Covering Deprivation - Asian College Of Journalism

INSIDE
Chhindwara
Dharmapuri
Guntur
H D Kote
Nellore
2
6
10
14
20
Valparai
24
Sathyamangalam
Tiruvallur
28
It’s a rape of justice
PHEBA B. MATHAI
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
Krishnagiri: A 45-year-old man
and his family, including his 16year-old hearing and speech
impaired daughter who was
sexually assaulted by four
neighbours, have been ostracised
from Kodakarai village after the
father filed a gang-rape complaint,
at the Denkanikottai All-Women
Police Station.
The victim’s father Ramanujan
(name changed) said that the katta
panchayat, an informal body of
village elders, refused to provide
the family water, electricity, food
and have prevented them from
attending any functions.
The incident happened on
December 25 when the girl was
returning home after giving food to
her father who was working in the
field. She was hit on her head with
a log and allegedly raped by four
men from her neighbourhood.
Her father said, “I found her
unconscious in the field and
thought she had been bitten by a
snake. But her thighs and breasts
Station
in
Denkanikottai.
Dec 25, 2014: 16-year old Dec 26, 2014: Police
At the station,
girl gang-raped.
refused to file the case.
the
police
refused
to
January 1, 2015: Girl
Dec 31, 2014: FIR filed
register a First
allegedly tortured in jail.
and 4 suspects arrested.
Information
January 7,2015: Family
Report (FIR),
January 13,2015: Family
claiming that
ostracised from the village. meets Home Secretary.
the Inspector
had gone to Kerala for an
were bleeding.’’
She was taken to the investigation.
U Vasuki, Vice President, All
Denkanikottai
hospital
the
India
Democratic
Women’s
following morning.
Social worker Manjunath said Association (AIDWA) said at a
that Dr. Ranganathan of the press conference, on January 13, in
hospital filed a head injury report Chennai, that the Protection of
without including the sexual assault Children from Sexual Offences
details. A sign language interpreter Act, 2012 (POSCO) was violated
who was called from the because the police interrogated the
Dharmapuri deaf and disabled girl at the hospital and took her to
special school also did not report the station. Furthermore, her father
any sexual assault during the had been kept in the station until
subsequent investigation led by the midnight and was verbally abused
and threatened to prevent him from
Revenue District Officer (RDO).
On December 26, the father went filing a gang-rape complaint.
The FIR was filed on December
to Anchetti Station, where he was
told to go to the All Women’s 31, but only included Section 5G
and 6 of the POSCO Act and Indian
Sections 323
Penal Code
(voluntarily causing hurt) and 341
(punishment for wrong restraint).
“But the police did not include 5H,
I, J and K of the POSCO Act and
IPC Section 376D
(offence
relating to rape)”, added Vasuki.
The
suspects,
Muthappa,
Madhappa,
Ruthappa
and
Sidhalinga, the last of whom is an
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam (AIADMK) ward
member, were arrested. The court
denied their first bail attempt.
“The family met Krishnagiri
District Collector T.P Rajesh on
January 11 and he promised to send
a Tahsildar to look into the matter”,
said Manjunath.
The family has sought a Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
inquiry with fresh interrogations,
ex-gratia of Rs.10 lakh to the
victim, and for direct inquiries by
Commisions for Child Rights,
Disabled Persons’ Rights and
Human Rights.
society.
Construction
of
Anganwadis, monthly food rations,
and routine visits by nurses from
Government hospitals are aimed at
maintaining good health among
women and children.
“The Anganwadi did not give me
any ration when I was pregnant,
and now what they give monthly, is
consumed by the entire family in a
week”, says Pushpa, a 21 year old
mother from the Jenukuruba tribe.
With over 65,000 cases of
malnutrition recorded among
children in Karnataka as of 2013,
the Karnataka Comprehensive
Children who attend the Seegurhaadi Nutrition Mission decided to
anganwadi. Photo: Shriya
incorporate eggs and milk into the
diets of all malnourished children
across the state. These supplies are
provided to the general category
Anganwadi in N. Belathur, but
have failed to reach their tribal
counterparts.
“We give 80 gms of rice and
sambhar to the children in the
afternoon. Officials mentioned that
milk and eggs would be provided,
but we have not recieved any till
date. We have to make do with
what we have,” said Gayatri who
works
at
the
Seegurhadi
Anganwadi.
Dr. Shashi Kumar, the only
doctor at the Primary Health Care
centre in N. Belathur village, who
attends to over 25,000 people from
the nearby Hadi’s said, “Child
marriage and unhygienic living
conditions are the main causes for
malnutrition. High rates of anaemia
among women and a lack of
knowledge about the essentials of
child care, such as breastfeeding,
are also related directly to
malnourishment”.
Educational programmes and
routine check-ups are conducted
every two months, he added.
Continued on Pg. 14
the Collector and
locals will have to
brave
various
threats,” says Vijay
Kumar, a member
of the Institute of
Sustainable
Development(ISD)
in Meyyur village.
Sand is used for
construction and
due to the district’s
proximity to the Leaving behind a barren legacy. Photo: Vishnhu S
neighbouring city
of Chennai, there is always a huge straits.”
E.Nagaraj, a farmer from
demand.
“One lorry generally carries Malanthur, says that various tactics
three units of sand that sells for are employed to curb opposition to
Rs.8500, while a tipper lorry that the illegal sand mining.
“A lorry full of alcoholic
carries five units, sells for
substances and biriyani is sent
Rs.14,000,” says Gunasekaran.
Vijay Kumar, who says this is no regularly by politicians to ensure
justification, adds, “Once the local support. This has divided the
ground-water is depleted, it cannot village into two, with brothers
be restored as the soil takes decades being pitted against each other,” he
to form. Unless there is rainfall, the says.
Sub-collector Rahul Nadh
villagers will remain in dire
suggests that the Public Works
Department could be playing
favourites while awarding subcontracts and earmarking the area
and depth of sand.
“The Collectorate is becoming
more active now in the issues as the
National Green Tribunal has taken
an interest in the issue and urged
rapid action,” he says.
According to the Department of
Mines, an average of 25 tipper
lorries are apprehended every
month. A fine of Rs.25,000 is
levied which includes the royalty,
penalty and the cost of the mineral.
However, Assistant Geologist
Perumal Raja, says that the
department does not have the
personnel to tackle this issue.
“A lorry carrying illegal sand
runs at a speed of 120 kmph while
the official jeep we have does not
cross 65 kmph,” he says.
So, even if we get a tip-off, it is
difficult for us to apprehend them
he adds.
47 out of 48 children malnourished
32
SHRIYA SHARMA
Seegurhaadi: An astounding 47
out of 48 children who come to the
Seegurhaadi Anganwadi are
malnourished, according to records
dating from 2010.
Seegurhaadi, part of the H.D
Kote taluk in Mysore District, is
home to the Jenukuruba tribe, and
typifies the Karnataka State
Government’s failure to rehabilitate
tribals displaced from their home
due to forest conservation.
To compensate for this eviction,
the Government has instituted
several schemes to integrate the
tribal communities into mainstream
Broken smiles
TANVI JADWANI
SRISHTI PALIWAL
Hebarkhedi
(Harrai):
Different shades of yellow and
chalky texture, coat childrens’
smiles in the village of
Hebarkhedi. These children
suffer from a teeth deformity
due to naturally occurring
fluoride in their drinking water
but no one understands the
reasons behind this. Many also
suffer from bone deformity.
Hebarkhedi is only one of the
seventy six villages with
children suffering from dental
fluorosis. The fluoride level of
Singuri, a village 10 km away
from Hebarkhedi is 9.14 parts
per million (ppm) and has been
classified as level III in fluoride
content, level III being the
highest.
“When children grow, their
dental development depends on
calcium drawn from their blood.
When children grow up drinking
fluoride in their water, fluoride
in the blood stream also deposits
along with calcium, giving it a
chalky white appearance. This
problem is called fluorosis and
affects children in the first 8
years of their life”, explained
Rahul Shrivastava, Fluoride
Consultant.
The government of India
started the National Programme
for Prevention and Treatment of
Fluorosis in 2008. “The
government sealed off bore
wells in most of the villages and
encouraged people to draw
water from wells as fluoride is
found at a depth”, explained
V.K.Indukar, Junior Engineer at
the Water Department.
After a six month survey in
Chhindwara at least 20 patients
were suspected of having
fluorosis, dental as well as
skeletal. This figure doesn’t
come as a surprise as the range
of parts per million detected in
Sunil suffers from Strata III of
dental fluorosis. Photo: Tanvi
Chhindwara is 1.9 to 17 ppm
while the ideal requirement is 1
or less than 1 according to
Indian Bureau of Standards.
“In order to directly treat the
fluoride content, the government
is setting up defluoridation
plants in villages. The
installation that began in August
2013 by the Public Health
Engineering department has
covered over 100 villages
already”,
said
Rahul
Shrivastava.
The lab for fluoride testing
has been set up right next to the
Chief Medical and Health
Officer’s (CMHO) building.
“We have recently purchased a
testing machine worth 3 lakhs
from Singapore, the testing will
begin shortly”, he said.
Mr Shrivastava, a dental
surgeon by profession, is the
only
fluoride
consultant
appointed by the government to
test water samples from over 76
villages. He is supported by a lab
technician, Kavita Yadav. “It is
strange that to tackle a problem
that is so widespread and of such
gravity, only two people have
been appointed by the
government”, he said.
Dirty politics fuels sand mining No easy escape from
clutches of bondage
VISHNHU SAAYE
Tiruvallur: Illegal mining of sand
in Tiruvallur district has depleted
ground-water drastically, resulting
in landslides, irregular water supply
and leakage of minerals.
A. Gunasekaran, a Panchayat
ward member from Meyyur, says
that the administrative office
earmarks only 1-3 feet for mining,
but the officials involved mine upto
20 feet, from the banks of the
Kosasthalaiyar river in Meyyur.
“The Tahsildar, Village
Administrative Officer and the
Public Works Department (PWD)
are involved in this. The
maladministration is seriously
putting our future generations at
great risk,” he says.
E. Aarumugam, a farmer from
Malanthur, says that opposing
panchayat officials can harm their
interests during recommendations
for loans and other subsidies, he
says.
“To oust a panchayat leader, a
formal petition needs to be made to
Ceylon colony in the heart of Valparai
AJISH GEORGE
Valparai: Under the Mariamman
temple tower small houses are
lined up at the foothills in the
heart of Valparai. Narrow lanes
and steps demarcate one house
from another in this Ceylon
colony, where around 300 Sri
Lankan Tamil families live.
These people came to India as
repatriates under the 1964
Sirimavo-Shastri Pact. Passed by
the Sri Lankan Parliament
immediately after the nation’s
independence in 1948, this pact
was signed between the two
countries as the Ceylon
Citizenship Act. This forced three
lakh Tamils to come to India as
the pact made it difficult for them
to obtain citizenship.
Lakshmi (65), who came along
with her husband Palaniappan
(66) in 1974, says, “We were
given our papers and made to
board a ship; officials were
present here to receive us.”
Most of the repatriates settled
down in various parts of Tamil
Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.
Palaniappan recollects that
initially life here was difficult but
slowly things got better. “Back
then, even though the wage was
only Rs.2, we could buy quite a
lot,” he says.
“Things were relatively
normal when we left Sri Lanka.
The [ethnic] war came much
later,” says Lakshmi. The couple
are not in touch with their families
and friends in Sri Lanka but they
keep track of what is happening
there on TV. Some of their
neighbours, they say, visit
Sri
Lanka
frequently.
A week before the recent
presidential elections , Lakshmi
had predicted
Mahinda
Rajapaksa’s defeat. He did lose.
These people, apart from
making a living, have also
contributed to the local economy.
M. J. P. Shaju, General Secretary,
Merchants’ Association
of
Valparai, says “Ceylon colony is
important because they are the
only land owning labourers here.”
In fact, the residents contributed
Rs. 10,000 each to the rebuilding
of a temple, which was done at a
cost of Rs.51
lakh.
Many labourers are migrating
to the plains in search of better
living conditions. But Ceylon
colony residents cannot move out
because their houses would not
fetch a good price.
“Nobody wants to buy a house
without a road. Our houses are
built along narrow lanes,” says
Palaniappan.
Let alone leaving Valparai,
most of the residents do not even
wish to return to Sri Lanka.
VAIBHAV SHARMA
Nellore: “He took away my son
and tortured him. Poured hot oil on
him and stubbed beedis on his
body. He even used a knife to slash
him. And then we found out later
that our child was killed.”
That was the price Dhananjetu
Subbarao (35) said he had to pay
for trying to run away from the
clutches of bonded labour.
Considered a form of modern
slavery, the system of bonded
labour demands an individual’s
physical labour as a means of
repayment for a loan. Theoretically,
bonded labour was abolished in
1976 with the ‘Bonded Labour
System (Abolition) Act’ but in
reality the practice continues in
parts of Nellore district.
A resident of Chillakur village,
Subbarao was forced to work as a
bonded labourer when he could not
clear a debt of Rs. 10,000.
“The moneylender made us
work till night for Rs. 100 a day
and used to clear our loan by
cutting Rs. 500 off each week”,
Subbarao recounts adding that he
and his wife also had to bear
physical
abuse
from
the
moneylender.
Subbarao says that one day the
moneylender demanded an interest
of Rs. 20,000 on the loan. It was
then that he decided to escape with
his wife but was caught.
“He hit us again and said that we
now had to pay Rs. 3000 extra
as penalty. He then took
my six year old son to
make him work in his
dhaba.” That was the last time
Subbarao saw his son.
Like Subbarao, many
individuals from the
economically lower
strata take loans
from the local
moneylender for sustenance or in
case of an emergency. As interest
keeps adding up, the individuals
find themselves in a debt trap
owing to their low wages. They are
not able to free themselves from the
bondage which in many cases
results in the debt being passed
onto the next generation.
Manikala Ramamurthy (35) of
Pegadapally village was 10 years
old when his father took a loan of
Rs. 30,000 from a landlord. He says
that he has been working for 20
years now to pay off that loan.
“Even after working for so long,
I haven’t been able to clear it,” he
says. “In order to clear a part of the
loan, we had to borrow Rs.8,000
from another person”.
The rigid caste system also plays
a role in the continuation of bonded
labour. S.K. Basheer, Director,
Association for Rural Development
(ARD), a Nellore based NGO that
works towards rehabilitation of
bonded labourers, says people from
the lower castes do not have the
means to financially sustain
themselves; as a result they are
forced to take loans form landlords.
He says that the landlords exploit
these people to get cheap labour as
their end goal is profit
maximisation.
The Yanadis have internalised
this discrimination on the basis of
caste and have accepted it as a part
of their life. As a result they are not
aware of their rights, he added.
Although legally
both the state and
central
governments
have
made
procedures to prevent bonded
labour, in certain cases they are
indirectly held responsible for
drawing people in it.
In 1984, M. Ramaswamy’s
family along with others were
displaced from Sriharikota where
Indian
Space
Research
Organisation (ISRO) built its rocket
launching centre. All the evicted
families were given Rs.500 each.
Ramaswamy settled with his family
in Madhvapuram, an island in the
Pulicat Lake.
Ramaswamy (64) says “After I
came here in 1984, I took a loan
from a member of the village. After
a couple of years I had to take a
loan of Rs.2000 from a timber
merchant of Sulurpetta village in
order to pay off the villager. Since
then my family has been cutting
firewood for him”.
According to Ramaswamy, the
moneylender deducts a bit of the
debt amount from their salary and
gives them Rs.100 to Rs.150 a
week. He says that they should get
Rs.400 to Rs.500 a week but
because the moneylender deducts
the amount from their loan they
only get Rs.100 to Rs.150.
“Why are none of the
government’s plans reaching us?
They promised that they would
help us but nothing has been done”,
a dejected Ramaswamy says.
FACT FILE
CHHINDWARA
Hostel for STs redone
PRATIK BHAKTA
Total Area: 11,815 sqkms
It is located in the south of
Madhya Pradesh bordering
Maharashtra. The district has
11 blocks and 12 tehsils. The
closest city is Nagpur.
POPULATION
Population: 2,090,306 with a
20.3 per cent tribal population.
Population density: 177/sqkm
OCCUPATION
Major Occupation: Agriculture
PROBLEMS
Problems: Atrocities against
tribal people, rape and other
atrocities against women,
sanitation, accessibility, water
scarcity, dearth of educational
facilities, dangerously high
fluoride levels in the drinking
water.
Chhindwara: The hostel which
even a year back looked like an
abandoned structure where students
lived without even basic facilities
is today an attractive building with
a table-tennis table, clean toilets
and spacious rooms which can
comfortably accommodate four
people.
“The hostels were renovated
keeping in mind the basic
requirements of the students,” said
N.P. Barkade, Assistant Collector in
charge of the Tribal Welfare
Department,
Chhindwara,
Government of Madhya Pradesh.
He added, “We have arranged a
variety of recreation facilities for
the students like a badminton court,
table tennis room with a table
tennis table and a small gymnasium
attached with few basic facilities
like cross bars, weights and pulleys
for the use of the students.”
Building a library was not a
problem but getting books needed
special effort. Barkade asked the
students to go around the district
and ask people to donate books. He
himself arranged for books from
senior officials of the District
Collectorate.
“Today the library has a
collection of some 4200 books,” he
said, “Students took the initiative to
Bank shortage delays
MNREGA payments
DIKSHYA SINGH
Harai: The absence of proper
banking infrastructure in the tribal
areas in Chhindwara district has left
the rural populace struggling to
receive timely wage payment under
the State sponsored employment
program.
The rural households that
worked as unskilled manual
labourers under the Mahatma
Gandhi
National
Rural
Employment Guarantee Act
(MGNREGA) still have to wait for
months to receive wages mostly
due to inadequate access to banks.
The remote parts of the districts are
miles away from the banking
outlets and the branches in
accessible distance lack enough
liquidity to make payments on
time.
“We receive the wages more than
a month late because we are not
informed about the fund transfer to
the accounts and the nearest bank is
patchy," pointed out Ritesh
Chauhan, CEO of Harai Tehsil,
adding, "However, in the villages
such as Pipriya, lack of enough
financial services delays the wage
distribution."
He pointed out that almost all the
Gram Panchayats and Tehsils are
prompt in filling muster rolls –
which contain the number of days
worked by the members of a
household.
“Even after release of the wages
to the individual bank accounts, the
beneficiaries cannot instantly
withdraw the money in some areas
with the closest banking outlet
more than 10-15 km away,” he
pointed out.
“But they blame the government
offices for the delays, and late
payment of the wages is the most
common complaint we have to
address,” added he.
Chhindwara district has about
75 bank branches operational, but
most of the branches are
NREGA in Chhindwara
Total job cards issued: 2,74,107
Total households worked: 1,06,166
Total bank accounts: 2,59,428
Total post office accounts: 18,139
almost half a day’s walk away,”
said a young man from Pipariya
who was visiting Bichua.
“Due to the delay, most of the
households in my village borrow
money on interest and pay back
when we withdraw from banks,” he
added.
NREGA, world’s largest public
employment scheme, has employed
283 million people and paid for the
development works undertaken by
the rural households since the
program began in 2006. Under the
scheme, government guarantees
100 days of wage employment, in
a fiscal year, to every rural
household with family members
volunteering for unskilled manual
work.
The program was initially
marred by leakages as the audits
showed that local bodies were
inflating attendance sheets to
siphon off the funds. In 2008,
government introduced bank
transfer of the wages directly to the
accounts of the beneficiaries along
with making the details about
NREGA transparent. Although,
bank transaction has reduced the
instances of leakages, the scanty
presence of financial institutions in
rural areas means delays
in
payments.
"Of late, the Centre has cut back
funds, so payment has become
(Till mid-Jan 2015)
Source: MGNREGA website
concentrated in town centres .
Likewise, there are 69 post office
banks which boast better network
than commercial banks but their
capacity in terms of liquidity is
limited.
“Our experience with postal
service bank was problematic as
thet do’t stock enough money to
distribute to the many beneficiaries
which created more chaos,” pointed
out MK Beliya, Public Relations
Officer at District Collectorate.
“Moreover, we received the
complaints
about
some
embezzlement of wages at postal
banks so we are pushing for more
disbursement through banks for
the payments,” he added.
However, the banks are reluctant
to venture into rural areas that are
not commercially viable. “Since
banks cannot be present in each
village we have started branchless
banking model of business
correspondent in many areas of
Madhya Pradesh,” said Indra Pal,
officer at Bichua branch of Central
Bank of India.
The banks appoint a local
retailer as the agents who will pay
the beneficiaries on behalf of the
bank. This will improve the
banking accessibility yet the
correspondents' ability to pay the
wages can be limited due to
liquidity constraints.
The Newly Constructed Library Building Photo: Priyadarshini Patwa
Public Service Exams over the
years, and they sometimes come
back to the school to motivate the
present residents to work harder
and prepare better for competitive
government exams,” he said.
With improved facilities and
better infrastructure the students
have fresh motivation to study
harder and do well in life.
A third year Political Science
student who has been in the hostel
for the last 3 years said, “I cracked
the Forest Guard Service this time,
but did not take it up. I am trying
for the Paramilitary force or the
Police Service. With help from
seniors, access to books in the
library and a fully functional
gymnasium I am confident of
cracking both the written as well as
the physical test.”
Mr. Barkade said, “These
children come from extremely
backward areas where their
families are fighting abject poverty
along with a whole plethora of
issues. Their parents are more
concerned about survival than the
education of their children, which
costs far too much for the majority
of them to afford. Thus a clean
living space, such as we have
created, helps to cultivate a healthy
mind and improves the students’
chances of personal success in their
future professions.”
Illegal sale of
teakwood
ANONNA DUTT
Jakhawadi: A wide expanse of
teak forest surrounds the villages
of Gulci, Koladhana and
Jheeldhana making it almost
inaccessible for outsiders. Within
the forest, there are only mud
roads that connect these villages
to other areas. During monsoon,
even these roads get washed
away making life extremely
difficult for villagers.
The Mawasi tribals living in
the area have traditionally been
dependent on forest produce.
They started cultivation only
after getting patta from the
Government.
“Government gave us the land
ownership rights some four five
generations ago,” said Dadubai
Ban, a farmer from Jheeldhana.
