Fishing fathers, vending mothers and educated youth (a maritime community on east coast of India in transition)

In Indian social research, village is considered as one of the units for understanding networks of socio-cultural and economic organization. Such studies are paramount in conceptualizing the social processes such as sanscritization, dominant caste (Srinivas 1955), caste hierarchies (Dube 1960, Dumont and Pocock 1957), jajmani system (Wiser 1969), etc., in Indian context. The Census of India in its survey operations of 1950-51 periods had produced a few monographs on village ethnographies emphasizing the socio-economic and cultural mosaic. Of late, these village studies are contextualized in evaluating the change and continuity of the village profile. Among such monographs, Mufuzbandar a fishermen village in Srikakulam district on the coast of Bay of Bengal has been used as benchmark for the present study to assess the status of fishermen.