SERICULTURE AND THE PROCESS OF CHANGE A SOCIO-CULTURAL STUDY OF A TAMIL NADU VILLAGE A Thesis Submitted to the University of Mysore For the Award of the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In Development Studies By SGREGORY Supervisor GKKARANTH Professor and Head Sociology Unit INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE Nagarbhavi, Bangalore - 560 072 INDIA 1997 INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL ISEC AND ECONOMIC CHANGE AN ALL INDIA INSTITUTE FOR INTER-DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH & TRAINING IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES SILVER JUBILEE YEAR 1996 - 97 CERTI FI( 'ATE I hercby cl'rtit\ thai the prescnl ThesIs enlltkd Sericulture and Ihl' Procl'ss of Change A Socio-Cultural Study of A Tamil "'auu \'illage' is an independent rl'sl'arch of Shri S Gregory, PhD Ft:llow. Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalorc. carried out under mv guidance and supervision I also certif)' that it has not prcviously formed the basis for award of any Degree. Diploma or Associate Fellowship of Mysore Univcrsity or any othcr University / I ( Professor ilTld Head. Sociolog, Ilnlt Institute for Social & Econrymir. rC",nQ8 Na1 ar Jbhavi rlangabra • 550 ry72 PHONE 3355468 3355592 3355519 GRAMS. ECOSOCI Bangalore - 560 040 FAX 91-080-3387008 INDIA Nagarbhavi PO. Bangalore - 560072 E- MAll: ssisecOren.nic in DECLARATION I hereby declare that this Thesis entitled 'Sericulture and the Process of Change: A Soci<rCultural Study of A Tamil Nadu Village' is the result of my own work, carried out at the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore, and it has not been either wholly or in part submitted for any other degree. Due acknowledgments have been made wherever anything has been borrowed from other sources. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I awe special thanks to Prof G K Karanth. who has been kind enough to guid me and offer me suggestions. for the present research I would also like to thank Mrs. Karanth and her daughters for having extended hospitality whenever I went to their home. I am very much grateful to the Institute for Social and Economic Change (lSEC) which has sheltered me for five long years as en employee and as a student. and provided me all infrastrocture and technical support without which. this thesis would not have seen the light of the day. My special thanks are due to its Director. Registrar. Library and Administrative staff, who extended all POSS/ ble help in the process ofmy thesis work. My special thanks are due to Mr. Sadanaluia. Mr. Krishna Murthy and Mr. Govinda Rao for their administrative help whenever the need arose. I had always been benefited by the comments and Intellectual contributions of ISEC faculty and from their kind inqulnes and encouragement. at different times during the course of my Ph D. work. I am thankful to all of them. I also thank ICSSRfor the interest shown in the pursuance of my Doctoral research I also would like to thank Dr. Ananda Bhanu. the Head of the Department of Anthropology. Karznur University Centre. ThaIassery. who has readily obliged my requests. especially dunng the last phase of my work I would also like to thank Prof C P Sivadman. the Head, Institute of English and Foreign Languages. Kannur University. who has always been an inspiration to me in all my works. My thanks are also due to the authorities ofKarznur University and Mysore University and the Staff at the Institute of Development Studies. for their help and cooperation I awe much to the Beneficiary Asses.<.ment Study of National Sericulture Project which facilitated me in undertaking the present research and completing it I must thank Prof M N Snnivas. whose discourses. in his capacity as the Chairman oflSEC and as the Chairman of the BA Study. I had been fortunate to listen to for a few times. though I was unlucky to benefit from any personal encounters with him. I would /ike to thank Dr. J Acharya. who had been kind enough to allow me to pursue the Doctoral research. and had extended all support and encouragement during the period of my research My special thanks are due to Shri K V GovlndaraJu. who had been a constant source of support and guidance to me throughout the period of my study. My thanks are also due to Prof G S Aurora and Dr. Anand Inbanathan who had been kind to me all along andfrom whose dispositions. I have benefited much I would also like to thank Dr. M N Narasimhanna. the Technical Consultant of the B A study for the jroitjul discussions and dialogues I had with him. I would also like to place on recordfor their intellectual inputs and interactions. Friends have always been a great strength to me in times ofjoy as well as during moments of deperession