All the families in Jheeldhana
were allotted five to seven acres
of land.
Although, they grow cotton
and maize on their fields, their
livelihood still depends on forest
produce. Besides this the
villagers target easy money by
selling teakwood to shops outside
the forest.
People living in the forest are
classify the books into subjects and
arrange them accordingly.”
Karan Kawde, President of the
Chhindwara Hostel Committee,
showed pictures from the day of
inauguration. “The Chief Executive
Officer of the Chhindwara Zila
Panchayat inaugurated the building
and also played a game of table
tennis with us. Barkade sir visits us
whenever he gets time and plays
badminton with us at night.”
He further added even a year
back the place had shrubs and wild
growth all around. The walls were
peeling and the windows were all
broken. However with funds
coming in now the hostel is
brightly painted with improved
kitchen and manicured lawns.
All the students living there are
studying in the Chhindwara
Government Postgraduate College.
Karan Kawde said that most of the
students here are preparing for
either government services or
aspire for teaching positions.
“The best from across the district
get a seat here so they are
counselled to aspire to Government
jobs,” said Mr. Barkade. “I have put
up a roll of honour near the
entrance carrying the names of all
the students who cracked various
TANVI JADWANI
Said Motilal Sahu, a
labour from Gram
Panchayat Bheda.
The problem is
that this is basically a
tribal (bhore) block.
People are afraid of
speaking up here.
They believe that if
there are schemes in
place for them, they
should recieve direct
benefits. They don’t
want to fight or
protest. We don’t
even have money to
go anywhere and
complain.
The
candidates we think
are able and can
actually bring about a
A woman preparing to file nomination for Panchayat election in Harai.Photo: Tanvi
change get bought by
the richer candidates.
“There are so many problems the bills should only be generated It’s a poor block, money in politics
that we do not think that we will under the names of the registered governs everything, said a
ever solve them. There are many people but they continue to force Sarpanch nomine from Gram
schemes for us, but nothing reaches people get new connections. There Panchayat Bheda.
“Joh jayada paisa kharche ga,
us. When we tell the Panchayat is no end to this”, said Davinder
about this, they say that they have Singh, while filing a complaint in who sarpanch ban jayega, aur baad
mai phir who paisa vasool bhi
not been receiving the money from Harai.
It’s not like the last Panchayat karega. Hamesha sa aisa hi hota
above. We don’t know whom to
believe”, said Sohan Singh Yadav, a did not work. The problem is that aaya hai”, he added.
Now around the time of
they work for money and people
farmer from Bargi Panchayat.
“Even if we try to reach higher who have money. They tell us we elections, you will see a new scene.
officials, they don’t pay attention. will have to pay them money if we They pay people at the booth to
No one has ever listened to our want to reap benefits from vote for them. If we go to the
government schemes. Only some police, we find out that the police
problems. “, he added.
“The electricity department is people managed to get a house is also with them. If we raise our
forcing people to get new made under Indra Awas Yojna voice there, the police will beat us
electricity connections under their (IAY), and some got money off the up instead, Said Motilal Sahu.
From Bheda to Jamuniya and
names. We complained to the scheme but the poor ones remained
Tahsildar Madame, she ordered that far away from the scheme benefits, Madi to Gaurpani, the absence of
allowed to collect dried up
branches from the forest-floor to
use as fuel, however, cutting teak
trees is strictly forbidden.
Forest Guard Bisan Dhurve
asserted that, “They get up at
three or four in the night and cut
teakwood.”
Each forest guard has to look
after 1,600 acres of forest and it
is next to impossible for them to
take a round of the entire area to
control this illegal activity.
According to G.S. Karmele,
another Forest Guard, even when
they spot such activities they
cannot put a stop to it because all
the villagers gang up against
them leaving them helpless.
Also, more often than not, the
villagers do not know the value
of teakwood and sell a bundle to
the traders for as little as Rs.
1,200. Bisan Dhurve said that
they sell wood illegally not
because they do not have any
other means of earning; he
belonged to the same community
and had worked hard to get to the
position he is in. “They can do it
too,” he said. “There is also an
incense factory near Gulci, but it
is an easy means of earning for
them,” said Bisan Dhurve.
CHANGE IS A FAR CRY IN CHHINDWARA
Chhindwara: The election season
has begun in the Chhindwara
district of Madhya Pradesh. The
Chhindwara district was recently
upgraded from the status of
municipality to a Municipal
Corporation and thus, this will be
the first time that a mayor will be
elected for the administrative
block. Votes for Municipal
Corporation will be cast on
January 31, 2015.
The eleven blocks under
Chhindwara, which are further
divided into 67 Panchayats. On
February 19, people in these blocks
will be voting for a new Sarpanch,
Panch and a new Janpad
Panchayat.
In Harai, one of the blocks of
Chhindwara, men and women
queued up to file their nominations
and support their contestants.
“We have no hope for change.
The problems we face remain
constant throughout all the villages
in the district”, said Baba Yadav, a
Jamuniya resident.
Ritesh Chauhan, CEO of Harai
Tehsil said, “This term, we have
received 385 nominations from 64
villages for the post of Sarpanch.
Three villages have already
selected their Sarpanch by filing a
single nomination.All these three
villages have female Sarpanch.
There are about 1200 nominations
against the 970 seats for the post of
Panch and 104 nominations for
Jadpad Panchayat.”
‘They think I’m wasting time studying’
DISHANK J PUROHIT
Chhindwara: Sakarlal Batti cycles
12 kms every day from his village
Gangiwara to his college
Government Autonomous Post
Graduate
College
near
Dharamtekdi in Chhindwara. In a
village where most children drop
out after fifth class, his is an
inspiring success story.
A Gond tribal , Sakarlal Batti is
one among the very few people
who defied the odds and earned a
college degree. He did his Bachelor
and Masters in Political Sciences
from the same college and went on
to earn an M Phil. “I want to
become a lecturer. I think a good
mentor can enlighten you to dream
big and alter your worldview.”
Sakar says that he had to fight
the odds due to family pressure to
abandon studies. “My family thinks
that I am wasting my time on
studies, rather I should get
employed and support my family”
said Sakarlal Batti.
“After becoming a lecturer, I
want to write the Civil Services
exams” he said. Last year he
cleared written test for Sub –
Inspector examination but could
not crack the physical test.
“I had cleared other clerical job
Sakarlal Batti at his college
Photo: Dishank
exams but I don’t want to settle for
anything less than a lectureship or
Civil Services” said Sakarlal.
Sakarlal’s eyes are set on the
Indian Administrative Services ,but
English remains a hurdle for this
23- year-old.
Electricity came to his village
only two years back, before that he
had to study next to an oil lamp,
remembering his school days Batti
said “The smoke from the lamp
took a toll on my lungs and eyes.”
Batti said that for him, an
important question that haunts him
is why Tribals did not raise a
Ambedkar or Jyoti Phule like
Dalits.
He said that both Dalits and
Tribals are marginalized people in
the class and caste hierarchy of
India yet Dalit community
witnessed significant episodes of
awareness about their rights in a
liberated India.
“Dalit leaders understood that
they cannot be subjugated in a
liberated country. Unlike Dalits we
never had any social reform
movement. Tribals are not
organized like Dalits and that is the
problem” he said.
Today people in the village come
to him if they have any problem
related to government schemes.
“Even if one person is educated, it
raises the level of awareness in the
society” he said.
He attributes his achievements to
his teacher Dr. Rajendra Mishra, a
professor at his college.
basic facilities is driving a large
chunk of youth to file their
nominations. Many of these people
are first time contestants. This term,
the numbers of first time
contestants have also increased.
For the Sarpanch post, there are
261 first time contestants this year,
followed by 304 new nominations
for the post of Panch and 90 new
nominations for Janpad Panchayat.
“Even the educated kids from
our villages have ended up
becoming labourers in Bhopal.
There are schools and colleges, but
not enough facilities insides them.
The children from here cannot
compete with other kids with
proper education” said Sriram, a
Sarpanch nominee from Gram
Panchayat Amari.
We know about the schemes
under which we were supposed to
get 1 kg wheat, but only some got
it. I am from Gram Baka village,
where the Sarpanch is threatening
us to vote for him, or he will burn
all the coupons for our wheat
ration. Last time when people did
not vote for the Sarpanch, he cut
their pension.
They ask us to file our request
and grievances. When we ask them
the status, they say that it’s not
under their control. When they
have run out of excuses, they tell us
that we are not eligible for the
scheme. We want change, but we
do not know how. I wish to become
a Sarpanch, but I am too poor to
fight, said Sohan Singh Yadav, a
resident of the village.
“We are forestdwellers we are used to sleeping hungry,” RamDayal, a
resident of Patalkote says with a smile Photo: Pratik Bhakta
CHHINDWARA I 3
Crimes without punishment
Madhya Pradesh accounts for 19.08 per cent of all crimes against Scheduled Tribes in India, according to NCRB data
Chhindwara: Of an estimated
population of 77 million (2014) in
Madhya Pradesh, over 20 percent
is made up of Scheduled Tribes.
However, these adivasi people are
also the ones facing the most
from
the
discrimination
administration.
According to a 2013 National
Crime Records Bureau report,
19.08 per cent of all crimes against
Scheduled Tribes in India are
committed in Madhya Pradesh.
There have been numerous
instances in Chhindwara, where the
police instead of helping the people
have only added to their problems.
Three such cases are presented
here: A mute girl who was gang
raped, was called ‘dim-witted’ in
the report and the investigation
was stalled for nearly two months;
a poor farmer was threatened by a
police officer with jail if he didn’t
pay a bribe of Rs 10,000 on a
trumped-up rape charge; and two
innocent people were killed in a
conflict between forest guards and
wood smugglers – cases and
counter cases are still pending.
For the adivasis of Chhindwara
district, the police and forest guards
represent repression.
“The problems go deeper” said
social activist Daya Bai, who is
often approached by tribals when
the officials are unresponsive.
“They harass people from
scheduled castes and scheduled
tribes,” she added. She provides
assistance in such cases.
According to the police and
forest guards, however, the tribals
have no respect for law and order.
“They blatantly flout rules” allege
Forest Guards Bisan Bhurve and G.
S. Karme.
Gunfight at Gulci
Gulci, Koladhana and Jheeldhana are three villages located inside
the teak forest in Chhindwara district. The villagers here sustain
themselves by growing maize and cotton. However, in order to earn
an occasional extra buck, some sell teakwood illegally.
This is what led to a conflict between the villagers from Gulci and
the forest officials in November. Two villagers, Shyam Rao Seelu
and Sangeeta Ban, succumbed to bullet wounds, while several
officials were injured.
According to Kothiram Partewi, a chowkidaar at the Jakhawadi
Forest Check Post, the officials had received a list of eight people
who were involved in teak smuggling.
When the officials reached Gulci to take into custody the eight
persons for questioning, “the villagers surrounded them,” Partewi
said. He said that the officials somehow managed to escape and call
for reinforcements. In the shooting that followed, two innocent
villagers died.
“Dono ka toh list me naam hi nahi tha [Neither of the victims was
on the list],” said M.R. Kakodia, Town Inspector Bichua Thana,
narrating an alternative version of the story. The forest officials
already had two of the accused in their custody; however, instead of
recording their statements, the officials had rushed into the village, he
said firmly.
According to him, the women protested because their husbands get
beaten up whenever the officials take them away. “This must have
been planned earlier,” Kakodia added, as reinforcements were already
at hand.
Bisan Dhurve, the Forest Guard who was appointed in place of the
person who was transferred after the Gulci incident, blames the
villagers as well. According to him, the villagers prefer to sell
teakwood illegally instead of taking up jobs at the incense factory or
under MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act). “They just want to make easy money,” he said.
The officials are just playing a blame-game while it took two
months to file a chargesheet and a magisterial enquiry into the case
is still pending.
No justice for the mute
At 14 years of age she was gang raped by five men. It was
Ramnavami and she was roaming around the decked up
neighbourhood, with a biscuit in hand. She was picked up by
somebody at around 08:30 pm. Mute, she could not scream for help.
Till late in the night, her mother and her brothers looked for her
everywhere. Her father was not in town.
She came back the next day, shaken and in different set of clothes.
She had been given a bath to remove all evidence. When questioned,
she hand-gestured that five men “had done wrong things to her,” said
Daya Bai, a social activist.
A case was registered at the Kundipur Thana, where she said the
rape had taken place. Sign-language experts were called in from
Jabalpur to understand what she said. But, she had never learnt a
language formally, she just used the signs she knew. She identified the
perpetrator’s motorcycle by pointing at a bike of the same make and
her red-coloured sleeve.
Instead of helping the girl, however, the police wrote in the report
that she was mandbuddhi [dim-witted] and was not cooperating with
the investigation. This was the excuse that the police gave for not
taking any action for nearly two months, from April 12 to June 5.
The victim was also subjected to the two-finger test, which,
according to a May 2014 Supreme Court judgement, violates the right
to privacy of a rape survivour.
“They harass people from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes,”
Daya Bai said.
When she came to know of the case in June, Daya Bai took the girl
around Kundipur and the girl identified the house where she was kept,
the neighbours who had fed her and dressed her before she was
dropped home.
When Daya Bai brought the case to the DGP’s notice, he
transferred it from Investigation Officer Preeti Vishwakarma and gave
it to DSP Arjun Uikey from the women’s cell. That’s when the
investigation actually took off.
Two Scheduled Caste boys were caught and were accurately
identified by the 14-year-old. However, Daya Bai was on the lookout
for the two upper caste boys who were also involved, as per what she
was told by the neighbours. They were later caught in September and
the case came under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe
(Prevention of Atrocities Act).
The court hearing for the case is going on. However, it took a Daya
Bai and her relentless efforts to get justice for a minor and mute
scheduled tribe girl.
Dadubhai Ban
recounts the horror of
Gulci firing.
Photo: Anonna Dutt
Patalkot : A study in contrast
PRATIK BHAKTA
Patalkot: Spread across an area of
almost 100 acres the huge valley of
Patalkot is home to 12 villages and
some very rare species of plants
and herbs. People here live simple
contented lives spending days in
the lap of nature.
“I grow corn on my small field,
and grow vegetables in my
backyard that is enough for my
sustenance,” says Ramseela of
Rated village while tilling his land.
He toils whole day with a pair of ox
and a plough and has a farm dog to
give him company.
He says, “The land here is not
very fertile but with fertilisers
provided by the Government there
is enough for us. Whatever I
produce extra I sell in the market in
Chhindi. The money that I earn is
used to buy salt and seeds for the
next season.”
For medicines they rely on their
traditional
herbal
medicinal
knowledge neither do they have
easy access to Government health
facilities nor do they feel its need.
“For generations we have been
living like this, it is only some 40
years that the Government has
come. Before that we were
completely a self-sustaining
society.”
Standing in the valley one looks
up the vertical walls and can see the
roof of the forest rest house from
where the stairs start. “For us that
is the only glimpse of the world
above”, he says.
Chimtipur Middle School
Headmaster says, “I have been
coming to this school for the last 3
years. I travel 10kms every day to
come to teach. However getting
kids to come to school and study is
a big issue. I try to persuade their
parents to send their kids because
they get food, clothes everything
from the Government. But still if a
kid manages to study till class eight
it’s a big achievement.”
Climbing this height everyday
for school is not a piece of cake for
everyone here.
However it is not the same story
everywhere in Patalkot. Two
villages Ghatlinga and Gurichhatri
on the other side are connected to a
concrete road from the block
headquarter of Tamia. Ghatlinga
stands apart from other Patalkot
villages. It has a fully functional
Public Distribution System and a
health care centre. The high school
has permanent staff and there is a
50 seater hostel for boys and girls
of the primary section.
“With improved accessibility in
Ghatlinga sending teachers, doctors
has become really easy,” says
Vermaji who works as an assistant
with the Patalkot Development
Team in the District Collectorate.
65-year-old Hari Bhan of
Gurichhatri however has a different
story to tell. He says, “Even 20
years back we were intimidated by
men in shirts and trousers. It’s only
recently that we have started
openly conversing with outsiders.”
He went on to say how the
Government was the first point of
contact for them with the outside
world. The local administration
used to drop 20-kg-sacks of salt
sometimes for the villagers. Slowly
in this way the Government gained
their confidence.
He says, “I have been to
Hoshangabad and we keep visiting
Chhindwara for work. When I was
a kid my parents were so scared
that they did not even send me to
school which was up on the cliff.
They taught us that the hills were
the end of the world.” With a smile
he says that now his daughter is
studying in a high school in Tamia.
“This was unthinkable in my
generation.”
Now with improved amenities
people’s
aspirations
have
increased. They want more work
under the National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme.
They also want better facilities like
health and education. They aspire
for a better standard of living like
the other people above the valley.
Just like our cities Patalkot is
also a study in contrasts. While one
set of people believe that they are
contented with their primitive form
of life, there is another set that has
started aspiring for a life with
material comforts, technology and
advanced amenities.
A small hut in Patalkot as seen from one of the viewing galleries near Tamia . Photo: Anonna Dutt
250
200
150
2014
100
2012
2013
50
0
Murder
Rape
Dowry
Kidknapping
Harrasment
TANVI JADHWANI
SRISHTI PALIWAL
ANONNA DUTT
AARUSHI MAHESHWARI
Crimes against women by type in Chhindwara District
Driven to suicide by corruption
Somchand Marawi’s father committed suicide
over a year ago because a police woman demanded
Rs 10,000 as bribe after he attempted to collect an
unpaid debt and got beaten up by goons.
“Somnath owed my father some money for
irrigation water that he had shared. When he went to
demand his dues, he was beaten up,” said the son of
the deceased. When his father went to file a report
at the police station, he was harassed further. “The
police officer in charge of the local Police Station
Sub Inspector Sashi Vishwakarma demanded that
he pay her a Rs 10,000 bribe or she would implicate
him under Section 376, the rape law, and land him
in jail.” said Maravi.
“He came back in a troubled mood, extremely
worried about whatever happened.” said Somchand.
The family got worried because they could not
afford to pay such a huge amount as bribe as they
had two daughters to marry off.
That night, his father went out to the field around
1:30 am. “Initially I thought he has gone to look
after the farm but when he didn’t return for a while,
I began to get worried,” said Maravi.
Somchand went out to investigate and saw his
father hanging from a tree. “We found a suicide note
in his back pocket, in which he had mentioned that
he was committing suicide because the thanedaar
[police officer] had threatened him. He mentioned
the bribe, and her name,” said Maravi.
“But Assistant Sub Inspector of Police Anil
Viskarm took the suicide note from me, using a zapti
patra [confiscation letter], and gave it to the police
officer whose name was in it,” said Somchand
Marawi. He never got the original suicide note back.
“They made up a fake one in which they omitted
her name and all the accusations and made the
original one disappear” alleged the son.
Somchand has not got any compensation or help
from the government, and the media has never come
to highlight his plight.“But the story did appear in
the local newspaper,” he added.
Sub Inspector Sashi Vishwakarma, was not
implicated in the case. She was later transferred to
Chhindwara town for a separate case of storing
illegal wood in her official quarter.
“But she managed to slither her way out of that as
well,” said Daya Bai, a social activist working in
that area who had tried to help the family get the
case registered.
Town Inspector of Bichwa Thana M. R. Kakodia
said, “People find it easy to implicate others in false
rape cases nowadays.” He said that “it has become
difficult to get bail after the 2012 gang-rape in
Delhi.” The lady police officer sought to take
advantage of that.
“Throughout her tenure she was a terror in all
these villages.” said Daya Bai, “She was a horrible
woman.”
PDS fails to deliver
DIKSHYA SINGH
Bisapur: Every week, 55 year old
Sarita Devi of Jatama village
travels to Sewa Sahakari Samiti
located in Bisapur village hoping
to obtain government allocated
ration for food grains for the
families identified
as Below
Poverty Line (BPL).
However, everytime the people
at the cooperative society send her
back empty handed because she
does not have a BPL Card that
makes her eligible to obtain
subsidised grains and kerosene.
“Without a BPL card we can’t
give anyone subsidised grains even
though we can see the person is
poor,” said Dipak Prajapati,
coordinator at the cooperative
society, that runs fair price shops
and warehouse under the Public
Distribution System for five
villages - Bisapur, Pahadkhapa,
Shakh, Jatama and Kukada.
“The Sarpanch office in my
village told me that they can’t help
as the cooperative society over here
has kept my card,” she said.
However, the cooperative
society denied that. “Her card had
expired about four months ago and
we told her to get it renewed but
she came back without the card,”
said Prajapati.
Since 2000, Government of
India has been providing subsidised
foodgrains to 6.52 crore BPL
families up to 35 kilo per family
every month under its Targeted
Public Distribution System. Under
“Antyodaya Anna Yojana”, the
extremely poor families are
provided rice for Rs. 3 per kilo and
wheat for Rs. 2 per kilo.
Without the ration card, a person
like Sarita Devi, whose monthly
earning is less than Rs. 1500 has to
buy rice at the retail rate of Rs. 40
Sarita Devi waiting at PDS centre.
Photo: Sonam Phunstok
per kilo.
According to National Planning
Commission, a rural family of five
that spends up to Rs. 3,905 is
recognised as below poverty line.
The data show that the number of
those below poverty line stands at
21.9% of the total population. In
Madhya Pradesh, 31.6% of the
population are living below the
poverty line.
Unfortunately, Sarita is not the
only case of the targeted
beneficiary who has been left out
from receiving the entitlements
earmarked by the government. The
large scale corruption, especially at
the local Sarpanch offices that are
responsible to certify the eligibility
of the families below poverty line ,
has left many poor families
struggling and hungry.
A local of Bisapur, Ashok
Amrite said that he had to wait for
one whole year to include the
names of his daughters-in-law on
the BPL ration card.
“After waiting for almost a year,
I got things done in a week by
paying bribes to local officials,” he
said sadly.
Secretary at Sarpanch office,
Manohar Lal Raut also accepted
the presence of middlemen who
take advantage of the desperation
of rural people.
“The villagers are not aware of
the procedures to apply for the
services so they fall prey to
unscrupulous people who make
them pay unnecessary fees for their
own benefit,” he said.
“Moreover, in many cases rural
people do not bring required
documents which delays the
process, but they think we are
deliberately delaying the process
for bribes,” he added.
