Integration or Exclusion? Locating Indigenous Peoples in the Development Process of Kerala, South India

The Kerala model of development, characterised by high levels of social development at relatively low levels of economic growth, has been the result of radical redistributive policies initiated by the democratically elected leftist government of this Indian state. The article takes a critical look at the Kerala model with special reference to the processes that impacted on the state's indigenous communities (adivasis). It argues that the conceptualization of indigenous communities as a ‘frozen class’ was not helpful in addressing their specific development needs. However, the general policies implemented by the government of Kerala, including massive social-sector investments, radical agrarian reforms and welfare programmes have been beneficial to these communities and have contributed to their partial integration into Kerala's socio-economic and political milieu. Neoliberal policies of structural adjustment and liberalization now pose a threat to the integration of adivasis; indeed they seem, instead, to be generating a new process of exclusion.