HARIJANS OF KERALA 27 6 Ibid., p 21. 0 7^.. p 80. 7 /W., p 83; This phenomenon is discussed later. 8 Among them certain communities are spread throughout the state while certain others are seen either in Travancore-Cochin division or in Malabar division and still others only in some districts. 9 E M S Namboodiripad, The National Question in Kerala, p 34. 1 ° Benedict Hjejie, Slavery and Agricultural Bondage in South India in the 19th Century, p 90 'l W Logan Malabar, vol I, p 152. 12 T C Varghese, Agrarian Change and Economic Consequences, chapter 6. 13 r? F^ Velu Pillai in his State Manual observes that during the reign of the two Ranis in Travancore, Gowri Lakshmi Bhai (1811-1815) and Gowri Parvathi Bhai(lB15" 182 9) the British Resident and Dewan, Colonel Munro (1810-1818) took personal interest and collected money for the schools and persuaded the rulers of Travancore and Cochin to render pecuniary help to the Christian missions, grant sites and building materials for churches, bungalows for the missionaries and paddy lands for support of their educational institutions. And further believing that official positions would alone elevate the Christians to influence in the state, the Resident appointed a large number of them in the several ranks of tlie public service. Moreover, the Regent made it a rule that there should be a Christian jud^e in every zilla court. * 4 Report on Kuttanad Development Programme. 15 Apart from this, those engaged in these types of occupations are often indebted to moneylenders and middlemen. In recent times Harijan workers in certain areas have enrolled themselves in cooperatives with the hope of improvement of their living standards. However, the cooperatives have largely fallen into other hands. For instance, the State Planning Board in one of their reports (1973) observed that in tribal areas agriculturists have still to depend on advances from merchants. As a result they are forced to distress sale of their produce. 10 -re Varghese, op. cit., pp 116 and 119. 17 E M S Namboodiripad, op. cit. 18 Ibid., p 104. 19 Dtaft Proposals, State Planning Board, p 83. ao T C Varghese, op. cit., pp 217-18, 21 It is reported that bonded labour or attached labour system is still prevalent in the tribal areas of K-erala. 22 T C Varghese, op. cit., p 217-218. 38 Separate data for Harijan converts to Islam are not. availabe. 34 Even though they are composed of as many as 134 separate caste-categories only a few of them are numerically significant and/or socially superior. For instance, the Ezhavas and Muslims included under the "other backward communities," form more than 40 per cent of the population. The Christians themselves, divided into eleven categories including Harijan converts to Christianity, form 2 1 per cent of the state population. The Brahmins, the Amblavasis and the Nairs all belong to Hindu religion, are socially superior and together they from about 16 per cent of the state population, the Nairs alone constituting about 14 per cent. The next 13 per cent of the population is spread among 110 Hindu communities and 5 other denominations ofjews, Parsis, Jains and &o on. 35 The only comparison is with the 30 per cent households in this category for Christians who constitute 20 per cent of the state's population. 20 Non-earners comprise students, unpaid family enterprise workers, the unemployed, housewives, persons outside the working age group, namely children and old people. 27 For instance the data furnised by the Committee on Untouchability, Economic and Educatiodal Development of Scheduled Castes, show that in 19b5, of the total number of scheduled caste registrants in all employment exchanges of