However, according to Amrite,
to get things done, bribing is
necessary. He also paid to avail of
the Kisan Credit Card, that allows
him to borrow up to Rs. 300,000 to
buy fertilisers and seeds without
going to banks. The Bisapur
Cooperative Society has so far
issued such cards to 458 farmers.
“If you are not able to line the
pockets of officials or have political
connections, you will never get the
services.” he lamented.
To make sure that the public
works are done on time, Madhya
Pradesh government introduced
Lok Sewa Guarantee Yojana.
Under the scheme, any official who
fails to deliver services on time will
be fined Rs. 250 for each day of
delay. The BPL ration cards are
issued within 30 days of
application.
“We have mechanisms like
Right to Information, however,
many people are unaware of these
services,” said MK Beliya, Public
Relations Officer for the District
Collectorate of Chhindwara.
“But of late we have tightened
monitoring across the district
which has reduced the cases of
deliberate delays,” he added.
4 I CHHINDWARA
Adarsh Gram: Water crisis and sanitation woes
Enthusiasm fades in Bisapur village as problems surface
DISHANK J. PUROHIT
Bisapur: The village of Bisapur
suffers from the twin scourges of
water crisis and administrative
ignorance. On the one hand the
village has been nominated to be
transformed into a “model village”
under Central Government’s
flagship scheme SAGY (Sansad
Adarsh Gram Yojana), on the other
hand- the local Sarpanch office is
swamped with hand-written
applications, pleading
for a
regular supply of water.
Hema Devi a housewife said
that water comes once in 15 days.
“We have to walk five to eight
kilometres to get clean drinking
water. We are embarrassed to offer
water to our guests as we don’t
want them to fall sick after
drinking our water” she said.
One can encounter a bullock
cart loaded with water drums
travelling back from the river
towards the village. “People who
Women have to cover over 5 kms
for water Photo: Sonam Phunstok
have vehicles go to the nearest
river to get water. Others have to
walk to the nearest wells to get
water,” said Vikas Amrate.
Amrate said that villagers were
left in the lurch when the problem
of fluoride in the water cropped
up. “We had stopped using hand
pumps which had fluoride. But
some people started using it once
they ran out of other sources. You
will
come
across
many
malnourished children here
because of that” he said.
The government has dug wells
but they are replete with algae
and cannot be used.
SAGY
which
envisages
merging Mahtma Gandhi’s vision
of Swaraj (self government) with
Su-raj (good government) aiming
to introduce e-library and eliteracy to villages. It also has
“drinking water, preferably treated
piped water with household taps”
as its main objective.
Bisapur’s collective enthusiasm
after their village was adopted for
Adarsh Gram (model village)
paled quickly once the water
problems surfaced.
Mouhabe, a resident of the
village said that “we don’t even
have water for drinking.”
Panchayat Secretary, Madan Lal
Raut acknowledged the problem.
“We have received countless
complaints; we have also asked
villagers not to use some tube
wells where water is contaminated
with fluoride but we don’t have
enough funds to solve the
problem, so we have forwarded
applications to a higher level,” he
said. Raut claimed that there are
wells from which water can be
supplied but they don’t have
enough electricity to force the
water down into pipelines.
He also alleged that villagers
have not paid their water bills , “In
total seven lakh rupees have to be
recovered," he said.
"We are doing whatever we can.
We have already requested the
State to take immediate notice of
the problem” Raut added. But he
accused villagers of exaggerating
the severity of the water crisis.
"The problem is not that severe,
they do get water every four days”
he said.
Villagers claimed that the
situation spirals out of control with
the advent of summer, “After
March, we will get water only
twice or thrice in a month. People
in Bhopal need to be reminded
that, for us water is not a luxury; it
is a necessity of life,” said Shakta
Bai, a homemaker.
Mukesh Kumar Shrivastav,
Executive Engineer (Public Health
Engineering) Chindwara , said that
plans are afoot to install a fluoride
removing plant.
“Once elections are over the
first thing we intend to do is to
replace the existing pipes with
smaller ones so that water delivery
will be far more efficient and we
will also start maintainence of the
two wells.”
Water borne diseases
affect villages
TANVI JADWANI
Dr. Karuna Pattanayak at the Red Cross Office. Photo: Srishti Paliwal
Health services on foot
SRISHTI PALIWAL
Chhindwara:“I go to Patalkot
twice a week for a few hours to the
clinic. The clinic is not located
anywhere, I just go and sit
somewhere and people come to
me” said Dr Karuna Pattanayak,
the only health official appointed
by the government to attend to the
health problems of
Patalkot
villagers.
“Government has a project
called Bhariya Pradhikaran in
affiliation with the Red Cross to
save Bharias from extinction. As
part of this project they have asked
me to go in and provide health
services”, said Dr Karuna.
Dr Karuna, a gynaecologist by
profession, has been offering health
services in Patalkot for the last two
years. She covers 10-12 villages
per visit. “Each village has only 2025 houses, with a distance of two
km. I have to walk 5-6 km to cover
all of them”, she said.
Here, most of the deliveries are
conducted by midwives who aren’t
trained. “No TT injections are
given to pregnant women, no
prenatal checkup is done. There are
Multi Purpose Health Workers
appointed to give TT injections, but
they don’t go”, said Dr Karuna.
Women face a lot of
gynaecological
problems
in
Patalkot but there is no facility to
conduct an internal check up.
“Women face problems which they
can’t even tell me as people huddle
together when I visit. One needs a
little privacy to deal with
gynaecological issues”, said Dr
Karuna.
The villagers of Patalkot don’t
know on which days Dr Karuna
visits the valley. There are five
boys from different villages in the
valley who are in constant touch
with her. The same boys also
administer injections and distribute
medicines during emergencies.
“I have an office in Tamia.
Before going, I plan with the boys
who volunteer for the project”, she
said.
Dr Karuna complains of the lack
of health facilities but she isn’t
entirely
skeptical
of
the
governmental efforts in Patalkot.
She spoke of the facility of
Ashramshalas in Patalkot where
children ranging from age five to
15 stay for weeks and months.
There are 15 such boarding schools
in Patalkot where children are
served food, given books and
clothing.
Dr Karuna was however,
dissatisfied with the arrangements
in these Ashramshalas. “There is
just one man who looks after the
children. Children live, eat and
sleep there, but get no education. I
find children coughing, with runny
nose, some with diarrhoea. Many
have skin diseases and if one child
catches it, it spreads among the
rest”, she said.
“There are a lot of children in
Anganwadis and Ashramshalas
with third degree malnutrition.
Feeding is a big problem, the
mothers are always busy in the
forests. The Mid-Day meal has
hardly any nutritional value”, she
said sadly.
Dr Karuna attributes the abysmal
health condition of tribals living in
the area to the inaccessibility of the
area and the lack of governmental
effort to follow up.
Dr Karuna outlined a flaw in the
government’s Red Cross project.
“People don’t fall sick at the time
of my visit. So many times people
fall sick or emergencies happen
when I’m not there. This is not the
best what to provide health
services,” she said.
Dr. Karuna has thought of an
alternative to the current Red Cross
project running in Patalkot. “They
should establish a referral service
in Tamia, where all kinds of
emergencies can be handled. That
is what is not there,” she said.
There is only one PHC in Tamia,
and only normal deliveries are
conducted there. There is no place
to treat accidents, no blood
available. One can’t even conduct
a cesarean operation in Tamia. For
everything you have to go to
Chhindwara which is very far. The
government’s idea of providing
health services with me taking
rounds of the valley on foot is a
funny idea”, she quipped.
Dr Karuna is a lone ranger in the
valley of Patalkot, walking miles in
search for the sick. “You have to
have like-minded people to work
here which I don’t get. Now I have
become old, I’m 60, it is becoming
very difficult”, she said with a sigh.
Chhindwara: Malaria, Dengue,
Filaria and Chikungunya has
claimed many lives in Chhindwara.
The 4212 km long forest cover
attracts insects to the forest blocks
of Amarwada, Harai, Tamia and
Mohkhed, where there is a problem
of Malaria. Two blocks, Pandhurna
and Sausar, have a problem Filaria.
The coal mine blocks of Parasia
and Junnardeo have unlevelled
land where water gets stored. There
is no proper water supply to these
areas and people are used to storing
water for days. These villages face
the problem of Dengue.
“People in the villages often
store water out in the open. They
also have water storage around
their toilets. People have
abandoned government quarters
given to the coal miners with their
water storage open, now it’s a
breeding ground for insects.” said
Dr. Mahesh Kumar Sahlam, Chief
Medical Officer, Chhindwara.
“The true number of malaria or
dengue cases goes unreported. It
mainly happens in small villages
where they have minimal medical
support. The health department
said that there were no deaths
because of dengue last year,
whereas, the number was around
twenty five. There have been about
4000 patients of malaria in the last
one year.” said Praveen Katkar, Nai
Duniya Journalist
Hebar Khedi is one of the forest
villages under the Harai block, 30
Kilometres from Chhindwara.
Medical waste dumped near water source Photo: Tanvi Jadhwani
Apart from Malaria, this village
also have a fluoride problem.
Residents of Hebad Khedi have no
toilets and they defecate near the
river that passes their village. A
heap of medical waste lies next to
the water source in Hebar Khedi.
Half the village has a tap they get
water from, and the other half
draws from the well. You have to
cross the river to get the well.
When it rains heavily, we can
forget about getting to the well for
days. We have no choice but to
store water, said Hraday Raj
Verma, Village Panch and an ExSarpanch of Hebad Khedi.
We have no doctors here in
Hebad Khedi, a doctor was posted
here from Jabalpur four months
ago. We also made her an
accommodation so that she
wouldn’t leave. Now she has
started living in Singuri and she
said she is not coming back. We
have nurse now, she gives tablets.
We had to take an eight months
pregnant woman 150 kms away to
Nagpur. We don’t know where to
go when our children fall sick,
Hriday Verma added.
Doctors are in the hospital. If
you have a problem, you go visit
them in the hospital. If there is an
epidemic, doctors will go the
houses to talk about prevention.
Hebad Khedi does not have a
hospital, but has a health clinic.
Doctors are only posted at Zila
level, in community hospital,
primary health centres and in civil
hospitals. Whereas, places with a
population of 5000 or below only
has clinic where a nurse is posted.
There is no other organization with
a doctor in Hebad Kehdi, said Dr.
Mahesh Kumar Sahlam.
None of the children in Hebad
Khedi have ever been educated
about water borne diseases,
whereas the Chhindwara health
depart claims to have conducted
talks on prevention of diseases in
various villages. In fact, the teacher
in schools here only comes twice a
week, said Ajay Verma, a
Panchayat elction contestant.
An Unused Toilet in Bisapur- Photo: Srishti Paliwal
SIDDHARTH TIWARI
Bisapur: Member of Parliament
from Chhindwara, Kamal Nath,
adopted Bisapur under the
Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna to
convert it into a model village
last year. However challenges,
like poor sanitation, face any
programme aimed at bringing
development to the village.
Bisapur like the rest of
Chhindwara district has no
underground sewage system.
The status of public toilets also
depicts a gruesome reality and
district administration’s failure.
. “If our village has to become a
model village then the
administration has to seriously
address the sanitation issues,”
suggests Mohaubbe, a resident
of Bisapur.
According to an Ernst and
Young study in 2011 Municipal
Corporation of Chindwara was
allocated Rs. 5,203 lakh fund
through Capital Investment Plan
for sanitation and underground
sewage system for the period of
six years from 2010 to 2016.
Still infiltration of rainwater into
sewerage lines and open drains,
which often overflow and clog
the narrow streets, is a common
occurrence. “During monsoons
it becomes almost impossible to
walk on the streets,” said 55year-old Shyama Devi, resident
of the village.
Residents, while complaining
about the dysfunctional hand
pumps, said that two out of six
hand pumps that are functional
are in a miserable state. The area
around those hand pumps is
clogged with water and solid
wastes. “People don’t practice
proper disposal of wastes and
are entirely dependant on the
whims of the Panchayat,”
complained Sarpanch Secretary
Madan Lal Raut.
Solid waste, another critical
issue in Bisapur is found either
floating in the clogged drains or
piled up in small heaps on
streets. According to the
residents, sweepers and loaders
from the sanitation department
are irregular. “Despite several
complaints sweepers rarely
come to clean and even when
they come they only clean the
main road,” said Mohaubbe.
Eighty percent of the villagers
still defecate in the open.
According
to
Municipal
Corporation of Chindwara, they
have constructed public toilets
spread over various wards of the
district under the Total sanitation
campaign.
“Under
Total
Sanitation Campaign Rs. 2200
was given as motivational fund
for construction of toilets.
However because of a shortage
of funds constructions could not
be completed,” said Chindwara
SDO Shri Gathi, with the result
that the target of constructing
250 toilets was not met.
Even the toilets constructed
are in pathetic condition as they
do not have any water
connection. “We have to carry at
least one bucket of water to go
to the public toilets while it takes
only one bottle to go in open and
with such huge water crisis its
convenient for people to go to
the fields for defecation,”
pointed out
21 year old
Maneesh, an unemployed youth
of Bisapur.
Jyoti Chabre, an adolescent
complained that these toilets
overflow during monsoons. This
is one of the major reasons
attributed to the failure of public
toilets throughout the district.
In spite of the challenges to
becoming a ‘Model Village,’
Sudhir Krashak, district coordinator of Nirmal Bharat
Abhiyan is positive about
achieving the scheme’s targets
on time.
Rural women prefer cloth over sanitary napkins in Chhindwara
AARUSHI MAHESHWARI
Chhindwara: For the women of
Rated village in Patalkot, of
Chhindwara district, wearing
sanitary napkins is practically
unheard of; “we use cloth during
our time of the month” says
Shrimati
Rambai,
as
she
breastfeeds her one year old son
near the Anganwadi. She says “we
are more comfortable using cloth,
and do not feel the need to switch
to sanitary napkins.”
Kilasia Bharti and Chamalwati also
use cloth. “It is not a problem for
us, we have been using it for
generations,” says the latter. Very
few women use sanitary napkins in
Chhindwara’s ‘model village’
Bisapur as well. Those that do, like
Pratibha Sisodia, have been
brought up in Chhindwara town,
and have only moved to the village
after marriage.
Teenagers like Malti, Bharti, and
Meghna also use cloth. “We roll up
the cloth and put it into our
clothes,” says the eldest, Malti.
Because these get stained faster,
they have to be changed every two
hours. This forces the girls to skip
school during their period. “We
were given sanitary napkins by our
school, but we didn’t feel
comfortable using them,” she adds.
Both Sachi Prabha Kurechi of
Kasila Bharati one of the many women who prefer using cloth over sanitary napkins Photo: David Holla
Tharava village, and Shubhangi
Ban of Jheel Dhana also use cloth.
District Training Officer of
Chhindwara’s health centre, Dr
D.K. Mehra, says that these
villagers do not want to advance.
“The Government can only do so
much. We have provided them with
ASHA workers
to
create
awareness. Menstruating girls are
given free pads from their schools.”
Lakshmi of Tharava is one of the
beneficiaries of this scheme. “But
these villagers are simply
uninterested,” he says.
Environmentalists say that cloth
is a safer alternative as well; Vijay
Kumar, Naturalist and Social
Worker says that seven million
sanitary napkins are thrown away
annually in India, which “the
country lacks the technology to
safely dispose.”
Pratibha Sisodia says that
“sanitary pads are typically burnt
after use” in Bisapur. She’s
unaware that “burning a used pad
under 800 degrees Celsius can be
very harmful,” says Kumar.
“Moreover, a single pad takes
600 to 700 years to bio-degrade” he
adds. “Pads also contaminate the
water table and water bodies, since
many tend to flush it down the
toilet,” he says.
Used sanitary napkins are
typically rolled up and put in
plastic packets - but these can get
contaminated more easily than
clean sanitary napkins. “Hepatitis A
and B are easily contracted by
contact with the soiled napkins”
says Divya Narayanan, an
Independent Researcher.
In urban areas, some women
have begun to look towards cloth
pads. In the rural area of
Chhindwara district of Madhya
Pradesh, villagers have been using
cloth for generations.
Kumar and Narayanan maintain
that chances of contracting cervical
cancer or Toxic Shock Syndrome,
a disease caused by using highly
absorbent feminine hygiene
products, are minimal if cloth is
used, though it is important that the
cloth is dried in the sun.
“We feel that we are clean. But
by using plastic, we would only
harm the environment. Our
community sustains itself on this
environment. People from outside
come and tell us it is wrong, but if
we feel that it is right, why should
we listen to them?” Shrimati
Rambai questions.
Failing crops, falling yields
SIDDHARTH TIWARI
Rated: The Bhariya tribes of the
Satpura range which form part of
the Deccan plateau, known for their
self-sufficiency are facing a daily
struggle for maintaining their
traditional livelihood.
Rated, one of the 12 villages of
Patalkot has a mix of primitive
tribes like Bhariya, Gond and
Pardhan. Over the decades it has
earned reputation for its self
sustaining economy that is largely
dependent
on
agriculture,
collection of minor forest produce
and others like tubers, roots, and
fruits. However frequent divisions
of land within the family and
depleting ground water, the
opportunity
for
traditional
livelihood pursuits are fast
receding.
Some farmers who have sold
their lands to forest officials now
work in their own land as labourers.
Others who own land have no
better stories to tell. “Earlier the
land produced sufficient crops to
feed us for at least 10 months of the
year but over the years family size
has
increased
while
land
productivity has declined. Now the
same land produces just enough to
feed us for 7 to 9 months,” said
Mazhilal, a farmer from Rated.
Agriculture in Madhya Pradesh
is characterized by large land
holdings with low productivity.
Throughout the state irrigation is a
major issue, with water level as low
as 60 ft below the ground and no
proper watershed management,
crops here are largely monsoon
dependent. Similar trends can be
noticed in Rated where land is hilly
and agriculture productivity low.
Scant irrigation and unpredictable
An uncultivated farm in Rated due to insufficient irrigation. Photo: Shristi Paliwal
monsoons have left the community
with a single kharif crop in a year
and minor millets with poor yield.
Chunnilal, 50, a farmer from
Rated pointed out that his 2.5 acres
of land merely produces three
quintals of maize a year. Without
water, support cultivation of wheat
and pulses are at a bare minimum.
Poor cultivation techniques with
little to no innovation like the use
of organic manure are thought
responsible for the decline in
agriculture. “People are reluctant
to adopt innovative cultivation
techniques because of which
agriculture is shrinking in
Patalkot,” commented M.K.
Baliya, Public Relation Officer at
District Collectorate, Chhindwara.
While agriculture fails to provide
food security throughout the year
people are involved in other
livelihood practices like selling of
forest products, local liquor, herbs
and wood.
Amla and chiraunji( dry fruit)
are the major products that
villagers sell in the local market.
Surprisingly these villagers sold
raw chiraunji for Rs 40 per Kg
which after being processed is sold
for as high as Rs 400 per Kg. “
Local merchants keep tabs on
villagers to restrict the selling of
dry fruits to outsiders,” said
Shaymlal tripathi, an NGO worker.
Selling of the locally brewed
Mahua also fetches an income. The
mahua flower is collected and
processed into liquor through an
improvised distillation process.
This liquor is prepared in almost all
households for consumption and
sale. “On an average every family
sells 20 to 30 litres of mahua every
day at Rs 30 per litre,” said Aslam
Khan, local journalist from Hari
Bhoomi.
Livestock management is
extremely poor in this village.
Insufficient fodder to feed cattle is
the major cause for low milk yield
which is just enough for daily
family consumption.
“Administration is trying to
promote livestock management by
providing goats and cows to
villagers. Further steps will be
taken to lift
its standard,”
commented District Magistrate
M.C Choudhary.
With the two basic livelihood
options agriculture and livestock in
fragile state the
once self
sustaining economy of Rated is
gradually inching towards public
dependency and government
support.
DISHANK J. PUROHIT
Under Progress”, villagers claim
that no one from the electricity
department has ever visited the
village.
Avinash Dubey , Engineer- inCharge of DDUGJY, Chhindwara
,said that village will soon get
electricity. “Under the 12th plan
,the new funding has been
sanctioned for the DDUGJY. We
will complete electrification very
‘’
CHHINDWARA I 5
A school for girls
ANONNA DUTT
Patalkot: The government school in Chimtipur, one
of the most accessible villages of Patalkot, has a
primary and a middle section. Fifty four students
are enrolled in it at present. There are three teachers
and a headmaster.
According to Shashwati Bharati, the primary
school teacher, there used to be more students in the
Chimtipur school before the other villages deeper
down in the valley got their own schools.
Daya Bai, a social activist who works in the
Chhindwara district, said that there are primary
schools in almost all of the 12 villages in Patalkot
and a middle school in every third or fourth village.
However, there are no high schools or higher
secondary schools in the valley and students who
want to study further have to step out of Patalkot to
find higher quality educational facilities. While boys
do go to study in Tamia or Parasia, girls find it
harder to move out of the village.
In fact, Shashwati Bharati is the only one from
Chimtipur
to have sent her four girls to
Chhindwara, Indore and Jabalpur for higher
education. After volunteering at the Anganwadi, she
was promoted to the post of primary school teacher
in 2008 with Rs. 5,000 fixed salary.
Brujlal Bharati, a Lower Division Clerk at
Chhindwara Collectorate and a native of
neighbouring Rated village, said that “The girls
have to rent rooms in Tamia to study.” This is due to
the fact that the hostels in Tamia and elsewhere have
limited number of seats which are allotted to
meritorious students only.
Renting a room, however, requires a lot of
money, which often means that the poor farmers
cannot afford them.
Census 2011 pegs the effective female literacy
rate of Chhindwara at 86.10 per cent. However, this
percentage would be much less if the number of
people with minimum ten years of schooling is
calculated.
This is the reason the government has devised
many schemes to promote education amongst tribal
girls. Chief amongst them is the Kanya Saksharta
A girl in Chimtipur primary school. Photo: Pratik B
Protsahan Yojna which is aimed at reducing dropout
rates among tribal girl children. Under the scheme,
tribal girls who move from primary to middle school
are given Rs. 500, girls who further move on to class
9 are given Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 2,000 is given to girls
who go to class 11.
