ABSTRACT
It may seem curious to situate a study of children’s work in Kerala, which, of all Indian states, has achieved very high degrees of schooling and is internationally reputed for its remarkable record in equitable development and, in particular, in improving the health and educational situation of poor children. But the state’s redistributive policies have persistently accommodated high levels of social and economic inequality. At the
local level of society, powerful divisions of class, caste and kinship have hereby operated to effectively neutralize attempts at achieving a sustainable improvement in the lives of the rural poor. Here I want to explore, by taking a closer look at the immediate society in which rural children grow up, what this situation has meant for the children. I begin by reviewing what makes Kerala such an interesting case for studying children’s work.
