MSc

Wayanad is the home for majority of the tribal people in Kerala. ‘Adiya’ tribe is one of the major tribal groups in Wayanad. Women formed half of the population and they played an integral role in the tribal society. Even though they formed a major portion, they were also the most oppressed community. Adiya women were hard working and bread winners of the family. Most of them are agricultural labourers working in coffee plantations, rice fields, ginger fields and banana orchards. They strived hard to meet the needs of the family as the male members of their family spend most of their income on alcohol. But still they were excluded and discriminated in and outside the society. The study aims to bring their unheard and unsaid problems into light and reduce the drudgeries faced by them in their day to day life.
The present investigation was undertaken with the major objectives of conducting the gender analysis of ‘Adiya’ tribal agricultural labourers of Wayanad district. The livelihood constraints and scale of social exclusion of ‘Adiya’ women agricultural labourers were also identified.
The present study was conducted in the Wayanad district of Kerala. This district has been purposively selected for conducting the study because this is one of the districts which has the highest concentration of ‘Adiyan’ tribal settlements in Kerala. Samples of 120 tribal people were selected randomly from three panchayaths of Wayanad namely Thirunelly, Mananthavady and Panamaram.
Detailed review of literature, judges rating, and discussion with experts and scientists were used in the selection of variables. The dependent variables selected for the study were social exclusion and social discrimination. Profile characteristics were selected as the independent variables. Moreover gender analysis of ‘Adiya’ tribal agricultural labourers was also conducted. The data was collected using pre-tested and structured interview schedule. The statistical tools used were frequency, simple percentage analysis and correlation analysis.

The salient findings of the study are summarised below:
1. In the case of gender analysis, major women dominated decisions were in the cases of child rearing and religious matters.
2. Major men dominated decisions were in the cases of household decisions, jobs to be taken, education, expenditure of Income and decisions regarding elderly people in the house.
3. In the case of benefits and incentive analysis, women were most capable of using the information obtained through extension agency contact and farmer groups.
4. In the case of men, they were capable of using the money obtained from income , utilizing the education received for one’s own empowerment, understanding and using the technological developments, enjoying the benefits of employment opportunities, utilizing the transportation facilities and utilizing the benefits of farmer groups
5. In the agricultural activity analysis, women oriented activities were weeding, post harvest operations, livestock and poultry activities.
6. Major men oriented agricultural activities were land preparation and fertilizer application.
7. In the case of house hold activities, women oriented activities were food preparation, child care, elderly care, cleaning activities and collection of water.
8. In the case of men, they were mostly engaged as construction/daily wage labourers.
9. In the case of influencing factors, the positively influencing factors for women were, they were provided equal medical facilities, they were allowed to participate in social meetings and gatherings and they were allowed to vote in elections.
10. The negatively influencing factors were, they were not allowed to stay outside the home for late hours, they were not allowed to travel distant places alone, they were not provided equal wages for the same amount of work and they were not allowed to take up political powers in the society.
11. In the case of men other than timely availability of incentives, and inability to take up political powers in the society all other factors were positively influencing.
12. Results of analysis of access and control to resources shows that women had access to inputs but did not have control on any and in the case of men, they had access to all resources and maximum control was on land, labour, money and technology.
13. In the case of social exclusion, majority of the females and males of Thirunelly panchayath experienced high level of geographic exclusion, 80% of the females and 50% of the males in Mananthavady panchayath, experienced high level of geographic exclusion, but in Panamaram panchayath, majority of the females and males experienced low level of geographic exclusion.
14. In the case of economic exclusion 90% of the females and males experienced high level of economic exclusion, 90% of the females and males in Mananthavady panchayath experienced high level of economic exclusion and in the case of Panamaram panchayath majority of the females and males experienced low level of economic exclusion.
15. In the case of socio cultural exclusion,73% of the females and 80% of the males experienced high level of socio cultural exclusion, majority of the females and males of Mananthavady panchayath experienced low level of socio cultural exclusion and in the case of Panamaram panchayath also majority of males and females experienced low level of socio cultural exclusion.
16. In the case of political legal exclusion, majority of the females and males of Thirunelly panchayath experienced high level of political legal exclusion, in the Mananthavady panchayath majority belonged to the high level of political legal exclusion and in the Panamaram panchayath also females and males also experienced high political legal exclusion.
17. In the case of social discrimination, majority of the male and female respondents of all the three Panchayaths experienced high level of social discrimination.
18. Regarding age, it was found that 53.36% of the females and 56.67% of the males belonged to middle age category. When 5.56% of the females and 36.67% of the males were of the old age group, 41.11% of the females and 6.67% of the males belonged to young age category.
19. Looking into the data of annual income, it can be found that 72.22% of the females and 60% of the males were in medium category of annual income, 13.33% of the females and 33.33% of the males belonged to high category and 14.44% of the females and 6.67% of the men received a low level of annual income.
20. In the case of marriage 75.56% of the females and 93.33% of the males were married. However, 24.44% of the females were widows and 2.22% of the males were widowers.
21. Considering family size, 54.44% of the females and 43.33% of the males had a family size ranging from 4 to 5. However, 30% of the females and 36.67% of the males had a family size of more than 5 members. In the case of families with 3 to 4 members, 15.56% of females and 20% of males belonged to this category.

