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The scholarship on cross-border labour migration in India is characterised by the notoriety of the labour intermediaries. However, such a focus often eclipses the mutually beneficial social exchanges found among the migrants, would-be migrants, and their larger social circle. Against this backdrop, this paper focuses on the migration strategies of a leading migrant community in India-the Mappila Muslims of Kerala. Our findings suggest that, although there is a thriving migration brokerage industry in Kerala, Mappilas secure the crucial labour market information, facilitate their cross-border movement, and obtain the much-coveted Gulf job using close interpersonal connections. With their familiarity and first-hand knowledge of the market practices of the Persian Gulf, the Mappila migrants have internalised and strategically invested in the Arab cultural practice of wasta (securing favours via social connections). The paper also argues how the wasta-based connections of Mappilas help us broaden our understanding of social networks as understood in the Granovettarian tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manchadikkari is a region in central Kerala occupied primarily by Dalit Christian communities. The majority of the people in the area are agricultural daily wage workers who have been economically and culturally marginalized. Caste discrimination and exploitation mark their past and present. The people in Manchadikkari articulate powerful anti-caste politics through their creative cultural productions like songs, stories, and plays that take shape in their community groups. The remembrance and reiteration of caste experiences in these community groups keep alive the history of caste exploitation and transmit these memories to the next generation. This paper analyses the play Azhakante Kutil ('Azhakan's Hut'), authored by Thankamma Titus from Manchadikkari in 2021 and performed by a group of women who are members of the community group 'Sanjeevani.' This study considers the processes of conceptualization, production, and performance of the play to show how these processes embody anti-caste politics. The play dwells on the community's caste history to show that caste is not an anachronism of the feudal era but actively determines the present cultural and material conditions. When contextualized in the community, the play exists as a moving narrative of the community's cultural activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a case study of NISA, an autonomous Muslim women's organization in the South Indian state of Kerala. This paper elaborates on the limitations of the Islamic framework embraced by women's associations affiliated with sectarian Muslim groups in Kerala by comparing NISA's works and strategies and explaining their unwelcome position within the community. The paper also considers Muslim women's organizations in Kerala from a global perspective compared to international platforms like Musawah while exploring their limitations in forming a transnational alliance with such organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the accepted usage of 'marginality' as a subcategory of subalternity, seldom has the meaning of marginality as a concept been expounded. This paper sets out to address this lack by conceiving of 'marginality' as a condition, by focusing on the lived experiences of Adivasis in Kerala through the discourses constructed by a contemporary social movement, the Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha (AGMS). Discourse analysis is the methodological frame that I have used in this paper to analyse the descriptions produced by the AGMS and the state of Kerala, and this is broadly situated within the post-colonial political-sociological approach. Premised on this, I argue that while marginality is an essential concept for looking at contemporary Adivasi movements in India, it is productive to interrogate and explore expanding the varied meanings attached to this concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Select research has indicated that widespread migration is catalysing the novel reimagining of eldercare and transformative changes in the local eldercare economy in the Global South. Yet research on ageing and migration from the South has largely focused on transnational care practices of providing emotional support and economic remittances. Drawing on ethnographic research among the privileged and affluent community of Syrian Christians of Kerala, India, I argue for a diverse and complex Southern reconfiguration of eldercare at the intersection of migration, which also includes 'market transfer' of proximate care services as reciprocal filial care. Further, the paper illuminates how specificities of migration, ageing and care are locally nuanced and shape diverse transnational care practices. In turn, transnational care strategies employed by the migrants to overcome distances transform the local eldercare economy and (re)produce class-stratified eldercare spaces. Through the study of a privileged community, the paper highlights the increasing marketisation of the eldercare landscape in the sending countries of the South and contributes to furthering diversified understandings of the ageing-migration nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper intends to explore the influence of Human Resource (HR) analytics on the training and development skills in the Information technology (IT) sector concerning Kerala in India. Furthermore, this paper investigates the approaches and practices followed by the HR officials and the IT professionals in the organization. Also, this paper explains how HR analytics can be applied in IT sectors for the betterment of the skills of IT professionals. Design/Methodology/Approach: This paper presents a quantitative study by considering the sample of 213 expertise, qualified, and knowledgeable employees in the IT sector and HR people of Kerala. The hypotheses were verified using Cronbach's Alpha reliability test, and Bivariate Correlation. Findings: From the findings, it is understandable that the HR analytical practices achievea straight and positive influence on the performance of IT employeesthrough practicing training and development skills. Research Limitations/Implications: As for scholars and experts, this study point towardthe practices of HR analytics that help to enhance employee skills through training strategy. Originality/Value: The paper plans perceptions on training, and development practices followed by HR analytics and professionals. Also, it delivers HR analytics that can cope with the development and retention of IT employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CoVID-19 pandemic had a continuing impact on the agricultural sector, especially cash crops. This is despite the popular belief that agriculture was the only bright spot in the entire economic system which was somehow able to withstand the economic impact of lockdowns. This paper is an attempt in understanding the impact of CoVID-19 pandemic on the cash crops in Kerala and how it impacted the growers as well. This paper is a study of the impact on the cash crop economy. It also tries to suggest some specific policy intervention to