

aneous peasant action, 1S another type of rural.rural

m.igrat1on. Eltamples of Governmen~ colonization schemes

are the Ita jast}lan Q.anal Colonies, the Dandakaranl18

. ~eheme and the w~a. exserv1cemen colonizat1on scheme.

U()t~ver spontanc:lous agricultural col.on.1zat1on bas

played a much moro impo~ant role 1n deve1op1ng backtlard

- ~0 -

areas and increasing agricultural production. the

plantations, by improving communications and controlling

epidemics, accelerated the pace of peasant colonization

ot agricultural waste land. B.H. Farmer14bas shown that

while 1n the n~eteenth century tbe extension of area a.

un.der cultivation in India was associated with tea_..plant-

ation crop, in the twentieth century it ~s associated

with spontaneou$ movement of peasants from the plains to

3ungle area.p. In both Assam and the \·lestern Ghats peasant

colonization gained momentum after the successfUl establi­

shment of plantations and land hungry peasants from the

plains took up forest land for cultivat1on:J

It is interesting to note that 1n both the regions 0.

peasan~ colonization has been spoarh~ded by people from

geographical regions and social groups from outside the

region. For examp~e, the coloniZers of the Assam valley

were Muslim peasants from Benga115whereas those in the

highlands of Malabar were Syrian Christian ... pea.sants from

Travancore. ~e difference uas that while the Assam . a

coloniaers wel,'e linguistically and culturally "different

group, the Syrian Christian migrants in !>falabar '~re ' from ~he same 11ngu1stie and cultural region, though 1n

the· 1nitia1 stages Travancore and Malabar were separate

pol1tica~ units~

- l.l -

1..3 ?\he »resent st;udx

\[Migration in general 9 and peasant migra t1on in

particular, constitutes a crucial agent of social change

in seemt.Qgly stagnant societies. Peasant migration into

tribal areas usually resUlt in exploitation of tr1bals and

the alienation of their land which leads to conflicts

bett>Ieen migrants and tribal.So ~his sometimos erupts

into miiitant tr1bal movements.16 In certain areas

peasant mi~rants bring along with them ag~icultural innovations

auch ao new CU"Opping patterns and tecbnology. they may

Qlso introduce changes 1n the social and agrarian strue~ure

of the 1 bo$t' society and also be affected by the latter.

The migration itself may be the result of factors inherent

in the social and economic arrangements of the •sending'

area and alSo the ones relating to the •receiving' are~ The purpo$e of tho present exercise is to highlight some

of these sociological dimensions of peasant migration and

specifically, the migration of peasants from Travancore

to Mala bar.,

This study is addressed specifically to the

tollowJ.ng questi.ons:

(a) Why the people from distant 'fravancore and not

from tha nearby planes of l{a].abar were more suceessi"ul.

in extending the agricultural 'frontier' of Malabar?

- l.2 -

(b) ~nat were the socioweconomio cha4~cte~1Stics

of tbe migrants?

(c) l-lhat. were the structural factors which operated

t·o bring about a large scale voluntary transfer or population

from Travancore. to ~~labar?

-(d) Given the same st1·uctural factors W}\y were members

of certain religious groups and not others more prone to

migrate?

(-e) How did the 'm1gJ:at1on cbain' opex·ate in the

process of Ullgra t1on?

~f) ~nat were the consequences of this large scale

migration ~OJ! the agrarian an4 social structure of I-ialabar?

(g) What eere the patterns of adaptation and

$Ssimilat1on of the migrant community to thoir altered

$9C1al and physical env1ronmen~?

The pres~t study attempts to provide reasonably

sat1sfactory explan~tions to these questions. These expla­

nations are based on a direct field work based study conducted

tv the researcher ln the in-migration area. In other words

the study provides empirical evidences to support the argue­

ment$ used as explanations foJ: the phenomenon of a specific

t~p~ or migl~tion, namely, the spontaneous migrntJ.on of

pe~sants to othe1• rural areas for agricultUl•al purposes.

1.3

1.4 Plan of. the stud¥

Chapter 2 provides a theoretical backd~op for

the succeeding parts of the study. We divide the process

of migration into three analytically distinct stages and

discuss briefly various approaches to the study of each

stage, and attempt to specify our own approach.

Chapter 3 turns to the historical. process of the

development of society 1n Kerala, our universe of study. 0

This discussion provides a background to the accel.erated

rate of mobility of Kerala's population in recent times.

Chap~er 4 focuses on the historical development

0

• of population mobility in Kerala, to provide a context Glrlcl~l\J ~l-.

to ourAintra~rural migration in Kerala.

Chapter 5 presents the results of our emp1rica~

study of peasant migra t1on to Mal.a bar. It explains the

social structural factors ~ich caused the migration of

peasants frQm Travancore to Malabar and describes the

actual migratory process.

