Pulaya Vettuvan communities in Kerala have historically occupied roles connected to land-based labour, forest-edge work, hunting support in older systems, and agricultural assistance in mixed rural economies. Over time, these roles shifted toward agricultural labour, estate work, and low-end service functions as traditional subsistence systems declined. Their economic identity has therefore been shaped less by ownership or specialization and more by physical proximity to land, forests, and manual production environments.
In contemporary Kerala, Pulaya Vettuvan households face layered exclusion. Agricultural employment has shrunk, forest-based livelihoods are tightly regulated, and alternative skill pathways have not been systematically created. As a result, a large share of working-age individuals are absorbed into irregular wage labour across plantations, construction assistance, sanitation work, and informal rural services. Average monthly incomes typically fall between ₹10,000 and ₹18,000, with high dependence on welfare transfers and seasonal migration.
Kerala Vision 2047 must reposition Pulaya Vettuvan communities as a skilled environmental and land-restoration workforce rather than residual labour. Kerala’s development challenge over the next two decades is not expansion alone, but repair and resilience. Forest protection, watershed restoration, soil regeneration, biodiversity management, and climate adaptation are labour-intensive domains that require local knowledge, continuity, and accountability. Kerala already spends over ₹12,000 crore annually across forestry, environment, soil conservation, watershed missions, and climate adaptation programs, yet execution capacity remains thin.
The first strategic intervention is the creation of district-level Environmental Restoration Units staffed primarily by trained Pulaya Vettuvan workers. These units would handle forest-edge management, invasive species removal, fire-line maintenance, watershed treatment, soil bunding, contour trenching, and eco-restoration works. Kerala has 14 districts; even five units per district executing ₹20 crore of annual work each creates a ₹1,400 crore operational ecosystem rooted in local labour.
Skill transformation is essential. Traditional familiarity with terrain and ecology must be upgraded with formal training in environmental engineering basics, GPS-based mapping, safety protocols, biodiversity monitoring, and equipment handling. A six-month certification program costing ₹45,000 per worker can upgrade 25,000 workers annually at an investment of ₹112 crore per year. This is marginal relative to the cost of outsourcing such work to fragmented contractors with low accountability.
Income outcomes must be predictable. Today’s irregular labour patterns generate unstable cash flows. Under structured environmental contracts with retainers, Pulaya Vettuvan workers can achieve 260–300 workdays annually. Even at a conservative daily earning of ₹850–₹1,000, annual incomes move to ₹2.5–₹3 lakh. With supervisory roles, equipment operation premiums, and hazard allowances, monthly incomes of ₹25,000–₹40,000 become feasible within five years.
Kerala Vision 2047 must integrate these units into climate finance mechanisms. Carbon sequestration, afforestation, mangrove restoration, and watershed protection increasingly attract domestic and international funding. Kerala can realistically tap ₹3,000–₹5,000 crore over two decades through climate-linked grants and carbon markets if execution capacity is credible. Pulaya Vettuvan-led units provide the manpower backbone required to convert funding commitments into measurable outcomes.
Asset ownership shifts the balance of power. Environmental work today relies on rented equipment and short-term contracts. Vision 2047 must ensure that community-owned units control tools such as brush cutters, mini-excavators, drones for monitoring, water pumps, and transport vehicles. A shared-asset model deploying ₹5–₹6 lakh per five-worker unit can scale to 15,000 units statewide over 20 years, representing a capital deployment of roughly ₹9,000 crore embedded within existing public expenditure streams.
Another growth frontier lies in eco-tourism support and maintenance. Kerala’s tourism economy depends heavily on forest trails, wetlands, biodiversity parks, and protected landscapes. Trail maintenance, safety infrastructure, waste management, and habitat upkeep are continuous needs. Integrating Pulaya Vettuvan units into tourism-linked service contracts creates diversified income streams while protecting ecological assets.
Governance and monitoring improve naturally when local communities are embedded in stewardship roles. Digital work logs, geo-tagged outputs, and milestone-based payments reduce leakages and improve quality. This aligns environmental outcomes with livelihood security rather than treating them as separate domains.
Intergenerational mobility depends on role expansion. Younger members trained in mapping, biodiversity data collection, drone operation, and environmental supervision can transition into technical and managerial roles. Over a 20-year horizon, even a 10 percent transition rate into supervisory and specialist positions creates a stable middle layer within the community.
By 2047, Pulaya Vettuvan–led environmental restoration and land-management systems can anchor a ₹15,000–₹18,000 crore annual green economy segment in Kerala. This strengthens climate resilience, protects natural capital, and converts historically marginal labour into essential economic infrastructure. The shift is not symbolic inclusion but functional integration into Kerala’s most future-critical sector.