revive and support the sector. This includes a package exclusively for the farm sector with immediate and long-term implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has tried to review various gaps in research along with future scope of study on major factors influencing road accidents in Kerala, the southernmost part of India in Asia continent. The traffic accidents and injury to persons are of utmost concern in this area, where the life standard and general behavior of people is different from other neighboring states. In this paper, some important factors were studied for traffic safety along with researches done on the topic are studied and are reviewed thoroughly. It aims at to identify a Profile of the Respondents, to analyze the contributory factors influencing the road accident while driving, to explore the driver behavior such as drink and drive. For this study the sample size taken is 110. It used the tools such as percentage analysis, factor analysis and weighted average. This research work shall help to identify the factors where influence the road accidents in Kerala and to check the factors to reduce the accidents, leading towards a scientific traffic control to reduce accident rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Situating the Malayalam film Amma Ariyan in the context of radical Left politics in Kerala during the "long 1970s", this paper argues that Left-wing cultural productions during the period offered a melancholic vision of history that sustained a utopian imagination. In popular discussions, the 1970s is seen as a period of "misguided adventurism" and defeat, and the nostalgia for the period is treated as a paralyzing, backward looking attitude. Drawing on contemporary scholarship on Left melancholy, nostalgia, and utopia, this paper looks back at the 1970s from a perspective where melancholia is a stance that offers a critical vision of the past as well as the future. This paper argues that the "failed heroes" in Left-wing cultural productions in the 1970s refused to "resign themselves to... the inevitable and 'natural' character of the most monstrous inequalities". This "refusal to be realistic" has been very central to the sustaining of a utopian imagination which acquires more significance in the context of the perceived reactivation of "communist desire" in the contemporary times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on data from an ethnography of the school-based Student Police Cadet (SPC) program in Kerala, India, this paper examines the ways in which female high school student-cadets mobilized SPC's uniform in their performance of citizenship education. Unlike their gendered school uniforms, SPC's gender-neutral 'khaki' uniform signified a program that treats girls and boys 'equally.' Further, SPC uniform's resemblance to the Kerala police uniform enabled female cadets to momentarily disrupt gender regimes and lay claim to specific forms of aspirational, spatial, and sartorial freedoms. These freedoms, however, are premised on the masculine authority of the police uniform and its associated protections. Thus, while the promise of female empowerment is pivotal to SPC curriculum, the conditional nature of freedom in khaki underscores the ambivalent nature of those curricular promises. The paper concludes by examining the implications of freedom bequeathed through masculine forms of protection for girls' participation in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper considers the differences between the various Tantric traditions of Kerala and presents observations that emerged from my field research on the so-called Śākta Tantra of Kerala (also known as Raudra, Śākteya, or Kashmirian sampradāya). This tradition incorporates the ritualistic practices of Kashmirian Śaivism or, more precisely, it integrates Krama-Trika ritualism with the folk mythology of Kerala and Śrīvidyā theology. This study presents the hypothesis that the Śākta tradition of Kerala could have been influenced directly by proponents of Kashmirian Śaivism and indirectly by Śrīvidyā. The Tantric texts of Kerala reveal that Śrīvidyā infiltrated many ritualistic traditions and was held in high esteem by practitioners and devotees. It was a claim of some Tantric practitioners of Kerala that authoritative Tantric treatises such as Śeṣasamuccaya and Mātṛsadbhāva may have been composed by Brahmins, who intended to incorporate the well-established and probably influential and socially attractive Śākteya cults into their own realm. Therefore, the paper attempts to show that Śrīvidyā is a link that unites Tantric traditions of modern Kerala. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is the hub of cultures and a bed of cinema in multiple languages. This research paper focuses on the cinema of two neighbouring states, namely, Kerala and Tamil Nadu from the South of India. While, Malayalam is the state language of Kerala or Keralites, Tamil is the state language of Tamil Nadu in India. The past decade has seen a phenomenon that has been observed constantly in Kerala with regard to some of the Tamil films which are earning massive revenues in Kerala as compared to their own Malayalam films-the language of Kerala itself. Despite receiving coverage of the same in many media outlets, there is a lack of research content in this field. This gap of intellectual observation of this phenomenon is being covered through this research which elucidates data from Malayali youngsters of Kerala who are a prime audience of Tamil Cinema as to why Tamil cinema is much more popular in Kerala despite having brilliant storylines in the state language. This exploratory research has used a quantitative survey research method to reach out to youngsters from Kerala and also carried out a cluster analysis of the sample to study the observation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the much-underplayed Jewish presence in Kerala for 2000 years and the songs of Jewish women, which preserved the community memories and the narratives of diaspora life. They also contain the emotional and intellectual diversity of hope and exile. Jewish Women's songs kept alive the stories of the race and the customs handed down from generation to generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The empowerment of a person is a state of him in any way he becomes powerful to face all problems belong to him. Women's Empowerment can be defined as promoting women's sense of self work, their ability to determine their own choices and their rights to influence social change for themselves and others. Kerala is a land of baffling contradictions. Economic and social anarchy existed among women in Kerala centuries ago. Although Kerala was culturally superior, women were always behind men. None of the services of women were glorified. There was a social system in which all the burdens of society were concentrated only on women and they were marginalised and kept within the household. Women have been dominated by men since ancient times. In many families female life was like slavery and more over in society women were always behind. There was universal freedom for men and social exclusion for women in general. Women empowerment also means uplifting of all women to face all problems around them