42 SOCIAL SCIENTIST in Malayalam by leaders of the trade union movement there. See S K Das, "Agri- cultural Workers Movement in Kuttanad", Golden Jubilee Souvenir of Travancore Coir Factory Workers Union, Alleppey 1972. 21 This phase and more importantly the growth of the trade union movement among factory workers of Alleppev are discussed at length in articles contributed by various pioneering union leaders to the Golden Jubilee Souvenir of Travancore Coir Factory Workers Union, op. cit. ao Report of the Boa^d of Conciliation of Trade Disputes in Mats and Matting Industry , Government of Travancore, 1939. 2c A detailed account on the leaders in those days can be had from T V Krishnan, Kerala'1 s First Communist, Prabhath Book House, Trivandrum. 2J The irrigation projects are Malampuzha, Mangalam, Walayar, Gayatri, Chittur- ^ puzha, Cheraluzhi, and Pothundy. They provide irrigation facilities to paddy ' fields in the three taluks ofAlathur, Chittoor and Palghat. 23 The Karshaka Samajam was formed in 1970 with headquarters in Palghat town. From an initial strength of barely 2000 members over the years it has grown into a powerful body having more than 20,000 members by the end of 1974. The function- ing of the Samajam is mostly concentrated in the taluks of Alathur, Chittoor and Palghat. In these taluks, the Samajam has sixty mandalams (units) each having fifty or more members. (These details were furnished by A Sekhara Menon, president of the Deseeya Karshaka Samajam, Palghat district.) 29 In other parts of the state, especially in Kuttanad region, workers, irrespective of the fact whether they have been previously employed in the same farm or not, are allowed to take part in harvesting and claim the wage share. ;<0 YIELD RATES AND THE AVERAGE FARM PRICE OF PADDY IN.PALGJIAT Tear Yield Rates (Kg/Hect) Average farm price Virippu Mundakan (Rs per standard (Autumn) (Winter) para) 1962-63 2 117 2 803 2.78 1963-64 2 787 3 099 3.26 1964-65 2 669 3 077 3.53 1965-6-) 2 940 2 344 6.00 1966-67 2 802 3 189 6.35 1968-69 2 697 2 857 6.76 1969-70 2 921 2738 6.52 1970-71 2 611 2731 5.82 1971-72 3 211 3289 6.61 1972-73 3 121 2 895 8.22 SOURCE: Office of the Bureau of Economics and Statistics, Government of Kerala, Trivandrum. ;u See Francine Frankel, Indians Green Revolution, Economic Gains and Political Costs, Oxford University Press, Bombay 1971, p 136. ;<2 The Third Decennial World Census of Agriculture 1970-71, Report for Kerala State, vol II, Agriculture Census Division, Bureau of Economics and Statistics, Govern- ment of Kerala, 1973, p622. y • Figures obtained from the Regional Transport Office, Palghat to oral enquiries made on 25 August 1975. "•4 The relative advantages from tractorization comes out sharply of a Study on Tractor Use and Its Impact on the Farm Economy of Kerala, Agricultural Division, State Planning Board, Kerala, August 1969. In accordance with this study, "On on average, the tractor takes three hours for