In short supply

Mathrubhumi March 5, 2004

We have all grown up with the feeling that, if anything else, human resources available for agriculture in this country are aplenty. Which means that the conventional means of attracting manpower such as advertising may not be required for getting farm workers. But an out-of-the-ordinary vacancy notice, in a widely-read Malayalam newspaper Mathrubhumi, tells a different story. In Kerala, where even an ad for a part-time job with a puny salary attracts thousands of applications, agricultural labour is in short supply. Reason: educated youth in God's Own Country think that physical labour is nothing but demeaning.

The ad, inserted by an agro-farm in central Kerala, calls for male workers in the age group of 18 and 25 with an attractive salary of Rs 4,000 per month and free lodging.