and make them powerful to live them in a social secure stage. The empowerment of women is an essential factor for the sustainable growth of the society. In Kerala, a southern state of India Kudumbasree, the women's empowerment organization, has given women a social and economic equality. Kudumbasree is a group of women working under the Kerala State Poverty Eradication Mission and under the jurisdiction of each local self government institutions. This paper describes how 'Kudumbasree in its nature and scope and its contributions to women's empowerment in general and describes the attempts of Kudumbasree program in the broader context of measures to empower the women's group, measures of alleviating poverty, improving financial inclusion and mainly how these things empower the women in total and also explain about how Kudumbasree helped the society in total, especially to women, by its actions and activities done through its organisational setup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically evaluates the process of cultural renewal that took place in Kerala in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, especially Kerala's engagement with modernity, modern culture and modern forms of subjectivity manifested chiefly in the unfolding of the reform movements and renaissance intellectual activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration process contributes to the economic development, cultural diversity and social dynamics of the state. The state of Kerala has experienced migration mainly from southern states but recently there has been an influx of inter-state migrants from the northern states. The migrant labourers are employed in all sectors irrespective of rural or urban localities. They are mainly working in the informal sector doing unskilled or semi-skilled job and have percolated into all sectors. The paper analyses the migration experience and the socio-economic condition of the inter-state migrants working in the construction from their living and working environment. The theoretical understanding of NELM and institutions theory helps to determine the migration decision framework. The paper tries to study the social security schemes introduced by the government to protect the rights and privileges of the migrant population. Therefore it is also the state and the government that need to impart the sense of security and inclusion in the social, economic and political activities of the migrants. The fact that they are not unionised and are unaware of their labour rights and obligations makes it even more challenging to the government. It is important to study the social wellbeing of the inter-state migrant workers who come to Kerala from a rights based approach and see how they have become part of the development process in the state. It is essential to formulate migration policy initiatives that will enhance the socio-economic and political conditions of the migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women had already started marking artistic endeavors and hence situating their identity in their respective fields by the early twentieth century. The left political movements and the socio-cultural movements, which were the by-product of and the supporting source for the political movements, also 'included' women as their members. Plays and theatre were one of the important fields in this respect in Kerala. Women were given 'consent' to make their 'choices' to make public appearances and be associated with these movements. But who were the consent givers to these women? This paper would look at the concept of men's consent and women's choices through the KPAC theatre and the plays. This paper would problematize the question of the importance of men's consent in women's decision making and the choices that they make for themselves. This paper would try to see what role and how this act of men's consenting has influenced the female members of the KPAC as well as in the shaping of the characters in the plays produced by them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corona virus that originated in Wuhan, China in December 2019, now called Covid-19, has spread globally and been deemed a 'pandemic' by the World Health Organization (WHO). It poses many questions for social workers. Key to this are those concerning what is the profession's role and purpose in fighting the pandemic; and how can social workers support those affected by the virus? Many healthcare organizations and government agencies are making detailed preparations for dealing with the pandemic Covid-19. All plans to date have recognized that there will undoubtedly be a greater need for resources than will be available mostly in form of mental support to people. Social workers everywhere are trying to find a way forward in the chaos. This paper is written from the point of view of a social worker from Kerala, who through this article aims to explore the impact of Covid-19 on social workers, the role social workers have been playing in this pandemic period and also the importance of understanding social work from a global and multicultural perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro enterprises contribute significantly to an economy's balanced growth by creating and providing employment opportunities, thereby contributing to income generation. Financial performance is a subjective indicator of how well-run businesses can leverage their assets to generate future cash inflow (Ahmad & Jamil, 2020). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the variables that affect the financial performance of micro businesses. To that end, an empirical study was conducted in the Indian context, with a focus on the state of Kerala. A multistage random sampling technique was used to select 180 micro enterprises operating under the Kudumbashree Mission (KM) in three districts. The study examined the factors affecting the profit and sales performance of the group micro enterprises using a panel data regression approach with a pooled OLS model. The findings indicated that sales revenue, enterprise region, and product type all had a significant impact on profitability performance. However, the age of the enterprise, its location (rural/urban), and the product category had no effect on its profitability performance. While the age of the enterprise and the region had a direct positive relationship with sales revenue, the location of the enterprise and the product category had no significant effect on sales revenue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nature and Women have been intertwined through a web of living and providing, connected through work, mind and body. Ecofeminism which explores this intersection between women and nature through philosophy and daily living concentrates on the domination and oppression of women and the exploitation and degradation of the natural world. The western theoretical notions of ecofeminism and its different tenetsframed a proper grounding for the emergence of Ecofeminism in Kerala. The paper makes an attempt to trace the advent of ecofeminism in Kerala and its impacts on the various genres of Malayalam literature. Through the analysis of the ecofeminist interventions by women in Kerala, the paper also tries to argue that