Articles by Meera Velayudhan

We, the members of the Executive Committee of the Indian Association for Women’s Studies (IAWS), write to you in shock in the face of our recent experiences of intimidation and harassment at the hands of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) during the XIIIth National Conference of the IAWS in Wardha at

In south Asia, since the 1970s, previously marginalised sections of the rural poor started to organise themselves in movements. In recent years, most of these struggles have been directed against the impact of the liberalising state on the rural poor. For the vast majority, there has been an erosion of livelihood avenues, food insecurity, a loss of assets - owing largely to the loss of their traditional access and control of natural resources. Food security is threatened by loss of biodiversity and loss of knowledge. Women who suffer the most from these trends have in all movements related to these issues, participating intensely, widely and also in leadership roles. While many of these movements have been documented, very little is known of women claiming their rights within these movements. At the same time, many other struggles of women are ongoing for land and other resource rights. These efforts have been isolated but exchanges of experiences are growing and suggest a range of newer strategies are emerging, thereby opening up possibilities for more effective response and common struggles.

Marriage among Ezhavas of Kerala Meera Velayudhan SINCE the 1970s, a number of studies have debated issues arising front the idea of the "Kerala model' which upheld the state's achievements in terms of equity, balanced socio-economic growth, quality of life, female education, societal changes in attitudes to family size and so on. They have linked the question of demographic changes to movements for social justice, to political and economic reforms based on the interests of the poor and to the long period of various kinds of institution- building which preceded these changes [UN 1977, Ratcliffe 1978 and Morris and McAlpine !982].Could the 'Kerala model' be duplicated? The debate persists.