64 SOCIAL SCIENTIST Hindu hierarchy. They therefore belong to the second of the three categories as defined by the author, and not to the first, as he thinks. Following them of course are the Harijan converts to Christianity, no different from the scheduled castes, except that they follow a different religion. Still another factual inaccuracy in the article is the statement: ^The Muslims were traditionally a business community'9.8 This may be true in certain parts of the state where this community is in a numerically small minority. There are however large areas of the state where they form the majority. A community which is majority in a particular area cannot be a solely ^business community'. The Muslim community intact includes a large number of agricultural labourers, poor peasants, middle peasants, and urban workers.unskilled and skilled.as shown in the factual data collected by the author. It is true that the percentage of population having earnings from trade and sale is the highest among the Muslims (17.52). Among the agricultural and allied labourers however, the Muslims form a fairly high proportion—33.55 per cent as opposed to 2.70 among Brahmins, 16.94 among Ambalavasis, 20.57 among the Nairs and 26.23 among the Christians other than Harijan converts. (This last would have shown a different percentage if separate data had been given for the Syrians and non-Syrians). The percentage of Muslims in this category is only slightly less than the Ezhavas (40.78) and other Hindus (39 78). In farming too, their percentage is fairly high—20.80 as opposed to 14.05 among the Ezhavas and 8.02 among the other Hindus. In this occupation, the Muslims in fact have a higher percentage than the Ambalavasis (17.91). Anybody who sees conditions in the Malappuram district and the neighbouring Malabar districts will find that among Muslims are a large number of landlords, well-to-do cultivators, poor cultivators, rural and urban labourers. It is therefore incorrect to categorize tkem as a ^business community.' Changes in Social Organisation Let us now go into another shortcoming of the article: it does not bring out the real changes that arc taking place in the social organization of Kerala based on caste. It would appear as if the division of castes as obtains now is eternal, since in a way it reflects the correlation of*class forces. A careful study of the recent history of social conditions of Kerala in general, and individual castes in particular, would show that social organization based on castes and their inequalities has been and is continually changing. No more is the division of labour ordained under caste rules observed by the people belonging to the particular castes. Everybody takes to such occupations as doctors, engineers and teachers. Persons belonging even to the lowest castes, the Harijans, are entitled to ^ and in fact receiving, a proportion of jobs as laid down in the rules of