ecofeminist ideologies and practices are not restrained to the western movements and writings and alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to explore the pattern of elderly Labour Force Participation (LFP) in Kerala and its determinants using both secondary and primary data. National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data from 1983 to 2011-12was used to find out the broad trends and changing pattern of elderly LFP rate, whereas, the primary data was used to provide an in-depth analysis of the factors determining their LFP in Kerala. Using stratified random sampling method, information was collected from 801 households selected from three districts in Kerala. The major findings of the paper suggest that elderly LFPR is high in Kerala. At the macro level, it is mainly due to the ongoing structural transformation process owing to agricultural transformation, which has very close connection with the changing social and family structure. At the household and individual level, poverty and old age financial insecurity are the major determining factors of elderly LFP in Kerala. As a higher percentage of elderly population is engaged in the informal sector jobs (mostly in the service sector), provision of appropriate health and social security norms would help in improving their overall wellbeing in Kerala. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysing teaching-practice offers an opportunity to answer questions like what is critical to making a pedagogy democratic, what are the factors that support a teacher to be critical in her teaching? Or what restricts the teacher in being critical in her work? This paper seeks to address some of these questions by presenting the findings of an investigation into the practice of teachers who are committed to the idea of critical pedagogy. The scope of the study is limited to understanding the critical aspects that are related to the teacher's work within the classroom. The paper analyses the theoretical arguments that are relevant to critical pedagogy in relation to teachers' practices as they emerged during the study. The study, conducted in the South Indian state of Kerala, reveals that teacher subjectivity and schooling situations interact in a dialectical fashion to shape the nature of classroom teaching. The political subjectivity of the teachers, shaped by their close interaction with the Kerala Science Literature Movement (KSSP) makes their pedagogy critical in nature. On the other hand, the standardized curriculum and mechanically disciplined school environment continuously challenge the teachers' efforts at being critical in their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is there an alternative model to small family farming that could provide sustainable livelihoods to millions of resource-constrained and often non-viable smallholders in developing countries? Could group farming constitute such an alternative, wherein smallholders voluntarily pool land, labour and capital to create larger farms that they manage collectively? In South Asia, for instance, over 85% of farmers are small and increasingly female. Potentially, group farming could provide them economies of scale, a dependable labour force, more investible funds and skills, and greater bargaining power with governments and markets. But can this potential be realised in practice? In particular, can group farms economically outperform small family farms? A rare opportunity to test this is provided by two experiments begun in the 2000s in the Indian states of Kerala and Telangana. Constituted only of women, the groups lease in land to farm collectively, sharing labour, the cost of inputs, and the returns. But the states differ in several respects, including the technical support the groups receive, and their institutional base, composition, land access and cropping patterns. Based on the author's primary sample surveys in both states, this paper compares the productivity and profitability of group farms with that of small individual family farms in the same state. Kerala’s groups perform strikingly better than the predominantly male-managed individual farms, both in their annual value of output per hectare and annual net returns per farm, while in Telangana group farms perform much worse than individual farms in annual output, but are equivalent in net returns. In both states, groups do much better in commercial crops than in traditional foodgrains, where the largely male-managed individual farms, owning good quality land and with longer farm management experience, have an advantage. The factors underlying the differential performances of Kerala and Telangana, and the lessons learnt for possible replication, are also discussed. Overall, the paper demonstrates that group farming can provide an effective alternative, subject to specified conditions and adaptation of the model to the local context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The floods of 2018 and 2019 have underlined the urgent need for development and implementation of efficient and robust flood forecasting models for the major rivers in the State of Kerala, India. In this paper, the development and application of two hourly flood forecasting models are presented - one using Support Vector Machine (SVM) and the other based on hybrid wavelet-support vector machine (WSVM). The study was performed on the Achankovil River in Kerala. Wavelet technique was used to denoise the input signal (rainfall and water level) and the effective components of the input signal obtained after denoising were input to the SVM/WSVM models for forecasting. These models' performance was assessed using standard performance rating criteria. Further, the performance of these models was compared with that of a flood forecasting model based on hybrid wavelet-artificial neural network (WANN) developed for this river in a previous study. Results of this study demonstrated the ability of the WSVM model to predict floods reasonably well. It was observed that the WSVM model performed better when compared to the WANN model. The WSVM model was able to accurately estimate peak discharge magnitude and time to peak, both of which are critical inputs in many water resource design and management applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was conducted in the University Libraries of five Universities spread over Kerala, providing higher education in Science, Social Science and Humanities. Cochin University, one among the five universities selected under the study, deals with Technology in addition to the conventional branches. The paper attempts to make a comparative study of the acquisition process of journals and databases among the five University Libraries. The author has collected data through a personal visit to all the five libraries with the help of a structured interview with all the University Librarians and the staff working in the periodicals section. Purchase of Newspapers and magazines is excluded from the study and importance is given to the subscription of Journals and Databases, as they are the significant information sources of higher education. Aspects such as the mode of selection of journals and databases, mode of purchase, current budget allocation, its apportion to different