The Politics of "Pombilai Orumai": The 2015 Kanan Devan Strike in Kerala, India

Authors

  • Anagha S. Pondicherry University

Keywords:

colonialism, plantations, trade unions, women's strike, wages

Abstract

Colonial hegemony was retained in the South Indian plantations of Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Limited, where the workers belonged to marginalized classes. The landless employees were given housing facilities, and this compelled them to remain there for generations despite poor wages. These uneducated and geographically secluded people found it difficult to come out of the plantation labyrinth, and the labour acts or land legislation acts were not much help. In 2015, around 5,000 women workers called “Pombilai Orumai” led a successful strike for a wage increase. The most remarkable aspect of this was the disassociation with political parties and trade unions and the solidarity of women workers despite all odds.

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Author Biography

Anagha S., Pondicherry University

Anagha S. is a research scholar in the Department of History at Pondicherry University, India. She is currently working on a thesis titled "Tea Plantation Workers in Munnar: Conditions and Consciousness." Her areas of interest are labour history, subaltern studies, migration and gender studies.

References

Baak, Paul Erik. 1997. Plantation production and political power: plantation development in south-west India in a long-term historical perspective, 1743-1963. India: Oxford University Press.

Muthiah, S. 1993. A Planting Century: The First Hundred Years of the United Planters’ Association of Southern India. Delhi: East West Press.

Raj, Jayaseelan. 2022. Plantation Crisis: Ruptures of Dalit life in the Indian Tea Belt. London UK: UCL Press.

Raman, Ravi K. 2010. Global Capital and Peripheral Labour: Political Economy of Tea Plantations in Southern India c. 1850-1950. London: Routledge.

Thampi, B.V. 2015. “Thozhilinte Rashtreeyam; Penninte Prakshobham.” Mathrubhumi Weekly. October 4. (in Malayalam).

Cover image shows an illustration of bright blue figures holding hands while walking up a hill. The figure in front is holding a red flag with the symbol for "woman" on it (circle with cross beneath). The background behind the figures is bright yellow.

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Published

2023-12-20

Issue

Vol. 44 No. 2 (2023): Formations of Feminist Strike

Section

Reflections and Commentary

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Anagha S.

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