CENSUS OF INDIA 1981 Part X-B SERIES 10 KERALA TOWN SURVEY REPORT MUVATTUPUZHA B. T. PILLAI Joint Director of Census Operations KERALA CONTENTS Page Foreward (v) Preface (vii) Acknowledgements (ix) Chapter Introduction Chapter II History of growth of tne town 9 Chapter 1II Amenities and Services-History of growth and present position 13 Chapter IV Economic life of the Town 26 Chapter V Ethnic and ,clecteJ ~ocio·Jemographic characteristics of the population 43 Chapter VI Migration and Settlement of families 59 Chapter Vll Neighbourhood Pattern 63 Chapter VlU Family life in the Town 64 Chapter IX Housing and material culture 68 Chapter X Slums, blighted and other areas with substandard living conditiom 74 Chapter XI Organisation of Power and Prestige 76 ChaI,Jter Xll Leisure and recreatlon, Social Participation, Social awarene,~, Religion and Crime 78 Chapter XIII Linkages and continua 83 Chapter XIV Conclusion 87 Appendix Type of Households-Kolenda Paulin\ clas:;ification 91 Appendix U TabJ~ 1 tu 40 92 iii FOREWORD Apart from the decennial enumeration of population, the Indian Census is steeped in the tradition of undertaking a variety of studies of topical interest. In fact, the publications brought out in connection with the earlier censuses contained veritable mines of in­ formation on racial, culturaL linguistic and a number of other aspects of ljfe of the people of this country. With the advent of freedom, however, the scope and dimension of these special studies had to be restructured in a manner that would provide the basic feedbacks on the processes of development taking place in different spheres of life of the people especially under planned development. Thus, in connection with the 1961 Census, a massive pro­ gramme was launched infer-alia to conduct socia-economic survey of about 500 villages selected from different parts of the country. The main objective of this study was to know the way of life of the people living in Indian villages which accounteLl [or S2 per cent of the total population as per the 1961 Census. Thefl~ was, how­ ever, an imperative need to extend the area of the study to urban centres as well. to provide a complete coverage of the people living in uivcrse socjo-ccollomjc conditions. It was with t his objective in vi~w, alldllary ~tudies Ull towns Wl.:rc launched as part of the social studies prognuHllle· in cunnc,;:ctioll with the 1971 Census. The programme of sucia} stlldies taken up in connection with the 1971 Cellsus, was continued without any major change at the 19~ 1 CensLls as well. A study on In.-tuitional rural based han(1i­ crafts was, howt::ver, added as a new item under the sod al study projects of the 19~ I Census. For the conduct of urban study. 64 small and medium towns were selected from different parts of the country following the criteria such as (a) size, (b) demographic fea­ tures. (c) functional characteristics, (d) specific industry or occu­ pation dominating the economy, (e) location, (0 concentration of different castes and communities, and (g) other social and cultural phenomenon like temple town. health resort etc. The research design, tools for data collection and formats for data tabulation and report writing required for urban studies were originally formulated by Dr. B. K. Roy Burman, the then Deputy Registrar General. Social Studies Division. His successor, Dr. N. G. Nag took considerable pains to revise all the formats to v make them more comprehensi\ e. Dr. K. P. Ittaman, the present Deputy Registrar General heading Social Studies Division, coordi­ nated these studies at different levels as well as rendered necessary guidance to the Directorates of Censns Operations for their success­ ful consummation Sri 1\1. K. Jain, Senior Research Officer with the able assistance of Sri R. K. Mehta, Investigator did a commen­ dable job in scrutinising the reports and communicating the com­ ments thereon to the Directorates. I am grateful to all of them. The present report is the out-come of a study on Muvat­ tupuzha town undertaken by the Directorate of Census Operations, Kerala. I am indebted to Sri B. T. Pillai, Joint Director and his colleagues in the Census Directorate for their painstaking efforts in bringing out this report. New Delhi, V. S. VERMA, 1st of June, 1988. Registrar General, India. vi PREFACE 1t is a practice by the Census Organisation to take up several anci11ary studies after the main Census Operations. One such pro­ ject is the study of selected towns. Tn Kerala 5 towns were studied in 1971 Census as part of the all India project and it was decided to undertake the study of 3 towns in 1981. Accordingly, Muvattu­ puzha, Gl1ruvayur and Nedumangad towns were selected for study on various considerations. Besides making lise of the 19R 1 Censlls data the scheme of town study involves the collection of detailed information on different