Chapter 6 is concerned with the probl.ems of adjust­

ment and a~~pt~tion of the peasant migrants, and the

emerging inter-group relations 1n t1alabar.

Chapter 7 reviews the whole exercise to understand

hot-r the theoretical framework we adopted to study peasant

migration fit the facts, to identify limitations and to

point out a~eas of further research.

- 1.4 -

l., L.A. 1\ocinsU and M.R. Prothero~ nlntroduction: The Study of Migrationno in L.l"• l!.osinski and M.a. Prothero (ed.) ,ffilol)lG qn the H.Qxe: stugi~fl .oo !nt~:tna1 l11.@.ralf2.9n, London; l-iethuen, 1971, p.l •

. 2. J.A. Jackson, ~tintroductionu in J .A. Jackson, ~igrat1Qn, London; Cambridge University Press, 1.969, p.2~

3. G. Gormani, "Migration ana tt.ccultaration° in P.llauser {eel.) • MnqhoQts fg~ .. ~ocSAl ll.M~Atct\ in_ IIX!han AX!£Wl, Par!sa t.~ESCO; 19M; p.lG4o

4t J.A. Jackson, op.eit.t p.6.

s. ~·~ .p.3

6.. ln industrial socieities migration has become part

7.

a .•

of a persons' carreer cycle. ThO word 'transUients • is used by A.n. Richmond, £t:e-J4!U>_lmrniemn~ in Canada, Toronto; 'Xoronto University PressJ 967,p.~B.

Baa al.so C.J. Janson, "~ociological Aspects of t1igrat1onn, in J.A~ Jackson• o~c~., p.69.

R.T. Appleyard ~sb. ~!oil ta_Auat~o London; Weidenleld and Nicolson, 1964, p.~74•6i A.J. Hernandez, ~.t.utn 61a..Rm.Y.!on tg ,fugstg lliAA, Population M.onograph 1 9 Institute of lntern.ational Studies, Berkeley; University of Californ.ist 1.967•

~:o~~i~ak~!~~~~~2lgog~~~~~~~f~~t paper presented ~ the International Union for Scientific Study of Population, London, {mimao).

.B.K. Roy Burman, ttintroduction'' in Census of India! 1.971, C~n.sus Centenary Monograph No~?, Economic: on ~.1g,.;:cp~tnw DimennianB ~1Dn~l1za.tion~'~\.n lndQ-~~.s.n ollaborativc Study, P.AXAIV-XXXVI.

- l.S -

9. K.C. Zacbriaht 4- ri,j,Storic:Jtl dtudy of Internal ~1gr~tSon in thO Indian Bub-cQntinent, 1$01-1234, Bombay~ Demographic Training and Research Centre, Researoh Monograph l.• 1.964, p.39.

l.O,

1.6,

See also Ash1sh DoDe, ritudtes in I.pdia's UrbanizaUtm, !,901-.JJrZ.}., New Delhi: Institute of Economic Grouth, l973, p.l.44 .. Asok Mitra, Q»•Qit• p.l.o.

G.s. Ghosal and G,Krishnn, .. Patterns of Internal . t-tigrution in Indian t in .i. ... •• t .. osinski and M.R.Prothero (ed.) ~~., p,l.99.

M.s.A, .liao, "Some Aspects of t!:e Sociology of Migt~ation"t SgQj,gJ.pg,!gal ,l}ulle~ Vol.30t No.1., March l.98J., p.26. See also Maneefa A .. .Singh, "t<Jom.on in the tt,rl:.et-Place: Ba~hers and Street Peddlers", paper presented to the subpanel en migration at tha XVtn All-India Soc1ologieal Conference, Meerut, 1980.

G.~. Ghosal and G. A.rishan, £U2&AU., p .202

B. H. Farmer, A3£icQL tural Cpl gn iz~tion in ln~io .§1ncc. l,n.(l..e,nenA9nce, Dalllit OAford University Press, 1.974. pp.l-0•20.

S.K. Da.ss "~he DeGlographic Tro.nsformation of Assam" p

Jiconamig o.nd Eol $t1~'l1 Wacls:JJC, l.S(l.9), Hay l.O, l.980, p.860-859; ~lyrt>n Weiner, ~ M~~~ Su.C£geg an,d. ~o.i~AA.M~l, A~samand, c:£~ ; Cambridge (Mass), ; :t. Centre for International Studies v1orking Paper, January 1975, pp 1.-73,

For the roots of nativist movement in Assam see Myron Weiner, g,aneing Cgneagtigns of Q1tizen1?,bj,p in a.HUltJ. ... Blilln!~' Sgg!§1iX~ Cambridge_, I1ass; H.I.i'.Centre for tnt0rnnt1onal Studies Working Paper, February 1975, p.l-39.