2.4.2 Emergence of casual labour system Large-scale reclamations carried out since the sin and around the Vembanad lake and the resultant increase in area under paddy crop in Kuttanad had necessitated a steady and regular supply of hardworking and loyal class of farm labourers and the system of attached labour served this purpose. However, the agro-climatic constraints involved in the puncha form of cultivation restricted all the cropping activities to be carried out to a short span of time. Thus the repair of ring bunds, dewatering, ploughing, sowing and weeding were to be done in all the vast stretch of padasekharams almost simultaneously. As same or similar varieties of seeds are sown in kayal lands the much labour absorbing activity of harvesting had also to be carried out simultaneously. Due to this particular pattern of cultivation there was huge demand for labourers during the peak season followed by no work fora long period of time. Even within a single crop season the demand for male female labourers were not evenly distributed. While male labourers were largely demanded during the early weeks of the season for activities like the repair of outer bunds, dewatering, ploughing and sowing, female labourers were largely required at the end of the season for harvesting the crop. Installation of mechanized pump sets and strengthening of ring bunds using granite along with the decline in crop intensity during the post first world war years in Kuttanad had substantially reduced the demand for farm labourers in general and that of male labourers in particular. Even though paddy farming activities had been reactivated during the period of the second world war, the situation of severe food shortage and the resultant hike in 26 Mencher Joan P (1978): Agrarian Relations in Two Rice Regions of Kerala,