charac;teristlcs of the town in general through a town schedule from various offices, institutions, organisations and jndi­ viduals and the collection of demographic. socia-economic and cultural data relating to the people through household schedules from sample households selected from different parts of the town. In Muvattupuzha the household schedule was canvassed in 225 sample households. The information on neighbourhood was collected from only 50 of these sample households. The study of Muvattupuzha town was conducted during 1984-85 and this report is based on that study. This study was initiated by Sri S. P. Grover. Deputy Director and· the field work and major part of tnhulation was done under his snpervision. He left on transfer ~trter preparing the first report of some chapters. Thereafter, it was Sri K. Gopinathan, Assistant Director who completed the report by writing the remaining chapters and editing the other chapters. The final report was also prepared hy him incorporating the suggestions offered hy the Social Studies Division of Registrar General's Office. It is with genuine pleasure that I acknowledge the services of these officers especially Sri K. Gopinathan, Assistant Director who worked with a sense of persona] responsibility in hringing out this report. He deserves the credit for this publication. The services of a hand of dedicated members of staff of my office mainly associated with this work are thank:fully acknowledged and their names are given separately. Among them, the services of Smt. N. Radha Bai, Statistical Assistant in connection with tabulation is to be specially mentioned. vii I am also grateful to Sri V. S. Verma. Registrar General, India for the guidance and directions given to me in bringing out this publication. I am also grateful to Dr. K. P. Ittaman, Deputy Registrar General and his co11eagues in the Social Studies Division for scru­ tinising the report and tables and offering valuable suggestions in finalising the report. I wish to p]ace on record the help and cooperation extended by Sri P. T. Mathew and Sri P. C. Rajan, MUnicipal Commissioner, Muvattupuzha and their colleagues for the successful conduct of the study. I am also thankful to the organisations and individuals in the town who snpplied useful information and to the members of the sample households for their cooperation while canvassing the household schedules. Trivandrum, B. T. PILLAI 30-12-]988. JoinT Director of Census Operations, KERALA viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Canvassing of Schedules (a) Town Schedule Sri. R. Devarajan Investi(ator (b) Household Schedule 1. Sri P. Venu Statistical Assista"nt 2. Sri Babu Philip Stl(iliiiical Assi~tant Tabulation of data 1. Smt. N. Radha bai Statfstical Assistant 2. Smt. L. Retna bai sfatisticaf As;r~ant 3. Smt. 1. A. Maria Clara m'l!~tnfa[ Assistilnt 4. Smt. G. Kamala bai Statiltical Assisfant 5. Sri N. Iiajagopalan Nair ~iati;tiCai Ass"isfailt 6. Smt. J. Suseela Devi Computor 7. Sri S. Jayaram eonipulor 8. Smt. A. Krishnakumari C6mputor 9. Sri Albert Thomas A"'ssistartt Compiler Maps and Sketches , ~ 1. Sri S. Krishna pitl3.i Senior Artist 2. Sri M.T. Pillai Artist 3. Sri A. Sadasivan At:hari Dt'lfftshlan 4. Sri V. Thulaseedharan Ora-rtsinan Cover design Sri N. V6nu Nair Artist Xeroxin·g Sri S. Rajas~khara Panicker Seoidr Gestetner-Operator Typing 1. Smt. E.C. Philomina sg&Jr' st~clgripiiei 2. Smt. C. Sarojini Amma U.D. Clerk 3. Sri S. Sasidharan Nair L.D. Clerk Printing Sri. M. P. Raghunadhan Printing Inspector ix: 2- 19 RGIfNDf88 MUVATTUPUZHA MUNICIPAL TOWN (A NOTIONAL MAl') ......."'. '. '-.- ..... \. _._ MIINICIPAL eOUIIlAAY - - ....R06OUNOA'" - NAJ09 ROAnS - W!OII ROAI)S ~ RiveR > I• CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Muvattupuzba, a small municipal town, is the head­ heights ranging from 30 to- 62 metres mainly in the quarters of Muvattupuzha taluk in Ernakulam district. northern, eastern and so-uthern portions. Most of Three rivers viz. Kothamangalam, Kaliyar and. ThOOu­ the low lying areas upto 20 metres above the mean sea pUzha meet here to form the Muvattupuzha river level surrounding the town are paddy fields. which gives the town its name. The town is situated about 209 kilometres north of Trivandrum, the state 1.6. The climate of the town more or less repre­ capital, on the Main Central Road to Angamaly and sents the equatorial conditions. Like other parts of 43 kilometres east of Cochin, the district headquarters. the district and state, the town has four seasons viz. dry weather from December to February, hot weather 1.2. The ruins of a fortress of the Vadakkumkur from March to May, south-west monsoon from June Rajas are the only historic remains in the town. Being to September and the retreating or north-east monsoon the production centre of lemon grass oil and a market from October to November.