formed in 1956 incorporating the low lying villages transferred from then Kottayam and Changanacherry taluks of Kottayam district and Ambalapuzha taluk of Kollam district. This taluk covers a total area of 74392 acres of which 61251 acres (82.34 percent)
are wetlands, 5937 acres (percent) are dry lands and the remaining 7204 acres (9.98 percent) are either non-cultivable wastelands or water bodies. Nearly 35 percent of the number of
padasekharams and 40 percent of the total area under paddy crop in the whole Kuttanad region lie in this taluk. It is part of the
Kayal zone of the region. As per the 1991 census there are 40794 households in Kuttanad taluk with a total population of 210004. Total number of main workers
in this taluk is found to be 69462. Out of them 57.18 percent are agricultural labourers and another 11.13 percent are farmers. Thus agricultural activity provides livelihood to more than two-thirds of the populations in this taluk.
Kuttanad taluk consists of 14 villages viz, Kainakari North,
Kainakari South,
Nedumudi, Thakazhi, Champakulam, Pulinkunnu, Kavalam, Neelamperoor,
Veliyanad, Muttar, Thalavady, Edathua, Kunnumma and Ramankari. Among them,
Ramankari is located at the central part of the taluk. The village lies on both sides of the Changanacherry-Alapuzha road in between 7 km to 11.2 km from
Changanacherry. It is surrounded by the villages of Veliyanad (North
and East,
Muttar, Edathua (South) and Champakulam (West. The village covers a total area of
2804 acres of which 2484 acres (88.59 percent) are wetlands. According to 1991 census there are 2118 occupied residential houses and 2138 households in the village with a total population of 11189 persons. Paddy farming had been an age-old occupation of a considerable section of the population in this village and even now majority of the people here depends on this crop for their livelihood. As the residential village of the sitting MLA of Kuttanad constituency over a period of more than one decade, every nook and corner of Ramankari village are well connected byroads unlike many of the remote areas of other villages which lack proper conveyance facilities. Hence the task of primary data collection is made much easier in this village.
The head office of the Kuttanad Vikasana Smithy - a voluntary organization which strives for the development of Kuttanad area has already established a healthy impact among the farmer and farm laborers of the region - is
also situated in Ramakari village.
Considering the above factors, Ramakari village has been selected as the study area of this project.
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