departments, how the fund is released as advance to the University Librarian's account, its utilization and settlement etc. are mainly dealt with in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on a study which captures the formation of a genderinclined Government Information Communication Technology (ICT) programme of Kerala. Kerala is considered one of the most developed southern states of India, known for its unsurpassed place in various Human Development Indices. The study illustrates the targeted development of women through Kudumbasree, utilizing ICT as a priority for the achievement of sustainable development. The programme was named the Kudumbashree IT Enterprises (KITEs). The paper has also tried to elucidate the structural situations which prevailed in Kerala during the formation of KITEs. Data was collected from the 63 Kudumbashree IT enterprises in the state of Kerala. Group discussions were employed to generate data. The study is focussed around the only existing government ICT programme for women in Kerala known for its unprecedented schemes and innovative policies which led to a huge impact on the power of choice exercised by women during 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the changing dynamics of women's labor in a Muslim fishing village in the South Indian state of Kerala in the back drop of two global processes viz., state-initiated capitalist modernization of the fisheries sector and state-sponsored livelihood promotion programs. It traces the shifting contexts in which Muslim fisherwomen, alternately, engaged in and disengaged from, paid work outside the household and shows how women experienced different kinds of paid work, as self-employed fish vendors and wage earners of employment guarantee schemes. Changes in women's labor force participation were mediated by the social institutions of family and religion, community patriarchies and ideologies of female domesticity and the state's endeavors to constitute women as entrepreneurial actors who take responsibility for the economic well-being of their households. The paper maps women's struggles to secure and retain paid work in the face of a resurgent domestic feminine ideal and its zealous defenders in their village. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the Endosulphan pesticide disaster in Kasargod, Kerala, India. The paper argues that the pesticide disaster was the culmination of an agrarian modernization project implemented in the region by the state-owned Plantation Corporation of Kerala (PCK). An exploration of the political ecology of the disaster shows the recolonization of residents and nature by PCK through neocolonial forms of centralized and exclusionary spatial and resource control mechanisms. In this context, the paper questions the glorification of the “Kerala model” of development from the standpoints of environmental justice and resource rights, relying on the lived experiences of the people of Kasargod. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The stigma associated with HIV is the foremost barrier to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support (UNAIDS, 2014). It prevents people from seeking information and services related to HIV/AIDS. The stigma hinders the efforts to prevent new HIV infections, inhibits treatment adherence and access to care and support programmes. AIDS stigma results in economic and social marginalisation and the withholding of treatment or denial of services amounting to a violation of the human rights of people with HIV (UNAIDS, 2000). The state of Kerala has been recognised internationally since the 1970s for its achievements in the developments in the health sector. In many aspects, Kerala's health status is on a par with that of developed countries. Alhough the state has a higher literacy status, the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS is widespread in Kerala. The present paper describes the extent of stigma and discrimination faced by the women living with HIV/AIDS (WLWHAs) in Kerala. This paper is based on a study conducted among 372 women living with HIV/AIDS to explore the extent of HIV-related stigma in the form of enacted, vicarious, felt normative and internalised stigma experiences and to envisage the associated problems faced by them. The tool used to measure the same was 'the HIV-related stigma scale' and the study found that HIV/AIDS-related stigma is still prevalent in Kerala, even among the health care workers. The study finds that the respondents experienced the enacted stigma and were asked to move out of their houses because of their HIV status. The vicarious stigma is also prevalent in Kerala and many of the respondents frequently heard about the incidents of HIV stigma and discrimination in terms of mistreatment by hospital workers, untouchability, denial of treatment, revealing the HIV status by a health worker, refusal of care by the family members when they were sick, disclosing HIV status by themarking on records, avoidance of family members and ostracisation by the community or the village. The study also finds that the respondents had an experience with internalised stigma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Property is one of the important instrumental elements, in the empowerment of women. Matrilineal system in Kerala had privileged Nayar women to inherit property. Inheritance of property rights among Nayar women had undergone dramatic changes during and since the British period. It is difficult to understand the relationship between property and women empowerment as property relations are imbricate and constantly changing. In this paper, I explore how the nature of property influences women empowerment in different regions of Kerala. The sociological contours of property relations of Nayar women are explored to understand how property becomes an agent that helps women to exercise power in the family and bargain within matriliny. The material, cultural and political relations around property need to be reckoned in understanding the power dynamics within the gender relations in Nayar community in Kerala. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kerala, the southernmost state in India, much researched for its high standard of living and a model of development, largely dependent on international remittances, experienced one of its worst floods in 2018. The state also experiences a peculiar type of labor crisis; where the local population migrates internationally, attracting interstate migrants to compensate for the labor deficit. However, in times of calamities like floods, these unorganized laborers are the worst hit and still the last priority. The media widely reported their mass exodus, unhygienic living conditions, and mistreatment in relief camps during the floods, though the policy responses have been unsatisfactory to date. The paper tries to evaluate the role of inter-state migrants in the socio-economic profile of Kerala and comments on the necessity to include them as a priority in the migration policy discussions, particularly in light of the state’s extreme proneness to natural disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aspects of Literacy rate and Educational developments are the key variables in the case of demographic deviations. It is worthwhile mentioning that the list of scheduled tribes in Kerala had undergone drastic changes during the decade 2001-011, resulting in change in proportion of scheduled Tribes. The entire literacy rate of scheduled tribe according to 2001 Census has increased from 57.2% recorded at 1991 Census to 64.4%. In 2011 Census the literacy rate is 74.04%. Growth of Literacy and Education has a valuable role in every sphere of life such as population. This paper deals with preliminary study on population and literacy and its connection with education of Kadar and Kurumbar Community in Palakkad District. