Yet again, tradition is in conflict with the present in Kerala. This time it is centered around the livelihood of fish workers and paddy farmers. Pokkali, the saline water paddy crop, has hitherto offered a unique opportunity for fish workers and farmers to enjoy a synergy. The farmers allow their lands to be used for aquaculture during the non-cultivation season. The prawns and crabs raised in these farms use the remains of the paddy crop to survive, while also enriching the land with its waste. Before the cultivation begins, the traditional fish workers enter the fields to catch prawns. The right to enter the fields in the fag end of the season to collect the remaining catch, has been a traditional custom in these areas known as Kettukalakkal. However, the declining revenue from paddy cultivation and a rising assertion of farm landowners of their lands, is leading to conflicts between the fish workers and the farmers. While the farmers seem to argue that they have rights over the property, the fish workers argue that they have a generational claim over the aquaculture grown in these farms. This is yet another example of a modern legal private property based system coming into conflict with the traditional livelihood system based on the concept of commons. How will the modern State and a progressive government resolve this conflict? To which side with the scales tilt?