They are also a fine source offree discussion and an efficient mechanism offine tuning. I must place on record my gratefulness to Shri Krishnappa. Shri D V GopaJappa. Ms Sudhamani. Ms G Saraswathi. Ms N Manju/a, Shri Jeyashee/a, Shri VenkaUlkrishnan. Dr. Gayathri Devi, Dr. Mathiyazhagan, Shri S Mallick, Shri llagr. Dr. RaJerldran. Dr. Ramaswamy. Dr. Mahadeve. Dr. Vijaya LaksJuni .... and the list goes on Most of them were my colleagues during my stay at ISEC. My SpeCial thanks are due to Dr. P Pugazhendi and Shri P J Parameswarap[Xl for their company all thrO'.lgh and their help during the final stages of the thesis. I would also like to thank my friend Shri M Lingaraj, not only for his help in the preparation of the maps but also for his suppon during the final moments of the work. 1 also thank Ms Akila for her assistance in the final print out of the thesis. 1 wish 10 thank Shri. v.s. Parthasarathy, who has shown keen interest in the completion of my work and patiently gone through the draft, involving discussions and offering useful suggestions for improvement. My thanks are also due to my friend and colleague Dr. K V Surenciran, Institute for English and Foreign Languages, who readily sacrificed his time to go through the draft and make some final touches to the thesis. Whenever my computer refused to oblige and even went out of tune, 1 had been disposed to the kind service ofMr. Aron who used to readily respond to my request with urgency and reach out even at odd hours to set the things righl. My sincere thanks are due to him. This thesis would not have been possible but for the kind cooperation, generous hospitality and warm friendship of the numerous people in the field. I could hardly repay my debt to them except by reciprocating through my life-long friendship to them. 1 am gratejullO all of them, especially Mr. Che!V1appan, Mr. Thangaraj, Mr. Sundara Rajan, Mr. Mathesh, Mr. Marappan, Mr. Mohan and Mr. Sadasivam 10 mention only a few. I should also thank the officials of the Department of Senculture, Tamil Nadu, and of the Central Silk Board, who had always been very cooperative and willing to extend every possible help required during the period of my research I always believe that I am abundantly blessed by my father who orphaned me early at my infancy without even a trace of his face left to me to recolkct. I must place on record the memories of my beloved mother, the news of whose departure came to me ao; a shock ao; 1 stepped out after completing the last paper of my Pre-Ph D exams. A mother who herselfwao; unlettered andyet could be both a father and a mother to me, deserves a life long dedication rather than mere gratitude. My obeisance to both my father and mother. I must also thank my five sisters and two brothers at whose struggle and sweat 1 have grown. The Jesuit Society had been my second home under whose care and guidance I had spent eight years of my adulthood For all my spiritual, intellectual and even my physical growth, I owe a lot to the Society. 1 also gratejully remember all my teachers and friends who had played a crocial role in moulding my life since my childhood. Lastly, 1 place on record, my loving gratitude to my beloved wife Jancy Francis and my daughter Jovitha G. Preethi, whose struggle and inspiration has been very much part of my thesis. They both jOined me in undergoing the travails of village life during the period of my fieldwork and that struggle has continued all through, in seeing the completion of the thesis. SGREGORY CONTENTS Page No. LIST OF TABLES C~ I ~7RODUCTIO~ 1 C~ II TIIE FIELD AND TIIE PEOPLE 39 C~ ill LAND AND ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION 63 C~ IV SERICUL TURE PROCESS: A PROFILE 80 CHAPTER V LABOUR RELATIONS, STRATEGIES AND PROSPECTS 122 CHAPTER VI FAMILY AND GENDER RELATIONS 144 CHAPTER VII SOCIO-ECONOMIC MOBILITY AND CHANGING VALUES 183 CHAPTER XIII SOCIAL RELATIONS AND NElWORKS 216 CHAPTER. IX SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS: SERICULTURE, DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE 236 REFERENCES 256 APPENDIXES 266 LIST OF TABLES Table No. Title Page No. 2.1: Distribution of Population by Age, Sex and Marital Status 45 2.2 Distribution of Households by Family Size 47 2.3: Distribution of Households by Community and Family Types 49 2.4 Literacy Status and Educational Anainment 52 3 1: Activity Profile and Dependency Ratio of the Population by Land-holding Status and Sex 71 3.2: Sources of Household Income (per cent) 77 3.3: Agriculture as a source of Cash Income and of Subsistence 77 4. 1: Distribution of Households by Land-holding, Inigation and Sericulture Status across Communities 88 4.2: Distribution of Landholders by Land-Size Class and Inigation and Sericulture Status 88 4.3.