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the patterns of the representation of Adivasis or aboriginals - known as 'tribals' in common parlance - in Malayalam language films. Film as a medium of representation is continuously engaged in constructing images and thus the process becomes an ideological enterprise contributing to the relentless practice of defining and redefining the society and its various components in terms of several binaries. The film industry of Kerala, a southern state of India, is affluent and more influential than other art forms and production. Though the tribal population of Kerala is around 400 thousand and they belong to as many as 43 subgroups, they are underrepresented in films and that too is in a stereotypical manner. These groups are considered to be largely distinct with each tribal group identifying themselves with their own mythologies, tales of origin, and distinctive religious and ritualistic practices. This paper critically analyses the politics of representation using the example of tribals in Malayalam films as it has evolved over the past decades and attempts to trace a whole gamut of aesthetic and ethical issues at stake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on women’s presence in politics in Kerala where neoliberalised welfare now targets a very large number of women and inducts them into local governance. Offering a brief sketch of the shifts in the region in women’s roles and responsibilities from the pre-liberalisation period to the 1990s and after, the paper draws upon two spells of field- work to probe the unintended consequences that neoliberalised welfare has generated, the possibilities thrown up by institutional change in women’s self-help groups. This paper also attempts to view the commonalities and departures between the figure of the ‘Kerala Model Woman’, shaped in the laudatory literature on the ‘Kerala Model’ of development, and the emerging, apparently more troublesome, figure of the ‘Kudumbashree woman’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pardosa is the largest genus in family Lycosidae. Many of the members in this family and genus show morphological similarity and intra-specific variation, which makes their taxonomy difficult. The conclusive method of genitalic analysis was limited in olden days might have resulted in misplacement of various taxa. In this paper, Pardosa mysorensis (Tikader & Mukerji, 1971) is synonymized with Pardosa sumatrana (Thorell, 1890) based on examination of specimen from southern Indian state of Kerala. Detailed genitalic photographs and habitus images are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobility or 'freedom and ability to move' is gendered in many cultural contexts. In this paper I analyse mobility associated with work from the capability approach perspective of Sen. This is an empirical paper which uses the Rasch Rating Scale Model (RSM) to construct the measure of mobility of women for the first time in the development studies discourse. I construct a measure of mobility (latent trait) of women workers engaged in two types of informal work, namely, peeling work and fish vending, in fisheries in the cultural context of India. The scale measure enables first, to test the unidimensionality of my construct of mobility of women and second, to analyse the domains of mobility of women workers. The comparative analysis of the scale of permissibility of mobility constructed using the RSM for the informal women workers shows that women face constraints on mobility in social and personal spaces in the socially advanced state of Kerala in India. Work mobility does not expand the real freedoms, hence work mobility can be termed as 'bounded capability' which is a capability 'limited or bounded' by either the social, cultural and gender norms or a combination of all of these. Therefore at the macro level, growth in informal employment in sectors like fisheries which improve mobility of women through work mobility does not necessarily expand the capability sets by contributing to greater freedoms and transformational mobility. This paper has a significant methodological contribution in that it uses an innovative method for the measurement of mobility of women in the development studies discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two different cases of conflicts over natural resources from the Indian state Kerala such is analyzed in this paper- Kadar Adivasis and Wayanad. Reasons, causes of migration and changed gender relations due to development and policy interventions are the focus of the first case, the second case is policies in conflict with rights to resource access. Both these cases tell us some insightful stories about the Adivasi experience with the idea of development. This paper largely argues for inclusivity in terms of the cultural heterogeneity of the Adivasi communities in the whole development scenario. And also, the sustainability of the communities would only be sustainable by giving rights on the resources they possess. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the Sanskrit and Malayalam versions of Citrabhānu's Twenty-One Problems: a discussion of quadratic and cubic problems from 16th-century Kerala. It reviews the differences in the approaches of the two versions, highlighting the distinction between the Sanskrit indeterminate integer-remainder arithmetical techniques and the Malayali fixed point iterations. The paper concludes with some speculations on the possible transmission of algebraic knowledge between Kerala and the west. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports clinical management of lumpy skin disease in a cow that was presented with nodular eruptions on skin to University Teaching Veterinary Clinical Complex, Mannuthy. A thorough physical examination revealed that the cow had fever and small to large sized circumscribed nodules distributed though out the body. Swelling of both prescapular and prefemoral lymph nodes was noticed. Based on the history, clinical findings and PCR result the case was confirmed as lumpy skin disease (LSD). The case was managed vigorously with combination therapy and interestingly the cow recovered. This is the first confirmed report of LSD from Kerala. