Migration from the South

 

The famine after World War II and the misrule of Sir C P Ramaswamy Iyer incited a large scale migration of people from Travancore (South Kerala) to this area. The migration continued well into the 1970s and 80s. A vast majority of these migrants were Christians who had a completely different social and agricultural background. These hard working people brought new agricultural practices to this area. They introduced cash crops like rubber and daily staples like tapioca to the region.
The migrants also brought a new attitude to the region, one that challenged the established Janmi-Kudian feudal system. The immigrants bought large tracts of land outright from the Janmies and putdown permanent crops heralding an era of prosperity for the area. The immigrants, despite their cultural and social difference, soon became an integral part of social fabric.