Agricultural Labourers and Poverty-A Comment

Agricultural Labourers and Poverty A Comment K N Ninan KERALA has made remarkable progress in certain sectors of its economy but this has led to no perceptible improvement in the living conditions of agricultural labourers or to a reduction in poverty. This is the common refrain of the article by Joan P Mencher ('The Lessons and Non- Lessons of Kerala : Agricultural Labourers and Poverty', EPW, Special Number, 1980). While it is not my intention to controvert the statements and conclusions reached by Mencher, the issues thrown up by her ought to be placed in a proper perspective lest they give rise to misinterpretations. The author seeks an answer to a dynamic question of whether living conditions of agricultural labourers have improved through a one-point static analysis and also rushes to generalisations overlooking the limitations of her sample and analysis.