22. Regarding educational status, 40% of the females and 50% of the males could read and write, 24.44% of the females and 33.33% of the males were illiterate, 26.67% of the females and 13.33% of the males received primary level of education, 4.44% of the females and 3.33% of the males were graduates, and 3.33% of the females had high school level of education.
23. With respect to their alcoholism habit, 95.55% of the women never consumed alcohol, and only 4.44% of the females consumed alcohol occasionally. In the case of men, 83.33% of the men consumed alcohol on a daily basis, and 16.66% of the men consumed alcohol weekly.
24. In the case of extension agency contact, majority of the males and females had contact with agricultural officers and panchayath officials but did not have any contact with, agricultural assistants and agricultural scientists.
25. Considering mass media exposure, majority of them had daily and weekly exposure to radio and television but did not have any exposure to books, farm magazines and internet.
26. Regarding environmental orientation, Environmental orientation was recorded as 100% in all the three panchayaths among both the genders.
27. In the case of land holding, 20% of the females and 6.67% of the males had land of about 5 cents. When, 42.22% of the females and 43.33% of the males had land ranging from 6 to 10 cents, 34.44% of the females and 30% of the males had a land size ranging from 11 to 25 cents. However, 3.33% of the females and 20% of the males had land more than 25 cents.
28. Regarding wage structure, 80% of the females and 46.67% of the males received a wage between Rupees 250 and 500 and 7.78% of the females and 50% of the males received a wage more than Rupees 500. Whereas 12.22% of the females and 6.67% of the males received a wage less than Rupees 250.
29. In the case of political orientation, it can be concluded that 75.56% of the females and 70% of the males had medium level of political orientation. Moreover, 24.44% of the females and 30% of males had high level of political orientation.
30. Looking into the data of indebtedness, it can be found that 56.67% of the females and 36.67% of the males had no debt, 42.22% of the females and 26.67% of the males had a debt less than Rupees 2500. Finally, 3.33% of the females and 36.67% of the males had a debt between Rupees 2500 and 5000.
31. Regarding the type of houses they lived in, 36.67% of the females and 33.33% of the males lived in small concrete homes.
32. Houses of 51.11% of the females and 33.33% of the males were in average condition and houses of 48.89% of the females and 66.67% of the males were in good condition.
33. The major constraints identified in the case of women were inaccessibility of support from government, unequal wage structure and crop damage due to animal attack, domestic violence and alcoholism.
34. In the case of men, the major constraints identified were inaccessibility of support from government, inaccessibility of incentives, depletion of agricultural lands, poor economic status and crop damage due to animal attacks.