According to the Assistant Commissioner for
Tribal Welfare N. S. Barkade, there are several
schemes for promoting higher education amongst
the tribal students as well. For instance, the state
bears the cost of Rs 1.5 lakhs for UPSC tuitions for
students from Scheduled Tribes.
Madhya Pradesh government also gives a
scholarship of Rs. 14 lakhs to 25 Scheduled Caste
and Scheduled Tribe students for studying in foreign
universities. However, such schemes are hardly
availed of by the people who need it because of the
lack of awareness surrounding them.
At present, three of the four students who have
received the scholarship for studying abroad are
girls. However, local journalists Vinod Chauria and
Manish Gadkari claim that the girls are either related
to people in power or are the children of government
officials, hence why they have received the full
benefits of the schemes.
“No one from the grass roots level receives such
benefits,” said Manish Gadkari, a senior reporter
from Hari Bhoomi.
E L E C T R I C I T Y
C R I S I S
Dropout climbs despite
Bureaucratic tussle stalls development A village without power
Govt. interventions
SRISHTI PALIWAL
Chhindwara: The Survey for Assessment of Dropout Rates at
Elementary Level in 21 States, Jan
2013,the grade wise drop out rate
for class 8th in Madhya Pradesh
stood at 2.5%, second to the highest
rate of 2.7% in Jharkhand.
The statistic comes as a surprise
as inspite of being given free
cycles, textbooks and scholarships
as part of government schemes for
students who pass class 8th, the
drop out rate of students after class
8th is high. According to the
survey, the top reasons for dropping
out were lack of interest in studies,
economic condition of the parents,
migration of family and to help the
family in domestic work.
“When I visited a school in
Bichua village, there were no
children. The master said that
children were off to pick jamuns
from forests. These children take
the train to reach the nearest bazaar
and sell jamuns. This way the kids
earn upto Rs 100 a day and their
parents make a profit”, said Mr
M.K Beliya, PRO, Collector’s
Office.
Kirti Suryavanshi and Sulochna
Verma, primary school teachers in
Singuri, 20 km from Chhindwara,
squarely blame the parents for the
increasing drop out rates.
“Parents are interested in their
farming. When teachers visit the
parents and ask why they aren’t
sending their kids to school, they
say they have smaller kids at home
who are unattended, the elder ones
need to stay at home to take care of
them”, they said.
Out of a majority of students that
turn up at school, more than half
are interested only in availing the
mid-day meal. “The students are
not interested to learn, they never
do their homework. Some even go
back home after the meal,”, said the
teachers.
Jayashree Pillai, Assistant
Director of Department of
Education of the district, had a
different story to tell. “The quality
of education in Chhindwara is
undergoing massive progress. The
enrollment rate is increasing every
year. Students are being graded in
a very organised manner and
remedial classes are being held for
weak students.”
Tekapar:
Madhya
Pradesh
Government’s slogan of Swarnim
Madhya Pradesh (Shining Madhya
Pradesh) fails to cut ice with the
people of Tekapar village who live
without electricity and other basic
amenities owing to administrative
neglect.
The development plans for this
forest village seems to have been
lost in the wilderness of
bureaucratic in-fighting over issues
like departmental clearances and
lack of coordination.
Hansi Lal, a farm labourer says
that despite many promises during
election time, the village has yet to
see electricity and proper road
connectivity. “Many people in our
village donot even have ration
cards, so we end up buying
kerosene oil at market price for
lamps,” he said.
Tekapar has been marked for
“Intensive Electrification” under
RGVY (Rajiv Gandhi Vidyutikaran
Yojana ) rechristened as DDUGJY
(Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti
Yojana).
While the DDUGJY website still
shows that “Electrification work is
I don’t think
anybody even
remembers
us anymore.
soon” he said.
“My eyes have never seen any
government official. I don’t think
anybody even remembers us
anymore” said Ramcharn, a
resident of the village.
Many students like Tilak
Mauhwe who is preparing for his
board exams said that they have to
rely on oil lamps to study at night
for the exams. “Exams are nearing
and I am worried about my studies,
Daya Bai’s efforts to promote sustainable farming
PRATIK BHAKTA
Harai: Wherever Daya Bai went
farmers kept complaining “pehele
to itna itna hota tha aajkal bohut
kam ho gaya hai” (Previously there
would be so much of produce nowadays yield has gone down drastically). This made her wonder
about the reason for this drastic fall
in production.
A social worker by profession
working with the Gonds of Madhya
Pradesh for over 40years now Daya
Bai had come across such an issue
for the first time.
“I have been dealing with human
rights violations and violence
against women for many years but
I did not know how to ensure a secured livelihood for the tribals,”
says Daya Bai.
She discovered that people had
stopped growing coarse grains like
jowar, bajra and raagi. There was
large scale monoculture of cash
crops like soyabean..
She realised that extensive use of
fertilisers and pesticides for cash
crops are causing the soil to lose its
fertility.
This made Daya Bai start exploring options in organic farming and
zero input agriculture in her own
Daya bai in her farm tending to her plants. Photo: Pratik Bhakta
field and inspire others to join the
movement by setting an example.
“After my father died, I inherited
some money with which I bought
this piece of land and set up a small
farm,” says Daya Bai.
First she dug a well on her premises and used the mud to build a
small house and used the water to
irrigate her fields.
“Few experts told me that the
well water can only be used for
household chores, not irrigation
purposes.” This made Daya Bai dig
another well for her plants’ daily
needs.
With sufficient water she planted
all kinds of fruits and vegetables
which could help her survive
throughout the year. “I even got a
crushing machine for sugarcane
that I had planted few years back,”
she says.
However over the last few years
water has become a huge problem.
She says, “My well has dried up
mostly nowadays. Previously even
during the peak summer season I
used to have 12 to 15 feet of water
in my well. Now even after three
days of heavy rainfall my water
level is below 2 feet.”
“Last year I sunk a hand pump
and this month I increased its depth
to 40 feet,” she says.
The reason for this drastic fall in
water table is the increased use of
groundwater by the farmers around
her plot of land.
“Because of cheaper electricity
and lack of clean surface water, farmers use motorised pumps to draw
ground water to water their fields.
They dig bore wells and thus have
caused all the ancient aquifers to
dry up.”
Previously there used to be
power shut down for two to three
days continuously and that would
have recharged the water in the
well but now with improved power
situation in the state Daya Bai has
to rely on the deep tube well for all
the water.
She laments, “The sugarcane has
dried up completely, the fruits like
custard apple are not ripening even
few of my vegetables have not
grown properly.”
The aged social worker laments
that all her efforts to ensure food
security is falling in vain. With diesel pumps and generators the earth
is getting sucked dry.
“With reducing ground water
table the future of my farm is under
threat and the prospects of success
of zero input farming is bleak,”
I can’t afford to rent a room in
Bichhua City for studies” he said.
Pandit Ramesh Kumar Dubey,
Member of Legislative Assembly
from Chuari, said that the
backwardness of the village can be
attributed to the lack of
coordination
among
several
departments. “I know that there
exist lots of challenges to bring this
village into mainstream. I have
recommended that a new road be
constructed under Pradhan Mantri
Gram Sadak Yojna. Once the
village
has
proper
road
connectivity I am sure officials
will be able to visit the village and
electricity problem will also be
solved” he said.
“Everybody who comes to
Chhindwara from Bhopal or
elsewhere thinks that the most
backward place in this part is
Patalkot” claims Aslam Khan , a
journalist associated with Hari
Bhoomi, he said that because of the
mystery and exoticism given to
Patalkot, people are drawn towards
that place; however, there are
pockets in Chhindwara which are
much more backwards and underdeveloped than their counterparts
in Patalkot.
AARUSHI MAHESHWARI
Jheel Dhana: A tiny village in
Chhindwara district, Jheel Dhana,
is one of the few that has no electricity.
Resident Dadu Ram says that “We
don’t, and never have got any electricity.”
The village is situated in a hilly
forest area. Its people were officially allotted five to seven acres of
land by the government years ago,
says Dadu Ram.
But apart from this, there is not
much that the government has done
for the people of this village.
Though two solar lights have been
installed by forest guards, “only
one of them works” he says. The
other hasn’t been operational for a
long time now.
“We have complained time and
again; even gone to the Chief Minister, but no action has been
taken,” says Dadu Ram. “During
elections, all the politicians come to
our village, but take no action to
improve our condition,” he adds.
“We are a spectacle” adds Sachi
Prabha Kurechi, another resident.
Forest Guards Bisan Bhurve and
GS Karme say that the government
has its own reasons for denying the
village electricity. “The village is
situated deep in the forest, so there
is always a fear of a forest fire,”
says Bhurve, who is the beat officer of 1200 acres of land in the
area.
“The villagers also flout rules
often. If they had electricity, they
may use electrical barbed wires
around their farms to prevent animals from entering them. Because
of this, both people and animals
may get hurt,” he adds.
“Also, in order to put up poles
for electricity, the forest area might
have to be cleared up. This would
also be a problem as the villagers’
livelihoods are deeply connected to
the forest,” says Bhurve.
However, electricity has been
sanctioned for Jheel Dhana, mentions Karme. He says that poles
were put around the area a while
ago, but for some reason, were removed by the electricity department. “They must have been
shifted somewhere else,” he says.
“Why does Kosum Dhana get
electricity, and we don’t?” asks
Dabu Ram. Kosum Dhana is a village 5 kms away. It gets electricity,
unlike Jheel Dhana.
Trained for unemployment
DIKSHYA SINGH
Chhindwara: The graduates from various skill
development institutes are forced to settle for low
paying jobs in the absence of industrial development
in the district.
The district houses Footwear Design and
Development Institute, Apparel Training and Design
Institute, NIIT District Learning Center, couple of
engineering colleges and about 20 colleges. The
Confederation of Indian Industries operates Skill
Training Center that prepares the youths in the region
for various skilled jobs in the manufacturing
industries.
These institutions have made Chhindwara the skill
development center of the state; however, not all the
graduates are being employed because of the absence
of large scale industries in the district.
“I am in the fifth semester at FDDI, but the job
prospects seem bit bleak as there are no footwear
companies in the district and the salaries offered by the
employers in other states is not enough for comfortable
living,” said Tushar Singh, a student at FDDI.
Similarly, Ashish Sharma, a graduate in electrical
engineering from a local college is working at his
brother’s mobile repair shop near Chhindwara bus stop
as he could not find an acceptable job in the region.
Despite the presence of Raymond Group’s textile
factory and one of the oldest plants of Hindustan
Unilever in India, the district has failed to attract other
large scale industries. The district has only 10 medium
and large scale and around 6000 small scale industries
but their capacity to absorb the large number of
manpower is limited.
MP government and the district authority offer
numerous incentives to the companies to set up
manufacturing plants in Chhindwara such as Capital
subsidy of 15% on fixed capital investment, interest
subsidy up to five per cent, entry tax exemption for raw
materials up to seven years and value added tax
exemption up to seven years among others.
“Though many large industries are not present in the
area, there is ample scope for small and medium
enterprises which offer jobs,” pointed out ML
Belwanshi , GM of DITPC.
The district has six recognised industrial estates
including Borgaon’s Industrial Growth Center which
houses 92 enterprises. However, only six companies
have the capacity to hire more than 100 employees —
largest among them being Raymond that has more than
3500 employees, according to DITPC.
However, largest job provider Raymond and
Hindustan Unilever have started to downsize their
capacity of late further slashing the employment.
Dr Rajendra Mishra, professor at Government PG
College of Chhindwara also lamented the lack of jobs
in the district.
“Colleges and institutions have become factories for
churning out unemployed and underemployed youths,”
he said.
Moreover, established facilities such as Spice Park
has shut down.
“The problem with Spice Park was that it was
established without proper feasibility study,” pointed
out GM Belwanshi, adding that the smaller plants that
could process locally cultivated cotton and wheat are
more sustainable. Only CII has been able to place most
of its trainees with the industries in the district.
DHARMAPURI/KRISHNAGIRI
Caught in a grip of
neonatal deaths
SHALINA PILLAI
Dharmapuri district is situated
in the north-west corner of
Tamil Nadu and is bounded by
Tiruvannamalai and Villupuram
districts on the East, Salem
district
on
the
South,
Krishnagiri district on the North
and Cauvery River on the West.
Total Area: 4497 Sq Kms
Krishnagiri district was
formed as the 30th district
separate district of Tamil Nadu
on February 9, 2004 by
carving out five taluks and ten
blocks of Dharmapuri district.
Total Area: 5143 Sq Kms
POPULATION
Dharmapuri
Total: 1,506,843
Sex Ratio: 946
Child Sex Ratio: 913
Scheduled Castes: 16.3%
Scheduled Tribes: 4.1%
Literacy Rate: 77%
Krishnagiri
Total: 1,879,809
Sex Ratio: 958
Child Sex Ratio: 908
Scheduled Castes: 14.2%
Scheduled Tribes: 1.1%
Literacy Rate: 76.7%
OCCUPATION
Agriculture is the main
occupation of the people in
both the districts. Paddy,
groundnut, sugarcane, cotton,
pulses and coconut are the
major crops cultivated. These
districts are known for coarse
cereals and millets like ragi and
samai.
Flowers like rose are cultivated
by people to earn a living.
Cattle and goats are other
sources of income.
PROBLEMS
Female
infanticide
and
foeticide are two major issues
in these districts. Caste
conflicts are another major
pullback factor in these areas.
Lack of proper medical and
educational facilities hamper
the progress of the people in
these villages. Pure drinking
water is scarce and people
suffer from various ailments.
Dharmapuri: Selvi, a 22-year-old
woman, has been admitted to the
Dharmapuri Government Medical
College Hospital. She is expecting
her sixth child. A resident of
Kottakarai village, Selvi had given
birth to four daughters while her
fifth daughter had died after birth
due to respiratory problems. “I
don’t have a say in this. My
husband decides how many times
we should have a child,” Selvi
declared. Selvi is one of the many
women in Dharmapuri who have
been affected by complicated
pregnancies.
In November and December, the
Government
Hospital
at
Dharmapuri had become infamous
for the death of 17 neonates over
four consecutive weeks. The
hospital, which deals with tertiary
cases of pregnancies, had to take
care of seven premature babies who
had been born before 36 weeks of
pregnancy and weighed between
800 grams to 1.5 kg.
Many neonates, battling for
their lives, continue to be admitted
in the hospital. According to Dr
Ganesan, the head of the
Paediatrics department, there were
many socio-economic factors
which led to the continuous infant
deaths at the hospitals.
Poor health of the mothers due to
poverty and the increasing number
of complicated pregnancies were
the prime causes of the infant
deaths, he said. “Around 25 cases
of antenatal mothers are referred to
the hospital every day, out of
which, at least 17 are multigravida
(a woman who has been pregnant
more than two times) cases. This
contributes to the bleak survival
rate of children,” he said.
Dr. Ganesan said that patients
like Selvi, who is close to her
eighth month of pregnancy, can
give birth any time and do not have
a proper pregnancy cycle. “Since
these patients have had multiple
pregnancies, the uterus becomes
very weak and that usually leads to
profuse bleeding and complications
during birth.” To curb this, CopperT, a contraceptive device, is used
now on women with their consent
and it has contributed to drastically
reducing the pregnancy rates
among women.
However, this is not the only
factor according to. Medical
Superintendent R. Rajendran, who
said that the hospital is the only
referral centre for both Dharmapuri
and Krishnagiri districts. “All the
tertiary high-risk pregnancies, be it
from other government or private
hospitals are referred here.
Therefore it indirectly increases the
death rate of the infants here.”
According to John Bosk, who
works for the National Child
Protection Project, the main cause
for the recent infant deaths is child
marriage. The district holds the
record for the highest number of
girls marrying before the legal age
of 18 years.
“When girls get pregnant at a
stage when their bodies are still
growing, it hinders their biological
process and affects their maternity
cycle.” Bosk Said.
The number of admissions of
mothers with premature babies has
seen a significant jump from 500
per year in 2011 to 4,500
admissions per year in 2014. But
the medical records show a decline
in the average number of neo-natal
deaths in the prenatal ward since
last year.
Infant Mortality Rate
FACT FILE
Year
IS CRADLE BABY SCHEME
AN EASY WAY OUT ?
CHANDNI U
Dharmapuri: Another female
infant was abandoned and adopted
at the Dharmapuri Government
Hospital in less than a day under
the cradle baby scheme.
“The baby was the fifth girl child
of the mother.” said K.Rani from
the Auxiliary Nursing Medifirm.
The cradle baby scheme was
first set up in 1992 in Salem, Tamil
Nadu due to an increased rate of
female foeticide and infanticide.
Dharmapuri followed the suit in
2002 and so far 1426 infants have
been left in the cradles. Pennagram
and Nallamballi are two blocks
with high risks of infanticide.
Before the scheme was set up in
Dharmapuri, the police arrested
more than 64 mothers who
practised female infanticide during
2000- 2002 and filed a case under
Section 302 of the Indian Penal
Code, as attempt to murder.
Development Education and
Environment Protection Society
(DEEPS), an organisation at
Pennagram said that it was not only
the women who are at fault; it was
the society too.
Recently, a boy was born with a
defect in the brain at the hospital.
The parents did not want him and
put him in the cradle for adoption.
Once babies are left in the cradle,
the biological parents have no
claim to them. After 12 days at the
hospital, they are sent to adoption
centres in Hosur.
Carrying her sixth child, 33year-old
Bhodhamal
from
Dharmapuri, said, “I didn’t know
Girl dies in wall collapse inside school toilet
TShe was studying under a residential training programme at the once-abandoned school
SWATHI MOORTHY
Kamagiri: On the morning of
December 10, eight-year-old Roja
Marisamy started from her house in
Thattakarai unaware that she would
die under the collapsed bathroom
wall of her school the same
afternoon.
Roja was undergoing a
Residential Special Training
Course (RSTC) for dropouts from
tribal areas, organized under the
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) with
support from State officials at the
Kamagiri government school.
The Class had 28 students and
they were given a break at noon.
Roja, Nandhini and a friend went
to use the toilet at the end of the
building.
Kannan, a Panchayat worker,
said that the girls generally use the
open space for defecation but since
there were men near the school
they might have used the toilet.
Nandhini and the other girl used
the toilet as Roja waited for them.
Few minutes later there was a loud
thud. The wall had collapsed with
Roja under the debris. Though she
was taken to the Smart Alot
hospital nearby, she succumbed to
The sisters, S Jemima, MA
Esther and S Rachel, who taught at
Thattakarai sought permission of
Pon Kumar, CEO of SSA to
conduct classes in the abandoned
school .
Jemima said, “The BRC
building lacked water facilities and
there wasn’t enough space so we
asked for permission to use the
unused government school in
Kamagiri which had more space.”
Jayakumar said, “They never
asked for permission to use the
building. If they had we would
have repaired the building or they
wouldn’t have been given
permission at all considering it was
young students who are studying
there.”
No complaint was filed
following the incident. Village
Councillor E. Venkatasamy said
that while the teachers should have
been more careful, none of the
villagers made a formal complaint
since most of the children from
here benefitted from the work they
had done. Even his two daughters
were taught by Esther and
Jemimma.
Marisamy, Roja’s father said,” I
didn’t believe Roja died till I saw
her body. She left for school with a
change of clothes in hand.”
Although
Marisamy said
compensation was far from his
mind, Venkatasamy on behalf of
the Panchayat had sent a formal
application to the Krishnagiri
Collector asking for compensation.
“We are doing everything we
can to get compensation,”
Venkatasamy said.
After the incident, students
under RSTC programme and Zion
Education Social Welfare Trust
were enrolled in Kottaiyur and
Bettamugilalam
government
schools by Esther and Jemima.
cards. With the Green Card, a
family is entitled to get 20 kg of
rice for free in a month. Sugar costs
Rs 13.50 per kg and a card holder
can get 500 grams per head subject
to a maximum of 2 kg. Even this 2
kg is not weighed properly,
complained Senthil, another
villager. The White Card holders
can get an additional 3 kg of sugar
per month in lieu of rice. The rates
for wheat and kerosene are 7.50 per
kg and 13.60 per litre respectively.
The issue of under-weighing
comes up every now and then. The
shopkeepers use old manual
weighing machine instead of
electronic machines.
The farther a village is from the
mainland, the more the chances of
issues like these propping up. The
storage houses use chemical
preservation and not organic
methods preservation and it affects
the grains badly.
The authorities categorise
foodgrains based on quality and
ensure that these remote villages
get the lowest quality ones.
Dharmapuri has a new 20,000
metric tonne godown built by the
Tamil
Nadu
Warehousing
Corporation.
But for a district with a
population of more than 15 lakhs,
this is not even close to being
adequate. The godown is not only
for storing inward materials but
also for outward goods like forest
produces. A storage of at least
50,000 metric tonne is needed, said
Sudarshan.
The Criminal Investigation
Department (CID) of CSC have
gone a long way in controlling the
cross border smuggling of food
commodities. Dharmapuri is one of
the districts which got a new CID
unit recently. But these control
systems have not been able to
address the issues in rural areas.
“Panchayat Presidents should be
making sure that all the grievances
of the public related to PDS are
addressed,” said Sudarshan.
The District Supply Officer
(DSO) refused to comment on
these issues.
The collapsed wall at Kamagiri school Photo: Swathi Moorthy
her injuries.
Kullappa Kalyanam, Roja’s
uncle, and Nandhini’s father came
to the school and the body was then
taken for an autopsy.
The school which was built
under the Kamarajar Scheme in
1962 was abandoned in 2009.
Panchayat Secretary Jayakumar M
said that Thattakarai was given
permission to run this RSTC
program in 2008-09 and since the
strength was 75, it was divided into
Thattakarai 1 and Thattakarai 2 and
a Block Resource Centre (BRC)
building was allotted from the start
of the academic year in 2014.
Public Distribution System in a shambles
NARAYANAN S
Dharmapuri:
The
Public
Distribution System (PDS) in
Tamil Nadu has been hailed as a
model of success where the State
government distributes subsidised
foodgrains.
According to a Food Ministry
policy document released in 2014,
Rs 5300 crore has been spent on
subsidising the PDS and Rs 3184
crore on rice alone.
The government also gives away
non-controlled commodities like
dhothi, shirt, mixi and grinder on
special occasions. But the picture is
not always rosy when it comes to
Dharmapuri, one of the most
backward districts in the State.
