Paper short abstract:

This paper is a documentation of the political history of the public food distribution system (PDS) in Kerala, India. The origins of today's PDS in Kerala are traced to the struggles of peasants and industrial workers in the 1940s, and the powerful food movements of Left parties in the mid-1960s.

Paper long abstract:

This paper documents the political history of public food distribution system (PDS) in Kerala, India. The origins of PDS in Kerala are traced back to the struggles of peasants and industrial workers and decisive state action between the 1940s and 1960s.

During the second world war, an acute food shortage emerged in the regions constituting today's Kerala. In the Malabar region, struggles for rationing began with struggles of the Left peasant movement to establish 'Producers and Consumers Co-operatives' (PCCs) in 1942. The peasant movement forcibly entered go-downs of landlords, confiscated paddy and distributed it to the poor through PCCs. Finally, rationing was officially introduced in 1944. In the Travancore and Cochin regions, the food movement was led by the industrial workers in the coir-weaving belt. A labour unrest resulted in a strike agitation in 1942. Ultimately, in 1943, a skeletal rationing system was introduced in Travancore and Cochin.

When the first communist government came to power in unified Kerala in 1957, it established local food committees to supervise ration shops. Yet, the availability of rice was frequently interrupted. By 1964, another acute food shortage emerged, leading to huge protests. Thus, an "informal rationing" system was introduced. In 1965, food struggles of communists swept the State again. To avoid a sharp leftward shift in Kerala's politics, Indian government agreed to provide a "minimum universal statutory ration" for the State. Thus was born Kerala's PDS, a major constituent element in the State's unique developmental experience.