Technical Assistance Projects and Socio-Economic Change Norwegian Intervention in Kerala's Fisheries Development

This paper analyses the impact of a technical assistance project on the socio-economic fabric of Kerala's fish economy. The paper is organised into three sections. The first section deals with the past and the more recent history until the pre-independence era and the initiation of the Indo-Norwegian Project in 1952. This part attempts to portray the overall context and concerns of fisheries development initiatives in Kerala and in the country as a whole.. It also provides the background to the dynamics of the establishment of the Indo-Norwegian Project. The second part deals with over three decades of planned fisheries development in Kerala-1950 to 1982-showing the changing approaches to development and the consequences emanating therefrom. It evaluates state policy, the efforts of the Norwegians, the role of the private sector and the larger socio-economic forces in transforming the fish economy and the effects of this on fish workers and fish. The final part of the paper deals with the present crisis in Kerala's fish economy and highlights the questions being raised about it-including the very pointed one about the extent of Norwegian responsibility for the present state of affairs. I