Vachathi is a southern village in
Harur Taluk. A crowd of around 60
people had assembled in front of
the ration shop on a Sunday
morning. People were hustling and
jostling and there was no queue.
Asked about this, a villager, Kumar
said with a smile, “Here, we don't
follow queues, anyway the shop is
supposed to be opened at 8.30, but
it opens only at 10.00 and they
close it at 12.30.”
There was only one shop
assistant to distribute the goods
inside the Fair Price Shop (FPS).
Sometimes, in these villages, the
same assistant has to do shifts
between three shops. Though by
rule, it is mandatory that these FPS
should keep the notice-boards
outside updated with working
hours, area of allotment and scale
of supply, here it had not been
updated for two months.
The Civil Supplies Corporation
(CSC) gets foodgrains from the
Food Corporation of India (FCI).
But without any preservatives,
these cannot be stored in these
unscientifically designed shops,
according to Dr Sudarshan, a
Community Relations Officer
working on behalf of the State
government. There were instances
when rice stocks had been
contaminated with cement and dust
particles.
The CSC issues two types of
A PDS shop at Vachathi
Photo: Narayanan S
Dharmapuri and
Krishnagiri have a
history of smuggling
of food commodities
to Karnataka and
Kerala
Cradles at Dharmapuri Goverment Hospital Photo: Chandni U
The number of
children left in
cradles in a year has
come down from
158 in 2002 to 28 in
2014
about the scheme but I’d rather
bring up my children myself.” She
has four daughters and had lost one
before birth.
N.Shankar, social activist and
the Chief Functionary of DEEPS,
has been fighting against the
scheme. The United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the
Child (UNCRC) is also against it.
“The government has given an
easy way out. The infants don’t get
their mother’s milk and they are
deprived of their rights. More than
99% of girl infants are left there,”
Shankar said.
If the child is not adopted, they
remain in the adoption centres or
shelter cares. The government
funds the adoption centres to
provide for the children.
“Even if a child is adopted by a
foreign family, it is impossible to
know the fate of the child. Who
knows what they do with the
child,” Shankar said.
He filed a case in the Madras
High Court in 2007 against the
scheme and following that in 2009,
a council was appointed to study
the scheme.
“If not for the scheme, the
parents would have thrown the
babies in the garbage or killed
them. Now, at least they get to live.
The scheme is essential but
awareness and counselling to make
parents love their children despite
their poor financial circumstances
is needed.” said S.Ganesan, a
doctor at the Government Hospital.
Schools facing severe
teacher crunch
PHEBA B MATHAI
Krishnagiri: Government schools
in Kodagarai and Thattakarai
villages in Krishnagiri district
have poor infrastructure and a
shortage of qualified teachers.
These schools have seen a high rate
of dropouts.
Students at both Kodagarai
Middle School and Panchayat
Union School at Thattakarai stay
till Class 8 after which most of the
children discontinue studies. The
girls are married at a young age and
the boys usually go for construction
work.
Gauri Kulla, a Village Health
Nurse at Kodagarai, said that most
of the girls get married before the
age of 18.
Susanna Raja, a teacher at the
Kodagarai Middle School said that
in her Class there are 30 students.
There are only six teachers in the
school which has a strength of 400.
According to P. Kala, a Science
teacher at the Panchayat Union
School, students from Kodagarai
and Thattakarai have to travel 30 to
40 km to reach Sadanpalli and
Denkanikottai schools for higher
studies after Class 8. “Since there
are no frequent bus services from
these places, safety of girl students
becomes a concern. We come in
Tata Sumos from Bettamugilalam
which is 8 km away from the
school.”
These schools do not have
adequate sanitation facilities.
“During the rainy season, water
seeps into the classrooms,”
complained Susanna.
J.Sujata, an English Teacher said
that the school requires a strong
compound wall and the flooring
needs to be improved.
Classrooms do not have proper
chairs or benches for students and
two classes are conducted
simultaneously in each classroom.
M.
Jaykumar,
Panchayat
Secretary of Bettmugilalam, said
that even though there are
vacancies for teachers in these
schools, no one is willing to take
the job due to the inaccessibility of
the village.
She said that the teachers look
for transfers immediately after they
are shifted to these villages.
“We are planning to improve the
infrastructure of these schools but
it will take another one or two
years,” he said.
Husband represents Councillor wife
VIPAL DURGE
Morappur: Nathamedu is a
small Village in Dharmapuri with
a few hundred Dalits and a
majority of other castes. This
village had reportedly shown
caste discrimination against the
Dalits in a story published by The
New Indian Express in October
2013.
But now most of the residents
of the 'Arunthathiyar colony', a
segregated colony comprising the
Dalits of the village, refute any
existence of any discrimination.
The Dalit community resides on
the other side of the 'Mariamman'
temple and thus are alienated
from the main village. “None of
us own land in the village and
hence most of the people work as
labourers,” said Palani, a resident
of the colony.
Though people from the Dalit
community were reluctant to
speak, but youth from the other
community arranged for a
meeting with the councillor of the
ward. Nathamedu is a reserved
constituency
for
women
represented by Chithra Vetrual. It
was her husband who came
forward to represent her.
When asked about the
councillor’s whereabouts, he said
that she was at home and usually
he took care of all the
administrative works.
According to article 243-D of
the Constitution, the motive
behind the women's reservation
was to provide a platform for
equal
participation
and
representation of women in
public life.
But a lot of similar incidents
have been reported from different
parts of the country where male
family members of women
representatives take a call in the
decision making process, and this
in a way has undermined the
purpose of the reservation itself.
Tale of a forgotten land
SHALINA PILLAI
Dassampatti: The little rustic
village called Dasampatti is prone to
be missed by many cartographers
considering it consists of only
around 2000 people. Every evening,
all the women of the village gather
around the local Public Health
Centre to discuss family problems
and contribute to their mutually
created chit fund.
The women who seem to be
financially independent and active
in all their duties hide the fact that
the village records the highest cases A handpump which runs dry most of the week in
of domestic violence.
Photo: Shalina Pillai
M.Jaya (35) is a mother of two
daughters and a resident of the village.
She works on her paddy fields during the day the women’s silences, said Shankar. “They don’t
while taking care of the family. Her burnt hand want others to know what is happening behind
betrays the untold story of her husband’s bouts
of anger.
The village suffers from
“My husband did this to me when he came
home drunk and I refused to heat the food,” she
issues like health,
said recalling the incident. Jaya is not alone in
this torment.
connectivity and domestic
According to N.Shankar the Chief
violence
Functionary of Development Education and
Environment Protection Society (DEEPS),
Dasampatti has been heavily affected by the closed doors,” he added.
Health is another issue here, as villagers suffer
violent rages of the men. Women have filed
around 50 cases of domestic violence in the last from problems of weak knees and leg pain.
four months of 2014, said Shankar. Women of Anaemia is also common among children below
the village seem to have lost hope in the law the age of twelve. The Public Health Centre
enforcement agency of the district. “I went to (PHC) located in the village opens only on
complain at the police station but they asked for Wednesdays while the doctor attends to the
patients for only three hours.
money,” continued Jaya.
The villagers also complain of the same bottle
Social shame becomes another reason behind
of medicine being provided by
the doctor irrespective of the
problem. “Paracetamol is the
only medicine distributed by the
doctor for all our problems. We
cannot even afford to go to
another hospital as it is located
in the town,” complained a 70year old villager. The PHC does
pregnancy check-up but the
health of the young mothers is
extremely poor.
Selvi(23) is a young mother
whose body has stopped
producing milk to provide for
daughter. “We have to
her
Dassampatti.
regularly admit her to the
hospital as the doctors say her
bones are weak,” she said.
Many mothers complain that the children are
not getting enough nutrients because the ration
shop does not provide them with regular supply
of grains and wheat. The ration shop which
opens twice a month supplies the villagers with
only rice and kerosene.
There are no toilets in the village and people
usually defecate in the open.
Women’s hygiene also gets affected since
there is no proper disposal of sanitary pads
during their menstrual cycle. Women of the
village, who burn the sanitary pads out in the
open, are more prone to Hepatitis-A by being
exposed to the poisonous fumes, according to
Shankar.
Dasampatti remains without any help from
any of the higher authorities. DEEPS had voiced
the concern of the villagers in front of the
District Collector; however, no help has been
extended so far.
Caste politics raises
its head again in
Nathamedu
ADITYA IYER
Nathamedu village has been facing serious sanitation
problems.It gets irregular supply of water and has only 10
toilets. Since the existing toilets are in a bad state, people usually go to the open fields to relieve themselves.
The lack of toilets has affected the health of the villagers.
Cases of chikungunya and dengue are common. Photo:
Praveen Sudevan
Something to hide?
LAVANYA NARAYAN
Nathamedu: Nathamedu is yet
another village untouched by the
media, and unheard of by people in
Tamil Nadu.
Upon first entering Nathamedu,
the villagers seem welcoming.
However, the welcome for
outsiders is short lived. A question
on their caste differences made
them whisper. “We do not have any
problems here. I think it is best that
you leave.”
Further investigation reveals the
latent fear Nathamedu possesses;
the discovery of Arundhati colony
by outsiders. Arundhati colony is
the name given to the section of the
village inhabited by the Dalit
community.
A man named Pazhani served as
the source representing the
community. He kept asking people
to leave in a fearful manner.
According to him, the treatment
meted out to the Dalits in
Nathamedu is nothing but
inhumane.
Dalit rights denied
and existence
threatened
Their basic rights are denied, and
their existence is constantly
threatened.
He added that the other villagers
prohibit them from voting.
At the polling booths, their forms
are snatched away, and if they
protest, the villagers threaten to
beat them.
Drawing more attention to
Nathamedu through more news
stories could alleviate its problems,
and probably rid the looming issue
of the harsh treatment of its Dalits.
Nathamedu: In the backdrop of
concerns over the erosion of free
speech in this state with the selfproclaimed “death” of the
prominent Tamil author Perumal
Murugan, another fundamental
right appears to be under threat.
The right to vote, an indelible part
of the Constitution of this country,
and arguably the most important
duty for any citizen, has been
forcibly taken away from the Dalits
of Nathamedu as caste violence
rears its ugly head once more in the
district of Dharmapuri.
``Whenever elections come we are
forced to vote for
the party Vanniyars
support.’’
Dharmapuri is the district that
was aflame with caste violence in
2012, after a Dalit boy named
Ilavarasan married a Vanniyar caste
girl much to the distaste of the
higher caste. The boy’s home,
Natham, was set on fire by a mob,
and rumours of police complicity
and sanction from the Pattali
Makkal Katchi (PMK) persist to
this day.
In Nathamedu, the situation
appears to be as equally tense with
a Vanniyar and Dalit conflict
seemingly imminent. N. Shekar, a
52-year old Dalit resident of the
village, admitted that the tensions
have robbed the Dalits of their right
to vote. “Whenever elections come
we are forced to vote for the party
the Vanniyar’s support, usually the
PMK,” he mentioned bitterly.
Resistance, or any sort of protest on
the part of the Dalits is allegedly
met with extreme violence from the
higher caste, which dominates the
village.
There are some amongst the
Vanniyars who feel that the current
situation is untenable. R.
Abhimanan, a 23-year old Masters
graduate who has recently been
employed with Indian Railways
post, is one of them. “The system is
ancient; it has always been like this
in the village,” he said hesitantly.
He explained that the caste
hierarchy is rigidly fixed in rural
Tamil Nadu, and that nothing can
be done to meaningfully change it.
This attitude is a symptom of the
innumerable
injustices
and
punishments inflicted upon the
Dalit community throughout Tamil
Nadu due to their perceived
difference. These grievances,
codified and mitigated via the laws
of Manu, have manifested
themselves
in
decidedly
unconstitutional ways that are unfit
for a modern nation such as ours. It
is disheartening to see that such
abuses continue to thrive in a state
whose political ideology has
always been anti-caste and antiBrahmanical.
Villages like Nathamedu are
unfortunately the norm in the rural
parts of the subcontinent, which has
yet to move from archaic sociopolitical models and embrace all of
the contradictions of modern India.
They stand as examples of issues
that are considered taboo by our
middle-class society and, therefore,
non-existent: especially when it
comes to caste.
In order for the situation to
improve, one needs more than
people like Abhimanan; we, as a
collective, must ensure that such
injustices are no longer carried out
in the name of caste.
Pappireddipatti remains neglected
VIPAL DURGE
Pappireddipatti: Vachathi, a remote, tribal
village in the Pappireddipatti block has been
neglected from the ambit of governmental
schemes and services. Even the nearest Primary
Health sub-Centre (PHC) is almost seven
kilometres away from the village in
Chinnankuppam.
This is the village infamously known for the
Vachathi case of 1992, when it was completely
demolished by the government officials. The
accused were convicted in 2011.
“Accessible health services is what we need
the most”, said M. Mani, a resident of the
village. “Transportation is a major issue as there
is only one private bus that comes to the village
and so in case of emergencies, people have to be
transported by two- wheelers,” he added.
Mani works with Tirupur Banian Company,
“As there is no work available in the village we
have to migrate for the sake of jobs,” he said.
Most people in the village work as coolies or
migrant labourers in the neighbouring districts.
R. Kumaresan, who works as a coolie in
Kerala was unaware about the existence of
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(NREGA) scheme in the village.
But the backwardness has not been confined
only to Vachathi. According to the Census of
India 2011,
“There are merely six PHCs to cater the
population of 96,458 of the Pappireddipatti
block of which 42 per cent were SC's & ST's.”
Dharmapuri district was affected with the
problem of fluorosis due to high fluoride content
in the groundwater. “Pappireddipatti is the worst
affected block in terms of fluorosis cases”, said
Dr. Kavitha, Head of Department of Dental
Surgery at General Hospital in Dharmapuri.
Along with this, the region is also industrially
backward. According to the DC (Micro Small
and Medium Enterprises) data 2011, the growth
in number of Small Scale Industries (SSI) has
almost doubled in Dharmapuri but
Pappireddipatti remains behind with only 4.2%
of the total SSI units of Dharmapuri in the block.
According to an official working with
National Horticulture Mission, Pappireddipatti
has bettered its performance in terms of gross
agricultural produce and there has been an
increase in the production of horticultural crops,
health facilities but transportation still lacks
heavily in the region.
DHARMAPURI/KRISHNAGIRI
I7
Ex-councillor hopeful of
Malaiyur’s future
NARAYANAN S
Malaiyur: From Papparapatti
town, Malaiyur can be seen as a dot
on top of the hills. There is only a
gravel road leading to this village..
Away from the cacophony below,
here at Malaiyur everything moves
slowly.
It is close to dusk and one man
is leading his cattle to the shed. He
is K.Kamaraj, a former Councillor
of the ward. He is only 47-years
old, but had decided to call it a day
on his active role in the local
administration a long time back.
That does not mean he has stopped
working for the people here.
Kamaraj, a member of the
Communist Party of India
(Marxist) is still the go-to man for
the villagers whenever an issue
arises and he takes it to the
Papparapatti panchayat.
Malaiyur,
part
of
the
Pennagaram Taluk, comes under
the
Hogenakkal
Integrated
Drinking Water Project. But due to
power fluctuations, till recently it
was unable to pump water to the
overhead tank.
The villagers put pressure on the
administration and last year, the
District Collector ordered the
officials to install generators to fix
the problem. The villagers now
appreciate
the
marked
improvement in the quality of the
water. Kamaraj says that Dilli
Kamaraj hopes for better days
Photo: Narayanan S
Babu, the CPI (M) MLA from
Harur, has been his friend for years
and such connections help him to
get things done for the village.
Kamaraj reminisces the past
when they had to go all the way
down to Papparapatti to sell their
forest goods. Now trucks come
here to take their produce.
There is a high demand for
‘Kakattan poovu’ (white flower)
now as Pongal is around. He earns
around Rs 500 per kilogram. Apart
from the flowers, the main income
source for him is his three cows. He
sells the milk at a dairy farm in
Papparapatti at a rate of Rs 25 per
litre.
Kamaraj lives with his wife. He
has three children, a daughter and
two sons. The daughter, the eldest
among them, was married six years
back. One of the boys is studying
in Industrial Training Institute and
the other is studying in class 10.
Both of them live in government
hostels since the school in Malaiyur
provides education only till class 8.
Earlier, most people in the
village used to drop out after class
8 and start doing some menial
works to help their families. But
now the situation has changed and
parents are willing to let their
children complete their education.
There is no public transport
facility in Malaiyur. Some have two
wheelers and often they are used
for carrying sick people to hospital
when ambulance services are
unavailable. The closest public
health centre is at Papparapatti.
During Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s
National Democratic Alliance
(NDA) rule, a road was sanctioned
for Malaiyur under the Pradhan
Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana
(PMGSY). But a portion of the
proposed land was under the Forest
Department’s control and it took
nearly 14 years to get all the
clearances done. Kamaraj is
hopeful that once the work is
completed his villagers will be able
to access better facilities
Vachathi towards growth
SHALINA PILLAI
Photo: Chandni U
Vachathi: The lorry carrying
“kizhangu” (sweet potato) roots
comes at 3 pm exact to Vachathi,
when the sun is at its peak. The
roots that will be planted by the
famers the next day have become
a promising sign of survival in the
village. Women farmers can be
seen working in the fields, growing
sweet potatoes and selling the
cultivated produce in the Hosur
market. With the famers now
planning to expand their market by
growing cotton, the agriculture in
Vachathi is truly prospering.
Triumph over adversity
LAVANYA NARAYAN
Vachathi: Vachathi is one of
those villages in India which has
received almost overwhelming
amounts of media attention in
the last 22 years, undoubtedly
because of the 1992 case, in
which approximately 100 villagers were assaulted and 18
women were raped by a team of
forest officials and revenue officials.
One would assume that Vachathi would have come to a
standstill after the horror it
faced, chasing the demons from
its past.
CHANDNI U
On the contrary, Vachathi presents itself as one of the more
progressive villages of the Dharmapuri district. According to a
source, the tehsildar prohibits
the marriage of girls below the
age of 18. The village has not
one, but two government
schools in its proximity. Higher
education is greatly encouraged
and practiced by many, especially women.
One prominent example is
23-year old J. Shenbagam, who
earned a BSc in microbiology
from a college in Dharmapuri.
Shenbagam is not the only
woman to have set out to
achieve her goals. Many young
girls in the village are determined to educate themselves and
make their dreams come true.
Adding to the love for education, the villagers also have good
access to Tamil literature. In
2000, a Tamil language library
which houses a whopping 3000
books was opened in the village.
The library also has residents
from neighbouring villages frequenting it.
One must applaud the resilience and courage with which
its residents have been conducting their lives, despite their
daunting setback.
Vachathi’s Dalits have been
changing. They are members of
the Communist Party of India
(Marxist). The village, which has
a school, fertile lands and water
tanks from the government, only
lacks a hospital and better roads.
Selvi’s dream is to be an
Indian Administrative Service
Officer and provide her village
with a hospital and better
transport facilities. “My father
gets me general knowledge and
a few fictional books as well,”
she said in fluent English.
Modest
about
her
achievements, Selvi’s classmate,
V.Sowmya piped with the detail
that Selvi always topped her
class. Selvi also loves playing
kabaddi and board games. She
has travelled to Chennai. “It is
nice to feel the fresh air and
watch the sunset.” she said.
It is time to let the people
forget the past and instead focus
on the future of the bright
children like Selvi.
Sharing unspoken dreams
Vachathi: A group of elders sat
under the banyan tree facing
cameras and pens. “The
Vannatarai, Varuvai thurai and
the Thavaithurai demolished our
houses and raped our women.”
narrated the Panchayat head.
Fourteen-year old S.Selvi had
been unaware of the 1992 case
until last year when a
microphone was thrust at the
victims to relive the past
incident. “My parents do not talk
about it,” she said
In a raid for alleged smuggling
of sandalwood, forest personnel
and police officials wrecked the
hamlet and raped the women.
Since June 20, 1992, media has
been flocking to the tribal
hamlet, to uncover more facts
and create sensationalism in
innumerable ways.
The villagers were never
given the opportunity to forget
the pain.
They want them to be in peace
and pay little attention to
casteism. “Caste violence has
reduced. People mind their own
business,” said Selvi when asked
about it.
S.Selvi(left) with her friends. Photo: Chandni U
8 I DHARMAPURI/KRISHNAGIRI
DEEPS fights
against foeticide
LAVANYA NARAYAN
Pennagaram:
Development
Education and Environment
Protection Society (DEEPS),
founded in May 1988, has worked
primarily towards the preservation
of women’s interests and the
abolition of problems facing
women, such as sex ratio
regulation, increase in female
literacy and the prevention of
female foeticide and infanticide.
DEEPS’s operations are headed
by M. Shankar, Secretary-cumDirector. In addition to operating
two offices in Dindugal and
Dharmapuri,
they
conduct
networking
activities
in
Krishnagiri,
Theni,
Salem,
Namakkal, and Karur.
Shankar said that around 99
percent of tribal villages do not
practice female foeticide and
infanticide.
However at the same time, 13
districts in Tamil Nadu still engage
in this practice. More than 47% of
it happens in Dharmapuri.
“Between 2000 and 2002, 64
M. Shankar, Director of DEEPS.
Photo: Lavanya Narayan
mothers were arrested for either
engaging in female foeticide or
infanticide,” he added.
DEEPS has also been actively
involved in the abolition of
Sumangali Scheme, wherein young
girls are sent to textile mills in
Coimbatore and Tirupur and made
to work for five years.
The poor living and working
conditions in these mills, usually
lead to them being severely injured
or dead .
Shankar also spoke about the
Cradle Baby scheme in Tamil
Nadu, which was founded in 2002.
While the Cradle Baby scheme
has, to some extent, reduced
female foeticide and infanticide,
Shankar believes that it has its
negative impact as well.
It violates the rights of the child
to know and interact with its birth
parents, according to Shankar.
“In 2009, I filed a case against
the scheme in this regard, and I
have been fighting this case ever
since.”
A Child Protection Committee
was formed in Krishnagiri to this
effect on January 5 this year.
In addition to fighting against
the social injustice, DEEPS goes to
various villages and conducts
workshops and programmes
primarily for women and newborn
children.