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the ancient perennial water abstraction structures-Keni-developed by the tribal communities in Wayanad district, Kerala, southwest coast of India. Keni is shallow wooden abstraction structure built in the soil zone where the water table is near or above the ground level. These traditional water abstraction structures are perfect example of water harvesting and water purification. As a preliminary assessment, a detailed survey of the Keni in the district is conducted and the result of the chemical analysis of water from the Keni is presented in this paper. Water from Kenis meet the drinking water quality standards prescribed by the BIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the role of gender in the shaping and exercise of political authority. Its empirical focus is a slum in central Trivandrum, Kerala's capital city, which is undergoing a phased process of formalisation and rebuilding funded through a flagship Indian national programme, the JNNURM. The upgrade project should offer a dense network of 'invited' spaces for female participation within urban governance, both through women's presence within democratically elected municipal councils, and the deliberate linking of its implementation to Kudumbashree, Kerala's network of womenonly neighbourhood groups that are responsible for implementing various antipoverty interventions throughout the state. Drawing on oral histories of the slum's evolution, interviews with project participants, and detailed ethnographic observation, we highlight the contests over identifying the list of JNNURM beneficiaries who would ultimately be granted a government-built flat at the project's completion. This key task in the project's implementation has been devolved to the local level, and therefore offers important insights into the practical efficacy of these invited spaces. The contests over this list show how 'actually existing' urban governance unfolds, and in particular highlight the interplay of formal and informal practices at work in 'fixing' a list that had local legitimacy. They also illustrate the ways in which power and authority are contested, and the role gender plays within performances of leadership. Women's political agency and efficacy are hampered both by Kerala's restrictive gender norms and by the high stakes and highly masculinist struggles present within its urban politics. The paper's theoretical contribution is to broaden our conceptualisation of leadership and claims making in the Global South, and within this to pay proper attention to the gendered nature of political space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is based on a study conducted in the libraries of management institutes in Kerala. The main objective of the study is to understand the available modern Technical Tools which is having scope of application in Management Institute Libraries. The Study also targets to assess the shortfalls of the existing Library Information System and Services utilized by the Management Institute Libraries. The study covering all the Management Institutes of Kerala and data was collected mainly through the websites of the Institutes or the concerned Library. The study revealed that the leading Technical Tools were not yet applied in Management Institute Libraries of Kerala. The paper put forward the vital suggestions that it is very crucial to adapt the technical tools in Management Institute Libraries since it is a grooming place for future Management Professionals. Also it made a suggestion that the adaptation of these tools will help to save money and manpower. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The web has transformed the ways by which people search, And, use and communicate information. Integrating the use of web 2.0 technology in libraries has become the subject of interest among library professionals. Web 2.0 technologies facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, dynamic content, openness, and user participation. This paper assesses the web 2.0 technology skills among library professionals in the University of Kerala. The study includes the library professionals employed in the Kerala university library system. The questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. The study revealed that e-mail has an important impact on the level of web 2.0 use among library professionals. The majority of the library professionals did not have much idea about RSS feeds, content management, social bookmarking, podcast, wikis, etc. Analysis also showed that the library professionals in University of Kerala have a positive attitude towards the implementation of web 2.0 technologies in libraries. The paper concludes that Kerala university library is in a developing stage in its infrastructure and use of ICT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stories about monstrous encounters during travel are ubiquitous in every culture. Scholars see them as figurative representations of the cultural anxiety related to traversing the unknown and the encounter with the "Other". For instance, the early Greek 'monster-on-the-road' tales are often read in the context of the expansion of trade among Greek city-states and the Greek colonization of far flung territories which necessitated going beyond the safety of familiar town boundaries. The Indian epics and folktales also abound with encounters of travellers with supernatural/monstrous beings. Whether it is episodes such as the "YakshaPrasna" in the Mahabharata, or the Bodhisatta's encounter with the Naga and the Yaksha in Buddhist legends, or his encounter with Yakkhinis in the Jataka tales, travel often involved encountering the Dangerous "Other" who had to be defeated/satiated/converted. These early traveller's tales can be read as records of the anxieties regarding expansion/establishment of the Kshatriya hero's kingdom where the wild/primitive outside the bounds of civilization had to be conquered/appropriated. In the case of the religious hero, the monster represented a crisis of faith – either he/she was an embodiment of the allures of material pleasure the ascetic had to guard against or a staunch believer of another faith who had to be converted/conquered. All these "forgotten" traditions of travel come together in the Yakshi tales of medieval Kerala where a shape-shifting tree spirit haunting lonely pathways evokes memories of the ancient traveller's encounter with the wilderness and its corresponding deities. This paper attempts to read these tales from medieval Kerala against earlier Indian traditions of travel as well as the literal and metaphorical crossings of caste and gender borders that travel entailed during the medieval period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses indigenous ecotourism in the Indian district of Wayanad, Kerala, using a conceptual framework based on a PATA 2015 study on indigenous tourism that includes the criteria: human rights, participation, business and ecology. Detailed indicator sets for each criterion are applied to a case study of the Priyadarshini Tea Environs with a qualitative research approach addressing stakeholders from the public sector, non-governmental organisations, academia, tour operators and communities including Adivasi and non-Adivasi. In-depth interviews were supported by participant and non-participant observations. The authors adapted this framework to the needs of the case study and consider that this modified version is a useful tool for academics and practitioners wishing to evaluate and develop indigenous ecotourism projects. The results show that the Adivasi involved in the Priyadarshini Tea Environs project