Articles by T K Oommen

The quality of life is usually measured by three interrelated dimensions such as the human development index, the human freedom index, and the human distress profile. In Kerala, in spite of high HDI, the rates of suicide, crime, drug addiction, unemployment, etc, are high compared to other states. This essay argues that a high quality of life should register a high HDI, the maximum HFI and minimum HDP. It is necessary to work towards this complex objective if Kerala wants to sustain its claim to a high quality of life.

Agrarian Legislations and Movements as Sources of Change The Case of Kerala T K Oommen That the routes to social change can be many is widely recognised in social science literature. In this article, the author discusses social legislations and protest movements as sources of social change. But whether or not the desired goal


see their role as that of an airplane pilot who does not have to "know the location of every house and footpath". 9 They cannot afford to get lost in the "underbrush of facts" and in the "savage disputes about whether the underbrush is a pine forest or a tropical jungle''.10 Those who deal with detailed case studies also apologia for "exclusive preoccupation with historical particularism" (p 9), as it is "inimical to the growth and refinement of theory, particularly theory arising from comparative studies and knowledge" (p 9). They justify their attempt by asserting that their contribution lies in "providing insights and instances for new and more valid general theory" (p 9), and in reminding the theorists that not only are they far from arriving but that they arc going astray.

T K Oommen An effective strategy for social change calls for identification of the change-prone areas in the social system and of the social groups which are likely to put up the least resistance to the changes that are sought to be introduced.