“We have recently collaborated
with UNICEF on a pilot project to
improve the health of young
children,” said Shankar.
“We are hoping to achieve a lot
more in this respect in the
following years.”
Hogenakkal water eludes
intended beneficiaries
SHALINA PILLAI
Hogenakkal: The Hogenakkal
Water Supply and Fluorosis
Mitigation project was launched by
the former Chief Minister J
Jayalalithaa amid much celebration
in May 2013.
The 1,928 crore project, which
aimed to supply 127.60 million
litre of water per day to the drought
and fluorosis affected areas of
Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri, was a
topic of debate as the then
Karnataka government under the
leadership of B.S Yedurappa had
opposed the construction of the
project in 2008.
The plant filters Cauvery water
through five package process.The
treated water has fluoride content
of less than 1% and is supplied to
the two districts through various
pipes.
“The project supplies water to 3
municipalities and 17 town
panchayats,” said E Sankaran,
Assistant Engineer of the Project.
The residents of Nathamedu, a
village under the Morappur taluk
that was greatly affected by high
concentration of fluorosis in water,
said that the government installed
five tanks at a distance of 500
metres from each other at the
entrance of the village.
“The tanks run dry most of the
time and the filtered water is
supplied only once a week,” said
Govind Raj (35), a resident. Even
the bore wells are running dry in
the area so people buy water.
“A can of 25 litre costs around
Rs. 30 but we have to finish it in
two days since it gets spoilt
quickly,” Raj added.
The Hogenakkal water was
mandated to supply water 24x7 to
all the villages, according to the
Hogenakkal Water Plant Project
Manager Sajeev Nair.
Water being treated at Hogenakkal. Photo: Shalina Pillai
Denying any discrepancies from
their side, Nair said that they have
“The tanks run dry
most of the time and
the filtered water is
supplied only once a
week.”
no control over the supply and the
control rests with respective
panchayat authorities.
Dasampatti, a village in
Pennagram, depend on bore wells
and Hogenakkal water, which is
inconsistent, for water.
The residents said that the water
has turned salty after the
inauguration of the Hogenakkal
water project and the quality of
water was better before.
Sankaran explained that this
could happen due to the mixing of
both the local water from Cauvery
River and the treated water through
“local party arrangements.”
The panchayat officials of
Morappur and Pennagram had
refused to comment on the issue
and said that they could not
interfere with the water supply as
the pipes were directly linked with
the Hogenakkal water treatment
plant.
John Bosk, an official working
with the United Nations Children's
Fund (UNICEF) said that since
separate water tanks were built for
the supply of the Hogenakkal
treated water, it was unlikely that
the water could be mixed with the
bore well water.
The
Krishnagiri
District
Collector T.P Rajesh lauded the
water project and affirmed that the
water supply from the Project was
reaching all the 142 revenue
villages under it.
The residents of Kodagarai, a
village in Denkanikottai taluk,
receive the treated water only on
every alternate day even though
they have pipes installed for the
same purpose.
“Never heard about fluorosis”
Villagers remain unaware despite mitigation project
ADITYA IYER &
VIPAL DURGE
Hogenakkal: The Hogenakkal
water supply and fluorosis
mitigation project aims to provide
clean drinking water in
Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri.
Fluorosis, according to Dr. D
Sregalatha, the Head of the
Dental Surgery Department at the
Government Hospital (GH) in
Dharmapuri, is caused by an
excess of fluoride in drinking
water.
“The
effects
of
over
consumption of fluoride can
include dental and skeletal
fluorosis – essentially the decay
of the teeth and bones that can
lead to serious problems if not
checked properly.”
Making sure that people come
for check-ups, though, is proving
to be a problem.
While it is too early to say if
the project, which started in 2012,
has been able to deliver clean
drinking water to the districts,
there is clearly a lack of
awareness about the severity of
the issue.
“Most people only come in for
cosmetic surgery” explained
Sregalatha, adding that the
discolouration of the teeth was
more troubling for those affected
than the health concerns.
According to a recent World
Health Organisation report, India
is one of the seriously fluorosisaffected countries in the world;
furthermore, Tamil Nadu is one
of the worst affected states.
The lack of awareness about
the severity of ongoing fluorosis
is exacerbated by rampant
illiteracy levels.
Dr. S Kumari, a private
practice dentist near the
Government Hospital, deals with
an average of 24 cases per month.
She said,”More than half of
them are uneducated, and it is
difficult to make them understand
the problem.”
“The water is an issue, but we
have no other alternative” said
Kalyani S, a long time resident of
Ambedkar Colony.
Located right opposite the GH,
it is one of the worst affected
areas in the whole block; yet the
people are completely ignorant of
the disease.
The 53-year old was aware of
the symptoms of the disease –
discolouration of the teeth, severe
joint pains, difficulty in walking
due to osteosclerosis, the
hardening and calcification of the
bones, but said, “I have never
heard about fluorosis,” and was
unaware of the free treatment
being provided at the GH.
“In order to raise awareness of
the issue, we have embarked on
several schemes,” explained Dr.
Kavitha S, assistant head of the
Dental department and the
woman in charge of the
awareness campaign.
This was manifested in a
poster campaign–published in
both Tamil and English- a radio
bulletin, and a TV debate led by
doctors and specialists on
Hogenekkal water.”
Kavitha said that they hope the
affected people will become more
careful about water preservation
and storage methods and start
relying on the Hogenekkal water
supply. Only then will the future
generation be free of the disease.
TEENAGE GIRLS ENSLAVED IN
TEXTILE INDUSTRY
PHEBA B. MATHAI
Dharmapuri: The Child Labour
Prohibition and Regulation Act,
1986 protects children only up to
the age of 14 years. This creates a
loophole by which children above
the age of 14 are made to work.
According to a Deccan
Chronicles report dated September
2014, around 2.7 lakh workers are
employed in spinning mills and
apparel units under Sumangali
scheme in Tamil Nadu.
The scheme provides work to
girls from 15-18 years from poor
households in the textile industries.
They earn Rs 25,000-50,000, after
a period of three to five years, for
their marriage.
After 2.5 years, many girls are
falsely accused of wrongdoings and
others are given repeated shifts so
that they themselves leave their
jobs and the company does not
have to pay the lump sum amount,
said Bala Murgan.
“The present law is not
supporting the prevention of child
labour.
The
Apprenticeship
Amendment Act gives full freedom
to the employer to harass the
employee,” said Bala Murgan,
UNICEF Consultant based in
Salem.
Priya, a 19-year-old girl from
Vattuvanahalli in Dharmapuri
district worked at a textile industry
in Coimbatore for one and a half
years.
She completed her
schooling and joined the textile
industry and did packaging of
yarns.
Priya said that they had to work
for twelve hours for three days a
week and 8 hours for the remaining
days. There were 17 girls staying in
one room with one toilet facility,
she said.
She was paid Rs.5000 per month
Priya from Varnahalli who worked
under Sumangali scheme.
Photo: Pheba B. Mathai
but was given only eight days leave
in 6 months. “If anyone took one
day leave, Rs.200 was deducted
from their salaries.”
Most of the girls work on
spinning mills. One of her
colleagues, Shruti, got hurt while
working on a spinning wheel but
she was not allowed to go home.
She continued to work by adjusting
work load with her colleagues.
Shruti was not provided with any
compensation for the mishap, she
said.
Priya said that most of the girls
working in the mill were aged
between 16 and 18 and were not
allowed to leave the compound
without the assistance of the staff
members.
They were not even provided
with statutory benefits such as
provident fund and employees’
state insurance. They were not
allowed to leave their jobs under
any circumstances other than
marriage. She was not paid any
amount while leaving even after
completing her half tenure.
The mills employing young girls
under Sumangali scheme violate
Minimum Wages Act (1948),
Weekly off under the Factories Act
(1942), Bonded Labour System
(abolition) Act 1976 and Bonus Act
1965.
Bala Murgan said, “These textile
mills keep changing the name of
the scheme and since people are
agitating in Tamil Nadu, they have
started replacing them with the
Northern state girls.”
“Narendra Modi said there will
be no ‘Inspector Raj’, so labour
inspectors will not be allowed to
visit the industry. When there is no
control by the law, employers will
tend to exploit the workers to the
core,” he added.
“Employers tend to
exploit employees
to the core”
According to Bala Murgan, there
should be a change in the present
education system. “There should be
a skilled vocational training in
Class 11th and 12th which can
improve their livelihood and
financial status.”
There are about 1,912 spinning
mills and 7,990 apparel units across
the state. The western region,
including Coimbatore, Erode and
Tirupur districts, account for 1,309
spinning mills and quite a number
of apparel units have 'Sumangali
scheme'.
According to 2011 census, the
number of cases of child labour in
Tamil Nadu has come down from
4.2 lakhs to 1.5 lakhs.
N. Saravanan, Project Manager,
National Child Labour Policy,
Dharmapuri said, “Dharmapuri is a
child labour prone area but the
number of school dropouts has
reduced from 76000 in 1996 to
2230 per year now.”
Child marriages
prevail despite
various schemes
CHANDNI U
Dharmapuri: S.Pandiammal who
was married at 16 was pregnant
with her third child at 19; R.Selvi
married at 17 was pregnant with
her third child at 20.
According to Dr.Ganesan, a
paediatrician at the Dharmapuri
Government Hospital, around 20
such women under high risk
pregnancies are admitted at the
hospital every day.
"Women admitted here are
neither healthy nor have enough
nutrition which results in
complicated deliveries," said
Dr.Ganesan.
The financial status and lack of
education are reasons for child
marriage according to John Bosk, a
UNICEF consultant.
“We hardly earn enough so we
are unable to educate them after 5th
standard. Children these days
easily fall in love and elope. To
avoid that, we get them married
when they come of age.” said
M.Pappamma, from Dasampatti
village.
The
Integrated
Child
Development Scheme (ICDS), an
organisation for welfare of mothers
and children, provides both
primary health care and good
education but falls short in its
reach.
“We hardly get to hear of any
such schemes.” said Selvi.
Dr.Muthulakshmi
Reddy
Maternity Benefits Scheme, one of
the 22 schemes for women from
their birth to death, funds Rs.12,
000 in three installments of Rs.
4000 to pregnant women above the
age of 19 and below the poverty
line.
However, the scheme has not
been implemented properly,
according to John.
Tourism turns sour and unsafe
A view of the Hogennakal Falls, sometimes called the Niagara of India, from the Hanging Bridge. Photo: Lavanya Narayan
DANGERS NOT ADDRESSED
NARAYANAN S
Hogenakkal: Hogenakkal is 46
km away from Dharmapuri town.
Rides on coracles - a circular
boat locally made out of
bamboos, medicinal baths, oil
massages and freshly prepared
fish are a few attractions that lure
tourists.
The coracles that ply are
sometimes filled to the brim with
tourists by boatmen to earn more
money.
In a boat loaded with eight
people, only one or two get to
wear lifejackets. Sometimes
lifejackets are used as cushions to
sit on, in an otherwise rough
coracle or as a shield against the
beating sun.
The State government brought
in a licensing system in 2010 to
regulate the boats. There are 450
licensed boatmen in Hogennakal
and they are divided into two
groups. The groups work on
alternate days.
Though uniforms were made
mandatory for all boatmen in
2010, “no one bothers to wear
them these days,” said A. Dinesh
Kumar, Assistant Manager,
Hogenakkal Tourism.
Cine Falls, a part of the
Hogenakkal falls, is very
dangerous with a plunge of 50-60
feet. The entry to the Cine Falls
through the ‘Hanging Bridge’ is
closed to the public during
monsoons due to flood alerts. But
people reach there through
coracle rides by paying extra
money.
“The crowd that visits
Hogenakkal is typically young,
with a lot of college students and
teenagers. Their over-enthusiasm
and urge to stretch the limits have
resulted in many accidents,”
Kumar said.
Although there is a walkway
with barricades leading up to the
Hanging Bridge, a dispute
between the Tourist Department
and the Forest Department had
squashed the plans to have
barricades beyond the bridge.
A Fire and Rescue Services
Station was opened by the Tamil
Nadu government after a
complaint was raised by former
Indian Police Service (IPS)
“The crowd that
visits is typically
young. Their overenthusiasm and
urge to stretch the
limits have resulted
in many accidents.”
officer Kiran Bedi in 2002.
K. Rajaram, the Station
Officer in charge of the rescue
office, said that they have been
able to save many lives. He
showed a letter of gratitude
written by one boy who was
rescued by his team last year.
There is a Kaveri Amman Koil
near the fall. This makes the place
a pilgrim centre in addition to it
being a tourist spot.
“People commit suicide by
jumping off the cliffs because of
their misconception that they
would reach heaven if they end
their life at the Cauvery,” said
Dinesh Kumar.
Human Handiwork
CHANDNI U
Hogenakkal: Crystal clear, the
water rushes down in full speed.
Water droplets hang in the air
creating a foggy illusion. This
view is mesmerizing.
One glance down, the image is
shattered. A plastic cup bobbing
on the waves, a red cloth stuck
around a rock and the water
,murky.
The Cauvery from the
Brahmagiri hills makes its way to
Tamil Nadu through Hogenakkal.
The locals consider it holy and
perform various rituals. The water
flows with red pieces of cloth,
coconut shells and sacred threads.
“We allotted a special place for
them to conduct their rituals,”
said A.Dinesh Kumar, Assistant
Manager of Hogenakkal Tourism.
“We had to install
a crash rack as one
or two bodies were
found every day.”
Suicides are also common.
“We had to install a crash rack as
one or two bodies were found
every day,” said S.Shankaran, the
Area Executive Engineer while
explaining the new water project.
The
State
Planning
Commission
declared
Hogenakkal a “throw-away
plastic free zone” in its tenth fiveyear plan.
In 2006 and 2011, collectors
M. Chandrasekaran and R.
Ananthakumar,
respectively,
imposed bans on usage of plastic
goods. Billboards, now tattered,,
were raised from Pennagram to
Hogenakkal quoting “Plastic
goods banned” both in Tamil and
English.
However, after all these years,
it is apparent that the boards were
not paid attention to as the place
is littered with plastic bags and
bottles.
Even if a tourist wants to
discard these properly there are
no dustbins in sight.
“Monkeys take away the small
dustbins in search of fish bones.
We can’t even keep bigger
dustbins due to forest regulations.
” said Kumar.
Even the locals, who come to
the falls to sell their products, add
to the pollution.
“I wash my clothes daily here,
since the water supply back
home is irregular,” said a woman,
selling chips.
Tourists get oil massage and
stand under the falls for relief.
“We provided a separate place for
the masseurs but they don’t use it
at all,” said Kumar.
Unauthorised construction of
buildings is adding to the woes.
In 2010, there were only 10
lodges, in the area, and now there
are around 36, most of which do
not have proper sewage treatment
facilities.
They usually discharge their
sewage into the water.
According to a report in The
Hindu, the Tamil Nadu Pollution
Control Board had proposed a
common sewage treatment plant
but none of the hotels except for
Hotel Tamil Nadu applied.
“It is the District Collector’s
duty to look into these
environmental problems. We
have done everything that we
possibly can.” said Kumar.
DHARMAPURI/KRISHNAGIRI I 9
Women’s health at risk
LAVANYA NARAYAN
Denkanikottai: Tucked away on a
hillside in the Thally block of
Krishnagiri, Kodagarai is a village
that is largely unknown to most
people not only in Tamil Nadu, but
also in Krishnagiri.
received
has
Kodagarai
negligible coverage in the press;
two articles in the last five years.
One of these articles, written in
December 2009, pointed out that
the worst affected individuals were
pregnant women. Unfortunately,
the situation has not changed since.
The health of pregnant women in
Kodagarai is a daunting issue, as it
is extremely poor with no
or
change
of
indication
improvement, since most women
living there are anaemic. After
three pregnant women died during
their caesarean sections at the
Health of pregnant women is a daunting problem in Kodagarai village.
Photo: Lavanya Narayan
government hospital in the town of
Hosur, and were brought back to
the village on stretchers with their
tubes and fittings intact, the people
of Kodagarai no longer trust going
there for deliveries. Instead, they
opt for home deliveries.
But no other prospective
mother’s situation could be worse
than that of Mallamma’s.
Mallamma is a 22 year old woman
residing in Kodagarai. At the age of
20, she gave birth to a stillborn
baby via caesarean section at the
Hosur government hospital. Two to
three days after returning to the
village, she was unable to stand up
on her legs and walk, and has been
unable to ever since. Her mother
stated that she drags herself on the
ground to move around, clinging
onto fences and walls. Siddha, her
husband, ran away from the village
after this.
Dr. G. Susheela, who currently
practices as a gynaecologist in
Chennai, believes that this could be
the result of severe nerve damage
during the delivery procedure.
“Spinal cord injuries are the
primary cause for paralysis,
especially from the waist down.
There are a number of nerves that
could have been tampered with
during the procedure. Mishandling
a single nerve itself could have
been the cause of paralysis,” she
said.
Child marriage continues to
plague the village to this day, along
with the issue of teenage mothers.
Children born in the village are
legally out of wedlock, because the
marriage ceremonies are not
registered under law, according to
village elder Gauri. “If the village
sees a boy and a girl together, they
don’t hesitate in getting them
married. Because no family has
enough money to arrange a
wedding, the boy simply ties a
yellow thread around the girl’s
neck, and they start having children
immediately,” she said.
Gauri is one of the two ‘forward
thinkers’ of the village. She, along
with another village elder, visits
families in the village, advising
them not to marry their daughters
before the age of 18.
Kodagarai continues to be a
village lacking the most basic
amenities. While there seems to be
slight improvement with BSNL
connectivity in the village and the
village children attending school
regularly, the village is still in need
of severe rehabilitation.
Not all rosy for Hosur horticulturists
VIPAL DURGE
Hosur: Hosur block ranks first in Rose
production in the state. The HosurDenkanikotta area, which has around 250
government-assisted and 55 privately owned
greenhouse cut-flower production units,
accounts for 80 per cent of India’s rose
exports.
Tanflora Infrastructure Park limited, a joint
venture of Tamil Nadu Industrial
Development Corporation (TIDCO) and M.
Naseem Ahmed & Associates, at
Amudagondapally village is certainly the
role model for rose cultivation in the district.
“Tanflora is spread over an area of 54
hectare and has 50 poly/green houses of two
hectare each. It is run by 25 independent
farmers”, said Tamilarasi, Production
Manager at Tanflora.
TIDCO had granted Rs. 64.8 million for
the infrastructure development in the block.
The Agricultural and Processed Food
Products Export Development Authority
There are only five
multipurpose cold
storage facilities in
Krishnagiri
(APEDA) had built the cold storage facility
for the project. Even National Horticulture
Mission (NHM) provides subsidy to the
individual farmers at the post harvesting
stage.
“With substantial help from the state
government, Tanflora has become a
successful venture and now it exports cut
roses to Holland, Australia, Middle East and
Singapore,” Tamilarasi added.
According to Hosur based rose exporter
Shiva, roses are very delicate plants and thus
ideally roses immediately after harvest
should be graded, packed, pre-cooled and
despatched by refrigerated vehicle. But lack
of adequate cold storage facility is a major
problem.
There are only five multipurpose cold
storage facilities in Krishnagiri to facilitate
the production of 1,115 acres of land under
flower cultivation.
According to a report by the International
Journal of Business and Management
Inventions, 2013 (IJBMI) on rose cultivation
at Hosur block, huge investment requirement
and irregular supply of electricity were the
Pickup trucks - lifeline for villagers
SWATHI MOORTHY
major concerns voiced by the cultivators as
well as the exporters.
High freight rate was another issue raised
by the IJBMI report. but the Deputy Director,
NHM Dharmapuri said, “NHM provides a 40
per cent farmer subsidy on high density
plantation, which has boosted the production.
The subsidies provided by APEDA have also
helped cultivators and exporters”.
M. Tirumalai (20), beneficiary of the
NHM scheme said that he had managed to
earn decent profits over the past five years
with the help of subsidies.
Even the other benefits provided by the
government like 25 per cent subsidy on air
freight and import duty relaxations in
connection to importing seed development
machinery, and material for green house have
certainly helped in increasing the export,
according to the NHM Deputy Director.
Muniyamma Malla, a resident,
said, “Our only form of
transportation is this truck which
comes to the village twice a day, at
8.45 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. We make
use of the transport when we have
to shop for necessities.”
When they miss the truck they
walk till Bettamugilalam kootu
road to take a bus to Denkanikotta.
When the bus breaks down, which
happens more often than not, the
people are stranded with no access
to other means of conveyance.
Muniyamma’s husband Malla
Kulla, has been suffering from hip
pain for the past 2-3 years and has
been unable to work because of
that. When the pain became
unbearable they had to wait for the
truck to take them to Denkanikotta
Government Hospital since he
cannot walk the entire distance.
Unlike Kulla, many tolerate the
pain and rely on the monthly health
checkup camp and medicines
provided by three nurses.
Ponnamma, another inhabitant
of the village, said that during
emergencies they called an
ambulance from Denkanikotta GH,
which took more than an hour to
reach their village.
Almost all women delivered
their babies at home with the
assistance of a midwife, Malli. She
died recently and now a few
women handle the emergencies
themselves.
But when the rains come, the
truck service is suspended and the
village is more or less cut off unless
the villagers decide to wade
through the slushy stretch till they
reach the Kootu Road.
Dr. S Sudharshan, a freelance
consultant currently working with
health and forest department of
Tamil Nadu, said that for laying a
road the village should have a
population of 5000 generating a
minimum income of Rs. 10000
with the human traffic at least 500
per trip in order to sustain the
operation.
Kodagarai has a population less
than the specified number putting
together 5 or 6 hamlets in the area.
The income generated is not
enough and according to
Sudharshan, this explains why a
proper road has not been laid.
Irudukottai: Andal, a farm hand
has been residing in Thirumanagar
for the past six years. She has been
using solar powered torches for the
last six years.
There is no electricity in the village
and villagers, like Andal, depend
on these solar powered bulbs
distributed by an NGO.
Thirumanagar is roughly 3 km
from the Irudukottai main road in
Krishnagiri District. From a
distance,
the
houses
at
Thirumanagar appear as tiny dots
in the midst of hills and valleys
under the vast blue sky. As if in
sync with nature the village has
retained its raw beauty.