benefit from indigenous ecotourism. But they could profit more if they had more involvement in and control of the whole tourism value chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photographs are the one giving colours to the real world with their own creations. Everyone has hundreds, maybe thousands in their pocket. They are the one helping us to experience our old memories back through a piece of photograph. Even the best moments of the life can be seen through a photographer's eye. But that community also faces great challenges. The purpose of this paper is to bring out the various problems affecting the Photographers in Kerala, to clarify whether their education qualification tend to them to become a Photographers and how satisfied they are with their job as a photographer being in Kerala. For the study an online survey with online questionnaire was conducted with 100 respondents from various regions of Kerala. The result demonstrates that the Photographers are passionate about their profession but there are various affecting them to discontinue their profession. It was concluded that those various factors pull them back to go with their career as a photographer even though they are satisfied with their job nevertheless of their education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The endemic Catantopinae genus Mopla was described by Henry in 1940 from the Malabar region of South India. Henry described two species under this genus, M. guttata and M. rubra. The female type specimens of Mopla are deposited in the Natural History Museum, London, UK. There have been no further records of these two species since their description. Seventy-six years later, the first male specimen of the genus Mopla was discovered in the Western Ghats, Kerala, India, in 2016. This paper describes the specimen, thought to be of Mopla guttata, and reconsiders its systematic placement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plagiarism has grown to such an alarming rate that the academic community finds it difficult to spot an authentic work among the plethora of published literature. Antiplagiarism softwares have become popular as a solution to overcome this problem. This study aims to describe various aspects of plagiarism, to assess the contribution of PhD theses in ShodhGanga by the universities in Kerala, to identify the subject wise contribution of PhD theses in various universities in Kerala during 2010-17,to find the extend of similarity of content in the PhD theses of the Universities in Kerala and to rank the universities in Kerala with respect to the similarity index. The study is based on 70 PhD theses of three Universities in Kerala viz. University of Kerala, M.G University and University of Calicut selected at random by simple random sample method from the theses available in ShodhGanga. The theses selected were tested by using Urkund, anti-plagiarism software maintained by INFLIBNET. It was found that Science subjects show least similarity index whereas Social Science subjects have the highest similarity rate. Faculty of Arts (26.6%) has a high degree of similarity followed by Humanities (26%) and lowest in Science (16%).Among the Universities University of Calicut occupied the top position with 21 % similarity index in its PhD theses followed by M.G University having 20.4% and the University of Kerala has least with 17.9% of similarity index. The paper points out the importance of user awareness programmes and training programmes on anti-plagiarism for the research guides, research scholars and library staff members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The migration to Gulf countries has been a signifi cant presence in all walks of Kerala people. Though the coastlines of Arabian peninsula and Kerala had been connected with the trade and cultural links before many centuries, the large scale economic migration of Keralaites to gulf counties started in 1960's. The price hike of petroleum products created a huge demand of technology and workforce. Gulf countries have been falling short of the human resource to build up their new economy after the discovery of oil fi elds in 1950's. When the required technological support was supplied by western countries the human capital was brought from south Asian countries. Kerala is the most benefi ted state in India which having a 2.4 million workforce in Gulf countries. The less employment opportunities and high educated population in the state geared up the rate of migration. Generations after generations followed the trend and they formed community there, which att racted newcomers. The eff ect of this phenomenon has been clearly visible in all spheres of Kerala society. Kerala depends on the money that the migrants send home. The remitt ances from them accounts for 35 percent of the state GDP. But the trends are going to change, the recent recession in the gulf sector due to the oil price crisis and nationalization move of work force have caused an expected return of huge number of Keralites from middle east especially from Saudi Arabia . With falling or low oil prices, economic standstill, varying degrees of expansion and exposure to non-oil sectors, increasing local populace, it is really no surprise that migrant workers are the fi rst to get the boot. This paper is focusing on the causes and eff ects of the issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, is an enigmatic third actor in contemporary world politics. Having waged a 'war of religion', the fanatic terrorist organisation stands tall with one objective; to establish its religious supremacy over the world and recreate the ancient territory of 'Muslim Brotherhood'. Though there are many other organisations existing in the present terror landscape, the ISIS stands out, maybe because they have realized and taped the potential of communication mediums for effective circulation of their thoughts and ideologies. Making use of new age communication channels has leaded the ISIS to not only reach out to millions of people within seconds, but also disseminate their messages effortlessly. From uploading brutal videos of killings to conducting Skype interviews for recruitments, the ISIS sure has ushered in a new wave of communication revolution. A rising influence of the ISIS can be seen on the youth of India in the present day as well. With a total of 75 people having joined them from India in the past year as compared to 35 last year, the influence of their content and ideas can said to be at an all-time rise. The main source through which this organisation is said to spread its messages far and wide is undoubtedly the internet, especially the various social media platforms. This research paper thus aims to establish how the Islamic State creates content that effectively resonates with the 'millennial generation' and its influence on them, often, resulting in them abandoning their placid lives to live one of desertion. For the purpose of this research, the area of focus will be the Indian state of Kerala alone since out of the 75 people who reportedly joined the Islamic State, 21 of them were from this state alone, the highest number of people to do so amongst all the states (The Hindu May 5, 2017). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]