“We charge the solar bulbs Two hundred families of Thirumanagar without electricity. Photo: Swathi
throughout the day so that there is
at least some light inside the house were present at the time of infrastructure they desperately
require to get power supply in their
distribution by the NGO.
during the night,” Andal said.
The rest of them were not village, the residents allege.
But the light powered by solar
Girijamma Govindan, a resident,
energy lasts only for few hours. provided with these torches and
said that during elction campaigns
After which they have to resort to they still depend on candles.
Though the nearest village , parties ask for vote promising
using candles or lamps failing
Irudukottai has power supply, electricity.
which they live in darkness.
However, no party has done
According to a report published Thirumanagar, that houses 200
anything to solve this issue even
in The Hindu, titled ‘Powerless families , is deprived of it.
So far no serious attempt has after assuming power.
hamlet in Krishnagiri awaits basic
Veeramadappan Mottaiyappan,
amenities’ the solar torches were been made by the authorities
received only by the families that concerned to build the basic another resident who moved from
Kottaiyurkollai to Thriumanagar,
said, “We had to work only in the
forest for our livelihood which is
dangerous since we run the risk of
encountering
wild
animals,
especially elephants.”
They made the move more for
the safety of their progeny than for
their own survival, he added.
Veeramadappan said that the
nearest school is in Irudukottai
which has classes only till eighth
standard after which they have to
go to Kelamangalam, far from their
village.
The buses plying between the
places are sporadic and do not run
on times that school children can
make use of.
With the lack of adequate light in
the area, the residents do not send
their children, especially girls, for
higher education owing to security
issues.
Water is another huge issue for
the residents of Thirmanagar.
The nearest water source is two
miles away, said Rajan, Andal’s
husband.
The villagers need to walk the
entire distance at least five times
daily to fetch 10-15 pails of water
per family for cooking, washing
and bathing, he added.
Kodagarai: A pickup truck on
Denkanikotta-Bettamugilalam road
runs almost empty; it slows down
as it turns at the Bettamugilalam
kootu road. It takes about 30-40
minutes on the bumpy 10 km
stretch to reach Kodagarai, a
settlement of 200 families of
Irulars.
A group of sick men and women,
children, teenagers with sacks on
their heads and hips have been
waiting in the village. As soon as
the truck rolls to a stop, they
clamber on board with their sacks.
This truck is their lifeline, a symbol
of civilization.
Most of the inhabitants of
Kodagarai are coolies or farm
hands having known no specific
skill or trade. In the absence of
work, which is nine months in a
year, they procure food – mostly
fallen fruits – and raw materials –
dried plants and fruits – from the
forest. While they consume the
food they sell the raw material in
exchange for food grains or money.
This exchange is made possible
by the pickup truck that carries
men, cement, harvested ragi
(millet) and other farm produce,
cattle and poultry to and from
Denkanikotta.
The truck has been taking the
same course for only about a year.
Kodagarai farmers waiting for a
pickup truck. Photo: Gulshan K
The one way fare is Rs 40.
Another truck, that was used
met with four accidents before its
service was stopped and the new
service was started, said N.
Perumal, worker in ARCOD, a
grassroots voluntary organization
registered under the Tamil Nadu
societies Registration Act.
Thirumanagar in darkness for 6 years
SWATHI MOORTHY
Troubling case of
an illegal home
Illegal home Mar Ivanios Mission Center in Thattakarai. Photo: Pheba B
Mathai
PHEBA B MATHAI
Thattakarai: An illegal home,
Mar Ivanios Mission Center has
been operating in Thattakarai,
Krishnagiri district for the past
three months.
The home is run by the Anthony
Hospital in Kamagiri. This center
is operated in a small room rented
from the locals.
The home has one teacher and
she looks after 15 children of 2-3
years till 4p.m.
M.
Jaykumar,
Panchayat
Secretary, Bettamugilalam said,
“Mar Ivanios Mission Center is not
registered under The Juvenile
Justice Act, 2000 (Care and
protection of children). They do not
want to be monitored or inspected
by the officials”.
He added, “We are not taking
any action against the illegal home
since the villagers are getting
benefitted. If we try to stop it,the
locals might not like it”.
Dr.S.Sudershan, Social worker
at Society for Educational
Volunteer Action said, as soon as
the teacher comes to know that
government officials are coming
for inspection, she shuts the center
and keeps the children in another
house.
M. Gauri, 25, teacher at the
center said that the children are not
taught anything. They are just
provided with snacks and lunch at
the home.
K. Radha, teacher, Panchayat
Union school, Thattakarai said that
most of the children are running
outside the home and the teacher
only comes to give food to the
children.
Gauri said, the home also
organizes medical camps twice a
month. The doctors from the
Anthony hospital come to the
villages to do check-ups. They also
provide free medicines to the
villagers. She added that in case of
an emergency, ambulance is also
brought into the village.
According to a shopkeeper, S.
Pariappa, (65) the medical camps
are of no help to the villages since
they are just given bed sheets and
no actual medical help is provided.
‘A new life for Irulars’
A 45-day masonry training workshop under the Pudhu Vaazhu (New Life) project. Photo: Swathi Moorthy
ADITYA IYER
Kodagarai:
The
idyllic
surroundings of the village of
Kodagarai, situated in the
mountains of Krishnagiri, are ideal
for farming; yet the dearth of
water means that the villagers
cannot depend on agriculture for
their livelihood. A remote setting
(more than 40 kilometres from the
nearest town, Denkanikottai), poor
access and an inaccessible hill
range have exacerbated the
situation for the 3,500 odd
inhabitants of Kodagarai.
According to the District
Collector of Krishnagiri, the entire
district benefits from the National
Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(NREGA) scheme, with 21.8
lakhs registered households, and
92 days of work guaranteed for
one family member. Whilst still
significantly lower than the
national average, which currently
stands at 112 days, even this
modicum of employment has not
reached the remote village.
“We are fit and healthy and
desperate to work”, says M.
Lingavaran, a 25-year old Irular
tribesman from Kodagarai, “But
we get absolutely no work under
NREGA”. It is because of this lack
of employment that most of the
men turn to drinking as they
summa irukka (are just lazing
around with nothing to do).
Not all is lost, however, as a
State government initiative, Pudhu
Vaazhvu, (New Life Project) aims
to guarantee work for the Irular
people.
The scheme, which receives
support
from
the
Rural
Development Ministry, targets the
most deprived rural areas of India,
offering training and employment
to the men, loans and bank
accounts to families, and
sanitation and hygiene advice to
the women.
“This is the first time that we
have brought this scheme to this
particular village” says M.
Balakrishnan, the overseer of the
project, proudly. As Single Group
Facilitator Balakrishnan, along
with
his
colleague
R.
Ravichandran, trains the village
men to learn proper construction
techniques.
After an intensive 45-day
course, the Pudhu Vaazhvu project
then send the men to work in
cities, such as Hosur, Bangalore
and even Chennai. “We have been
training around 38 people from
this village from December
19,2014”, Ravichandran explains.
A government engineer, the Salem
native came to help train the men
in how to use proper techniques,
such as masonry and plumb-bobs,
and how to lay bricks correctly.
“The project has allocated Rs. 4
lakhs for this particular block”,
Balakrishnan continues, adding
that everything – the training
costs, material and transportation
– is paid for by the government.
But as Single Group Facilitator,
Balakrishnan does more than
simply provide free material to the
village.
“Each project sets up a Village
Poverty Reduction Committee
office in the village”, he explains,
pointing at a ramshackle hut with
“VPRC” scrawled hastily on it in
English and Tamil. The VPRC
operates under the Gram Sabha,
and serves as a mediator for
providing loans and bank accounts
to the villagers.
It also serves as an instructional
facility; “We teach the women
how to observe more hygienic
practices at home, and show them
the importance of sanitation”
Balakrishnan adds.
The scheme appears to be
working, as several villagers were
more than happy to attest. “Before
they set up the project there was
absolutely nothing to do here”
says R. Saman, 24. Now however,
he and his peers have a sense of
purpose, and have some pride in
the fact they are skilled labourers.
The Pudhu Vaazhvu project has
ensured that the men, working
with affiliated firms, earn between
150 and 300 rupees per day.
Lingavaran
himself
started
working with the project in Hosur
as a coolie: now, he is a trainer,
earning as much as Rs. 600 most
days. “This project hasn’t stopped
all of the problems we have”, he
commented, “but it is a good start.
We now have something to do,
and we have the means to support
our families and communities .”
Time will tell whether the
scheme can be expanded to
encompass the whole village, or
whether the women, resistant to
the idea of working outside of
their homes, will also be included.
For now, at least, it seems that the
Irular men in Kodagarai have
finally found a way to support
their families.
FACT FILE
GUNTUR
Land pooling begins in Thullur
USHA RANI DAS
Guntur District in Andhra
Pradesh is located on the southeast coast of India. It has a total
area of 11,391 sq kms. The
district has 57 mandals. Thullur
is one of the major mandals of
the district,where the new
capital of the state will come up.
POPULATION
Population: 4,889,230
Growth Rate (20012011): 9.5%
Density: 429 /sqkm
OCCUPATION
Major Occupation: Farming of
cotton, chilli, vegetables, paddy
and tobacco.
PROBLEMS
Resistance
against
the
government’s land pooling raises
questions regarding loss to
agricultural output, livelihood of
the farmers and pollution of the
Krishna river.
Ananthavaram: Farmers of
Ananthavaram village of Thullur
mandal have given their land for
the new capital of Andhra Pradesh
to be built in Guntur district.
However not all farmers have
parted with their land willingly in
the Vijayawada-Guntur-TenaliMangalagiri belt where the capital
is to be constructed.
In Ananthavaram, Minister for
Municipal Administration, P.
Narayana, initiated land-pooling on
January 3 for the development of
the new capital region.
“We will make a better capital
than Delhi. Injustice has been done
by the division of the state. It is
time to undo that,” he said.
The land owners will be given
Rs. 30,000 per year, 1000 square
yards of residential area and 200
square yards of commercial area
within city limits. The village has a
total area of 571 acres, most of
which is under cultivation.
Narayana said that the design for
the new capital city would be given
by Singapore based firms, Jurong
International and Sabana.
Earlier, Chief Minister N.
Chandrababu Naidu had said the
master plan would be ready by June
and the construction work would be
started after the plan was approved.
Joint Collector M. R. Rao said
the villagers could produce
photocopies of their documents to
claim ownership of land and obtain
official receipts. The process of
Farmers attending the meeting chaired by MP Galla Jaydev in the village.
Photo: Santosh Gt
land pooling has evoked mixed
responses from people. Though
most farmers are willing to give
their land for a better future, some
Staff against move to Mangalagiri
POULOMI DAS
Mangalagiri: After initiating the
process of acquiring land for the
proposed capital of Andhra Pradesh
in Thullur in Guntur district, Chief
Minister Chandrababu Naidu is
determined to build a temporary
capital at Mangalagiri by July.
The Amravati township which is
in Mangalagiri, has been identified
as the site for the temporary ‘seat
of power’ where the Chief Minister
wants 17 administrative department
headquarters to be shifted.
Citing non-availability of space
in Hyderabad as the reason behind
the makeshift capital, the
government has entrusted the
responsibility of building it with
the Infrastructure Corporation of
Andhra Pradesh (InCap).
However, neither the employees
nor the opposition are on board
with the idea of the temporary
capital.
Former MLA and Congress
party leader Malladi Vishnu
demanded an explanation from the
Chief Minister on the rationale
behind construction of a temporary
capital elsewhere, when there was
ample space in government
buildings already available in
Vijayawada and Guntur.
The government employees are
angry at this decision as residential
accommodation pose a huge
concern for the 8,000 to 10,000
employees who need to be
relocated.
A
government
official,
requesting anonymity said, “The
offices can be set up in make-shift
sheds,
but
residential
accommodations cannot. What
about our families?
“Such a drastic step in the
middle of the year is only going to
cause problems for our children
who are enrolled in colleges. The
CM should give it more thought.”
Co-chairman of Joint Action
Committee and state president of
the Andhra Pradesh Revenue
Services Association, Bopparajju
Venkateswarlu added that the
government had neglected the
practical problems of the
employees before deciding to shift
base to Mangalagiri.
“Preparing the employees
psychologically is the key,” he
concluded.
for Rs 4 crores in Penumaka.
Soon after the government
started rolling out packages for
land acquisition under its LandPooling Scheme (LPS), the prices
started dipping as the majority of
the farmers found the Government
package more attractive than the
compensation from private firms.
The
government
package
includes Rs 30,000 per year with a
ten per cent hike, residential land in
the developed city, and interest free
loans upto Rs 25 lakhs for 10 years.
In Thullur mandal, the hike in
land prices has also led to brawls
between family members insisting
on re-distribution of property so
that they end up owning more land.
Last month, S. Sreekumari of
Nekkalu village lodged a complaint
against her husband and in-laws
claiming inequal distribution of
assets about five years ago and in
view of the surging land prices, she
sought fresh distribution of the
land.
According to Thullur tahsildar
M. Sudhirbabu, there are seven
special revenue teams working for
immediate resolution of these
conflicts.
The slump in prices has also
affected the neighbouring regions
which have been left out of the
capital region. Real estate business
has slackened in Gannavaram and
Nunna as it does not come under
the 29 villages that have been
identified for capital formation.
Farmers who sold their land
during the speculative period are
making a huge profit. Gumma
Lakshmi Narayanan sold 12 acres
of land in Nekkalu for Rs 15 crores
two months back and bought 10
acres of land near Prakasam district
to set up another farm for a fraction
of the price.
However, farmers wary of the
government fulfilling its promises
will now have to settle for less from
the private buyers for their land.
As of the moment, the prices
have plummeted to Rs 50 lakhs to
Rs 90 lakhs per acre.
Realty boom falters after Govt offer
DISHA SHARMA
POULOMI DAS
Thullur: Land prices across the
Vijayawada-Guntur-TenaliMangalgiri (VGTM) belt, the site
for Andhra Pradesh’s proposed
capital, are witnessing a slump just
two months after they skyrocketed.
The land rates had escalated to
Rs 3 crores to Rs 4 crores per acre
after Chief Minister Chandrababu
Naidu announced the location of
his “world-class capital” in the
VGTM belt.
As of December 2014, the
prevailing land prices in the area
were as high as in New York City,
according to Urban Development
Minister, Venkaiah Naidu.
“Speculation had inflated the
price of these lands to an
unimaginable extent making the
farmers more demanding. But,
paying a crore for one acre of land,
that would usually go for Rs 50
lakhs, is ridiculous,” says Veera
An advertisment for buying and selling land in Thullur mandal.
Photo: Santosh Gt
Babu of real estate consultancy
firm, Cushman and Wakefield India
A herd of private firms hastening
to buy land in the region a few days
after the announcement by quoting
prices 10 times the land’s worth
Outcry against
land pooling
SUHAIL BHAT
Undavalli: Six protesters were
arrested during a demonstration
against land pooling for Andhra
Pradesh’s new capital, at Undavalli
in Tadepalli Mandal on January 3.
Around 100 people joined the
protest, shouting slogans with
banners denouncing land pooling
and Chief Minister Chandrababu
Naidu. The protest was peaceful till
the police started lathi-charging and
arresting people, the villagers said.
“We were interrogated in the
police station for the whole night.
We pleaded that we are protesting
peacefully but they refused to
listen. The police warned us to
participate in land pooling without
any hue and cry,” said Sakshi
Reddy, one of the protesters..
Undavalli and other villages near
the Krishna river have been
clamoring
against
the
establishment of the new capital
from the beginning. The villagers
say the land in these areas have a
higher market price because it is a
three crop ‘jareeb’ land, having
high production of cotton, chilies,
banana and tobacco while the other
Naga Sakshi Reddy, one of the
arrested protestors at Undavalli.
Photo: Santosh Gt
areas have less fertile ‘metta’ land
that depends on monsoon.
The villagers have decided to
take their case to court if their land
is taken away forcefully.
Police officials refused to give a
statement. A police constable said,
“We took them to police station and
warned them against creating
chaos. ”
also added to the short-lived boom.
“I bought land at speculative rates a
few months back. I’ll be incurring a
huge loss if I sell it at the current
prices,” said Veera Reddy, a
property dealer who bought 3 acres
seem reluctant.
One of them, Hanumantha Rao
said, “I don’t know what you
(government) are going to do with
my land. But do something good.
This land has been with our family
for 10 generations.”
Answering people’s questions
about the need for so many acres of
land, Galla Jayadev, MP from the
ruling TDP in the state said that the
assembly, secretariat and MLA
quarters were enough for building
the capital, but that was not enough
for complete development.
“Business must flourish. Cinema
halls, shopping complexes, banks
and industries are needed,” Jayadev
said.
He said that the government was
planning to establish vocational
training and skill development
centres for people to adapt to the
competition they would face after
the capital was built.
People have been asked not to go
to Mee Seva centres, government
service centres in every mandal
with their queries because it would
slow down land pooling. Instead,
they have been asked to approach
their respective village authorities
directly.
Jayadev also said that according
to the Capital Region Development
Authority (CRDA), the present
population of the region is 2.5
million which would go up to 100
million after 10 years. Thirty-one
villages in three mandals,
Mangalgiri, Thullur and Tadepalle
will come under the capital region.
OPTIONS FOR THULLUR FARMERS
Rich ones to retire,
others to seek jobs
DISHA SHARMA
Thullur: Farmers in the 29
villages earmarked for capital
formation are looking at
alternative professions to take up
after their land is taken over.
Farmers with more than 2 acres
of land are planning to retire after
selling their farms, while poor
farmers and farm labourers are
looking forward to jobs that
would soon emerge.
Krishna Reddy, 50, owns six
acres of land in Thullur where he
grows cotton. He was one of the
first people in the village to sell
his land to a private realtor for a
hefty Rs 95 lakhs per acre.
“I don’t see any point in
keeping the land here when I
can’t carry out any agricultural
activity. My children won’t be
working on the farms,” Reddy
says, indicating that he would be
shifting to Guntur city where his
children are working and
investing the money he recieved
by selling land.
While for most farmers with
large tracts of land, the sale
serves a retirement plan, poor
landed farmers are looking at
jobs that they could take up.
Venkata Swami, 48, is giving
his two acres of cotton farm to
the government. Though the
package assures him of
residential quarters, he believes
that the compensation of Rs
30,000 is not enough to sustain
his family of five, even with the
yearly increment.
“I plan to start a clothing shop
with the interest-free loan that the
government is providing for
small businesses. The venture
will take some time to turn
profitable,” he says.
Many farmers are expecting
employment as construction
workers in the buildings and
infrastructure that will come up
in the region.
Mangalagiri is touted to be an
Information Technology hub and
a 21-acre IT facility is likely to
come up in its Auto Nagar area in
the next five years.
“The construction of the IT
hub would ensure jobs for the
educated future generations too,”
said Mangalagiri tahsildar C
Krishnamoorthy.
However, many farmers are
sceptical about the new jobs.
“My family has been working
on this land for generations. Now
people from the city will occupy
the land they do not know and
offer us jobs that we cannot adapt
ourselves to,” said Venkateswar
Rao, who owns a 2-acre cotton
farm in Nekkalu.
Though the older generation is
wary of dealing with the
psychological change that occurs
due to the shift, the younger
generation is glad to have
additional job opportunities to
choose from.
Venkateswar Rao’s son,
Sreeniwas, is looking forward to
the new capital as he does not
want to take up farming.
“Earlier, I had been looking for
work in Vijaywada as there were
no opportunities here,” he says.
Farmers fear ‘Govt pressure’
DISHA SHARMA
Nidamarru:
Flower
and
vegetable farmers in Nidamarru
and neighbouring villages in
Guntur district are selling their land
as they fear pressure from the
government which has been
acquiring land for building the
state’s new capital.
Most farmers prefer the
government package of yearly
compensation and interest free
loans over offers from private
realtors.
Initially land prices soared on the
hopes
generated
by
the
government’s decision to build the
new capital in Thullur.
But the prices came down by 3040 per cent after the government
announced its package.
In return for their land, the
owners will be given Rs. 30,000
per year, 1000 square yards
residential area and 200 square
yards commercial area within city
limits.
Bheem and Sitalakshmi Reddy
were offered Rs 1.5 crore by a
private buyer for their 1 acre land.
But, they are waiting for the
government package to give their
land.
“If all the land surrounding our
field is sold, there is no point in our
keeping the land,”
they
said,
indicating
they
had no choice but
to sell their land.
However, the
compensation they
will receive would
be much less than
their
present
income. Bheem
Reddy said “With
our income from
farming we were
able to accumulate
enough to progress
from
cotton
farming to flower
farming. Now we
earn enough to
send our children
to tuitions.”
After
giving
their land, the
Reddys will have
to shift to a more Bheem Reddy at his flower farm in Nekkalu. Photo: Santosh Gt
frugal lifestyle.
“We earn Rs 30,000 a month and Jaaji, Kagada and Malle- with a decorative items.
Venkateswara Rao has 9 acres of
the government is promising us Rs production cost of Rs 10,000. Their
30,000 a year,” said Bheem Reddy. income goes upto Rs 90,000 during land in Nekallu where he grows
The Reddy family shifted to peak seasons such as Diwali, cotton and mirchi. He is planning
to take up the government offer as
flower harvesting from cotton weddings and Sankranti.
They send their produce to he considers the capital formation
farming a year ago.
On an average they earn upto Rs Vijaywada, Guntur and Chennai inevitable.
Rao is setting up another farm
30,000 per month by producing through brokers and also to firms
three types of jasmine flowers – that make perfume, oil and outside Guntur in Prakasam
district. “The only thing that
we have been doing for years
is farming. It will be very
difficult to adapt to newer
occupations,” he said.
However, small farmers
with less than 1 acre in
Ananthavaram, Dondapadu
and Nelapadu are preferring
private realtors over the
government offer as they need
hard cash.
“I am not sure how long the
government will take to
distribute the compensation.
Even then, the amount is too
paltry for me to sustain a
family of 12,” said KV Rao, a
mirchi farmer with 1 acre land
in Ananthavaram.
Farmers
also
face
uncertainty in the intervening
time that it will take for the
capital to come up.
For most farmers, this
year’s crop was the last
harvest as the government has
banned further cultivation in the
region marked for acquisition.
Besides Nidamarru, Undavalli,
Penumakha, Tadikonda and Thullur
are also known for flower and
vegetable cultivation.
Cotton, mirchi and paddy
account for more than half the
cultivation in the area.
GUNTUR I 11
This school cast(e)s none aside
SUHAIL BHAT
Thullur:
Murli
Manohar
Kumar, a tenth standard student at
the Kakumanu Venkateshwar Rao
Zilla Praja Parishad (KVR ZPP)
High School, is zealously preparing
for his board examinations in
March. He has been living in the
school hostel for six years now. He
was left shattered after his father’s
death but the school provided basic
living facilities and education.
Winner
of
the
debate
competitions held at the zonal level
for the last three years, Kumar says
“I am thankful to my teachers. I
want to be a doctor. My school will
be the secret of my success if I
succeed in fulfilling my dreams.”
The KVR ZPP High School, run
by the state government here, is
known for these kind of stories.
It was established in 1946 with
the collaboration of nearby
villages. It has a seven-acre
playground with basketball courts.
On one side of the ground stands
the school building and on the
other, the hostel building.
Though, Thullur has five Zila
Parishad schools, KVR ZPP High
School stands out when it comes to
The children of the SC/ST Hostel during their study hours. Photo: Santosh Gt
performance of its students in
board examinations and extracurricular activities. In 2014, it had
96 per cent pass result with 124
students and 98 per cent a year
before that. The school topper
scored 9.8 points out of 10 in the
last year’s board exam while two
students bagged 9.7.
Currently, the school has around
630 students out of which 129 are
in the tenth standard.
Before 2008, the school had only
Telugu-medium classes but now
the classes are in English medium,
as well. Though, most of the
students who study in Telugumedium in their primary level find
it difficult to change to English,
afterwards.
The school’s English teacher
Koteswara Rao, says “It will take
time but we are on it. Most students
are showing some inclination
towards English which is a good
sign. However, a student who does
not know any English since birth is
hard to motivate.”
The three hostels, two for boys
and one for girls, on the school
premises are run by the State
Government; two are under the
Social Welfare Department and the
other one is under the Backward
Class Welfare Department. Around
370 students including 160 girls
live in the hostels. The hostellers
are provided with food, clothes,
books and medical check-up from
time to time.
Tarun Kumar, a student of
seventh standard, says “ When I
broke my foot while playing
football; the warden had come with
a doctor within an hour. I stayed at
the hostel for a week and the
caretaker of the hostel used to bring
food for me.”
The school arranges extra
tuitions for the tenth standard
students after the end of the school
hours. The tuition classes are free
for the SCs, OBCs and the orphans
while others have to pay a small
amount for it. The school has 23
teachers and three non-teaching
staff.
An alumni, now a production
engineer at Oil and Natural Gas
Corporation (ONGC), Mahesh
Madala says “The performance of
the school is improving with each
year. I often visit the school and it
is a really conducive atmosphere
for learning. Some of my friends
have gone abroad and many of my
seniors are doctors and engineers.”
The school excels in sports too.
Last year, it was the overall
champion at the Zonal Sports Meet
and the Center Sports Meet in
which over 70 schools participated.
The
school
headmaster,
Annamneni Mohan Rao said, “Our
students come out with flying
colours in different competitions
including examinations which
makes me proud to be here. Both,
the teachers and students work hard
day and night and I hope the state
government plans to renovate the
buildings soon.”
Teacher by day, student by night
USHA RANI DAS
Nekkalu : “I want to become a teacher
like her,” said three-year-old Peddababu,
pointing to his teacher with a broad smile.
It has been eleven years since his teacher
Pate Bandla Bhagyamma started weaving
dreams for these children who learned their
alphabets from her, here.
The children within the age group of 4-5
years can read and write English alphabets,
Telugu alphabets and count numbers. For
higher education, they go to the nearby
government school. The school which has
12-13 students every year is a small
anganwadi centre with two rooms and one
teacher.
Thirty-five year-old Bhagyamma’s day
starts at 5 am when she gets up for a hurried
revision of her own studies; she is pursuing
her BA (History, Political Science and
Economics) from Andhra Christian College.
Then she has to start cooking for her two
children who go to the nearby government comprising rice, dal and mixed vegetables.
“Some parents go away to work in their
school. After teaching the kids at the
anganwadi, she goes to her college in the agricultural lands or are involved in other
work, so the anganwadi is like a day care
afternoon.
Earning a monthly salary of Rs. 4263, she centre for them,” said Bhagyamma.
The centre is government aided. The
somehow manages to feed her twelve-yearold son and seven-year-old daughter. Her government provides books and kits which
include
balls,
bats,
husband has been ill and
bed-ridden for the last two It has been 11 years workbooks and painting
kits. But this is clearly not
years.
enough.
Both she and
her since his teacher
With the advent of the
children learnt their first Bhagyamma started
new capital region she is
alphabets here. She does
not believe in classroom weaving dreams for hopeful of a better future
for her students and the
teaching.
children of the village.
So the open space in these children.
“New schools will come
front of the centre is
transformed into the classroom. She admits up which will ensure that these kids get a
that the quality of education is not high but high quality of education.” she said.
Bhagyamma said it would take some time
nonetheless the children come here eagerly
for them to cope up with the city life, but
every day.
They get an egg for breakfast at 10.30 am. added proudly that her students were smart
Then at 11.30 am they have their lunch enough to be able to do that in no time.
“Female literacy rate will increase and
more girls will come out of their den and
aspire for something independent for
themselves,” she hoped.
The rent for the school building is Rs. 750
a month. A hired help, 23-year-old Archana,
who earns Rs. 2250, helps Bhagyamma in
managing the students and their kits.
Archana said, “I work here as a temporary
worker, not to take home some extra money
but simply because I always wanted to be a
teacher.”
But her early marriage at the age of
thirteen did not let her continue her education
or that dream any further.
After the building of the capital city
Bhagyamma will try for a job in the city
school. So she tries devoting extra time to her
studies at present.
Nekkalu village is located in Thullur
mandal. The literacy rate is 61.70 per cent.
Male literacy rate (71 per cent) is higher than
female literacy rate (51 per cent).
Hopes, dreams from Guntur
2
1
6
5
3
4
Photos: Santosh Gt (Clockwise from top)
1. At 97, Ramani Pochaalu is the oldest resident of Nekkalu village.
2. Shruthi, whose parents are daily wage labourers in the fields of
Penumaka, dreams of becoming a dancer.
3. Priyanka, the daughter of weavers from Mangalagiri cannot wait for
the place to develop as she wants to be a teacher.
4. Venkat wants to be a batsman for the Indian team. “I want to score a
century!”
5. 80-year-old Lakshmamma has little hope for the future. “The city
will come and destroy our livelihoods.”
6. Jacob Daniel, a student of the KVR ZPP High School in Thullur, is a
scheduled caste and has a grim battle ahead..
The boy who lived
Tarun at KVR ZPP High School in Thullur. Photo: Santosh Gt
SANTOSH GT
Thullur: Tarun is a fourteenyear-old boy who stays away from
home in a hostel. The school he
goes to is just a stone’s throw away.
He has meals thrice a day, sleeps in
a small but comfortable room
shared with other boys and does
okay in school.
According to his teachers he is a
bright student and his friends say he
is a wonderful person and a lot of
fun to be around with. In Thullur,
where he is from, it might seem
normal, but all is not as it seems.
Tarun is an orphan. Two years
ago, his father killed his mother and
then committed suicide. He stays
with his grandmother during the
holidays and being a scheduled
caste, he stays at the government
SC/ST boys hostel, which is inside
their school premises during school
days.
Despite all that he has got going
against him, Tarun has overcome
all the hardship that he faced in his
life so far and has come out
stronger.
On weekdays, he wakes up at 7
am, gets ready and is at school by 8
am. School gets over at 4 pm and
4:00 pm – 6:30 pm is playtime.
Cricket is his favourite sport and
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, his
favourite player.
“I like Dhoni. When I grow up,
even I want to do the helicopter
shot,” he says. Whenever there’s a
match and he can’t watch it on
television he always makes sure he
reads about it in the newspaper first
thing next morning.
6.30 pm-8 pm is their study time.
And after dinner at 8 pm, the boys
are free to do as they please till 9.30
pm, which is their bedtime.
The boys go to Kakumanu
Venkateshwar Rao Zilla Praja
Parishad High School, popularly
known as KVR ZPP High School.
All that separates their hostel from
the school is a football field, which
was the makeshift helipad for Chief
Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s
helicopter on January 1 when he
visited Guntur district.
Thullur, along with 14 other
villages in this mandal, which
comes under Guntur district has
been assigned as the area for
Andhra Pradesh’s proposed new
capital.
For someone studying in tenth
standard, Tarun reads a lot and has
a vision for his future like every
other boy his age.
“I want to be an IPS officer,” he
says beaming with pride.
It is the smile of a boy who
knows the misfortunes that he has
had and has to face in life – living
as a scheduled caste, living as an
orphan and most of all, living while
putting up a brave front.
The lone do-gooder
USHA RANI DAS
Pedda Lanka : Narasimha Rao
wants a concrete road in his village
and a compound wall in his school,
which incidentally is the only
school in Pedda Lanka, an island in
the Krishna river, isolated from the
mainland. It takes the ferry 90
minutes to reach the village.
The school, in reality a small
anganwadi centre, has two rooms
with 30 students and only one
teacher who tries to keep education
alive in this island.
“I hope this school gets a
compound wall and toilets for boys.
I hope the Government does more
for the school kids,” he said.
Built in 1990, the school has
only one teacher because no one
prefers to work here as the
transport facilities to the village are
poor. There being no other way to
reach the island than by ferry, no
one wants to take up a job here.
The village lacks concrete roads.
It becomes difficult for even the
children to walk in such rough
terrain.
The school building has cracks
in the wall. An uneven stony
ground is what the students call a
playground.
Until the school got a compound
wall demarcating its area, trees,
which were as important as
learning alphabets, cannot be
planted, Rao said.
This is because the locals are
objecting to the idea of planting
trees without differentiation of
lands, he claimed.
Though the girls have toilets for
them, the water pumps require
repairing. Though uniforms and
textbooks are provided by the
Government, they are not enough
to last a whole year. The school
lacks furniture and the children
have to sit on the floor.
“We even are in need of a new
blackboard to write. I hope the
Government will rectify these
problems. After getting the capital
status, we are expecting a lot for
this school,” he said.
Narasimha Rao with his students in Pedda Lanka. Photo: Vishakha Kaul
Apart from the school, the
village has its own problems too.
Being situated in the Krishna River,
floods are an annual problem here.
Water stagnates for days and
cripples normal functioning of the
village.
Since the school is not built at an
elevated level, water floods the
school and destroys the little that
they have.
The distance from the mainland
has isolated this island for ages. As
many as 160 families live in this
village. Though most of the natives
are satisfied with their livelihood
here, some are skeptical about the
development of the new capital.
“We have been living here for
generations now. Most of our
children have gone out and are
pursuing higher education. We are
happy here,” said Sirimani, a
farmer of Pedda Lanka.
The major occupation is
agriculture and cattle farming. The
people grow maize, banana,
turmeric, tobacco, groundnut,
guava and chillies. Agriculture
flourishes here since there is no
shortage of water.
Another farmer, P. Tanosh, feels
that land pooling will be an
inconvenience to them.
“We do not like the idea of land
pooling at all. Where do they
expect us to go? We know nothing
other than agriculture and most of
us are illiterate. Even if they give
us 1000 sq. yards outside, we have
nothing to do with that land,” he
said.
”We will herd our goats and
cows and be happy here.”
12 I GUNTUR
It’s ‘capital punishment’
DISHA SHARMA
POULOMI DAS
Thullur: Banana and sugarcane
plantations stand tall adjacent to
paddy fields while the aroma of
jasmine and marigold waft through
the air. As farm-workers ready
themselves to pick the abundant
cotton, the lime orchards situated
nearby glisten in the sun.
Nestled along the banks of the
Krishna river, Thullur mandal is
one of the most fertile areas of
Andhra Pradesh. The fields here
are never bare, with crops round
the year.
It is in this agricultural heaven,
known to grow 120 varieties of
crops, that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu intends to build his
dream capital, bulldozing the
dreams of hundreds of farmers
who have toiled here for generations.
The Government plans to acquire
30,000 acres in 29 villages in Thullur, Tadepalli and Mangalgiri.
As of now, around 1,779 farmers
from villages that come under the
proposed capital have handed over
3,900 acres of land.
The Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority
(CRDA) Act that came into effect
last month, makes no provision for
public hearing or consultation
about the master plan.
Former administrator of the
Chandigarh Capital Project M.G.
Ivy gourd farms in Penumaka. Photo: Santosh Gt
Devasahayam who visited some of
the villages that would come under
the capital termed the CRDA Act
‘unconstitutional and violative of
the Land Acquisition Act 2013.’
“There is no legal basis for the
land-pooling scheme introduced
by the government. The Land Acquisition Act, 2013 is the only law
available and it states that the Act
can be made use of only for public
purpose and city development is
not considered as public purpose.”
he said.
Devasahayam said procurement
of irrigated, multicrop land was
prohibited under the Act except
unless there was no alternative.
“However, that isn’t the case
here. The Sivaramakrishnan Report had suggested the barren lands
in the Martur-Vinukonda-Do-
Capitalizing on Caste
BAGIRATH REDDY
was where the new capital would
be situated.
The central government-estaThullur: The 2014 Assembly
elections of Andhra Pradesh were blished Sivaramakrishnan comunique and nail biting till the last mittee recommended a place
vote was counted as a considera- called Donakonda for the new cable chunk of geographical area pital. Donakonda is a mandal
was no longer under the state and headquarter in Prakasam district
a new contender namely YSR where the British constructed an
Congress Party was now in the aerodrome during World War II to
fuel planes.
race.
The government however disThough YSRCP managed to
win 30 seats in the four districts regarded the committee’s recomof Raayalaseema, it failed to in- mendation and chose Thullur in
fluence Coastal Andhra voters Guntur district as the new capital.
Dr. Divyathejo Murthy, a seand got only 37 seats in nine districts. The Telugu Desam Party nior professor in the Department
(TDP) however won 102 seats of of Rural Development in Acharya
Nagarjuna University says, “This
the total 175 seats in the state.
These numbers might give a plainly is caste politics and onehint about the underlying caste upmanship of castes. Prakasam
divide. YSRCP is favored by the has a slightly higher Reddy population than
Reddys
Guntur as
and the
it is a borTDP is a
Kamma
Only two leaders have der district
w i t h
favourite.
enjoyed the support of all R a y a l a Rayalaseema. As
seema
castes so far. Otherwise the report
districts
namely
the caste factor pervades Dsuggested,
o n a Chitoor,
konda is
Kadapa,
every
aspect
of
life
in
m u c h
Kurnool
more suia n d
Andhra Pradesh.
table as it
Anantahas huge
pur have
acres of
been the
Reddy strongholds for many unused barren land, which in turn
years. On the other hand all the can be used to construct high rise
coastal parts of Andhra Pradesh buildings. Why waste fertile lands
and especially the districts of to construct an urban jungle?”
“The committee clearly stated
Krishna, Guntur and Godavari are
in its report that the proposed ring
Kamma dominant.
These are the two main castes road near VGTM (Vijayawada,
that have shaped the state politics Guntur, Tenali and Mangalagiriever since the state’s formation in the area under which Thullur is a
1956. The charismatic founder of major part) may increase the land
the Telugu Desam Party N. T. rates beyond limit and also pose a
Rama Rao, was a Kamma but in threat to fertile lands.” says Dr.
the Eighties he broke the caste he- Murthy.
With the land acquisition going
gemony. He was loved and admired by all without any caste bias. on in places like Thullur, for the
The same reflected was in the construction of the new capital, a
clear caste prejudice is seen. All
then election results.
The same admiration without the villages which are unwilling
any caste bias was repeated again to give their lands and protesting
after close to 15 years when Y. S. against the land pooling are the
Rajashekhara Reddy came to villages, such as Penumakha and
power. He restored the lost sheen Undavalli, which have YSRCP
of Congress in the state and won support and have a higher Reddy
the majority of the seats from all population.
A TDP party worker and a reregions of the state, even though
he was a Reddy. His son Jagan- search scholar in AcharyaNagarmohan Reddy broke away from juna University in the Department
the Congress after his father’s of Economics says, “Just to satisfy the Kamma population and
death and formed the YSRCP.
Only these two leaders have to fulfill the promise he made
enjoyed the support of all castes. prior to elections, the CM chose
Otherwise the caste factor perva- this area (VGTM) as the capital.
des every aspect of life in Andhra This will pose a serious threat to
the agriculture around this area
Pradesh.
After the formation of the TDP which is flourishing because of
government in 2014, the biggest the ample water supply from the
question on everyone’s minds Krishna River.”
No environmental
or social impact
assessment was
carried out before
zeroing in on land
for the capital
makonda region as the ideal location for the capital but the government ignored these suggestions,”
he added.
The Sivaramakarishan Committee that submitted its report on August
27,
described
the
Vijayawada-Guntur-Tenali-Mangalagiri (VGTM) region as ‘undesirable’ and ‘unfeasible’ due to
high cost of lands and loss of fertile land.
The report also suggested following the dispersed model of development where government
offices in multiple locations serve
as a capital rather than the Hyderabad model of a concentrated capital. The dispersement also helps
develop clusters like in National
Capital Region (NCR). Taking
over small land chunks would also
ensure that fields are intact.
“The authorities need to look at
the Naya Raipur model where a
sustainable model of development
is followed. Using the Chandigarh
greenfield model doesn’t work
here as the agricultural loss is irrepairable,” said Dr. Ajay Parida, Executive
Director
at
MS
Swamination Research Foundation.
Why then is the government bent
on contributing to the food insecurity of the country remains an
unanswered question. The only
plausible explanation is Naidu’s
fixation with the “auspiciousness”
of the site.
“The government needs only
700-1000 acres of land for the capital. However, it is acquiring ten
times the land at an unfeasible cost
while destroying the local ecology,” said Dr P Samson, professor
of Economics at Acharya Nagarjuna University.
Moreover, the Geological Survey of India has established that
thet alluvial soil will be unable to
support high-rises. The region is
also vulnerable to cyclones.
According to geographer, Anant
Maringati, building a city on the
Krishna river bank will not only
pollute the river but also make the
region prone to flooding.
Inicidentally, the October 2009
floods had affected the same parts
where the capital is coming up.
Also, the government’s wish to
develop degraded forests at Amravati and Mangalagiri for the new
capital has been deemed anti-environmental by activists as only 23
per cent of the land area in the
state, is under forest cover, as
against the prescribed 33 per cent.
Due to its rich biodiversity, Guntur was set to be featured in the
Guinness Book of Records. Now,
it is on the path to be a concrete
jungle.
All for the common good
-SUHAIL BHAT
Thullur: The land pooling process for building Andhra Pradesh’s
new capital kick started on January
02 as a first step towards Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s vision
of making the state one of the three
top states of the country by 2022
and the leading state by 2029.
Chandrababu Naidu has repeatedly said that the Vijayawada,
Guntur, Tenali and Mangalagiri
(VGTM) region is best suited for
the Capital of Andhra Pradesh because of the tremendous potential
of Vijayawada and Guntur for development into a mega city, and
also their proximity to Tenali and
Mangalagiri.
Arguing that Guntur has the largest chilli market in the country
and has been internationally known
for its export of chillies, cotton and
tobacco, G.M. Devasahayam, head
of a four-member fact-finding mission on land pooling constituted by
National Alliance of People’s movement (NAPM) accused Chandrababu Naidu of destabilizing a
robust local economy.
Though its agriculture sector,
which provides livelihood to many
people, will get crushed by the new
capital, the government is firm on
making it a win-win situation for
farmers and others related to agriculture.
The development of the region is
expected to throw up jobs and alternative careers for the farmers.
The establishment of State secretariat and government offices
are expected to transform the region into a corporate state which
will provide jobs to several residents.
The capital would
“benefit
SC/ST com-
munities as they
amount to 40 % of
the population here”
T S Kumar,
Tadikonda MLA
The state would get over five
lakh jobs with the investment of
over Rs. 12000 crore in the IT sector and four lakh jobs with investments of Rs. 30,000 crore in the
electronics sector, according to Information and Public Relations Minister Palle Raghunatha Reddy.
The allotment of developed plots
and interest free loans will help farmers in starting up their own business. People will be benefitted with
free education, and health facilities.
Old age homes, canteens, 365 days
employment guarantee scheme,
skill development training with stipend to farm labours and loans up
to Rs 25 lakhs to poor families to
take up self-employment are
among the other benefits that are
expected.
Daggubati Purandeswari, a former member of the Parliament and
Minister of the State, said “There
will be an increase in the trade ca-
pacity and industries in the district
creating opportunities for young
generation. Various sectors will be
built-up which will direct money
from other parts of the state and the
country towards the district. There
are other districts whose agriculture
production can be used for the
state.”
The infrastructure is bound to
improve. The State Government
has already decided to lay down an
Inner Ring Road from the Prakasam Barrage to NRI Hospital Junction (10.5 kms), Undavalli Centre
to Borupalem (18 kms), Borupalem
to Mangalgiri Y Junction (8 kms)
and Anantvaram to Mangalgiri (16
kms).
“Construction of a capital region
would benefit the people belonging
to SC/ST communities ,” said Tadikonda MLA Tenali Sravan Kumar.
The Gannavaram airport, which
serves Vijaywada, is set for a major
expansion.
The establishment of the State
Capital Region will help in the development of the less developed
agrarian West Godavari District,
which according to an announcement made by the Chief Minister in
September is expected to get a National Institute of Technology
(NIT), Institute of Fine Arts and
Commerce, airport, ceramic industry, horticulture research station,
coconut-based coir industries and
100 per cent drip irrigation in oil
palm.
The State Government has also
promised to take care of cultural
and heritage aspects of the region.
“I have no
place to call
my own”
Seetarammamma in front of her hut. Photo: Santosh Gt
BAGIRATH REDDY
Nekkalu: The package offered
by the ruling government in return
for the land to be acquired for
building the new capital will not
offer anything to a small
percentage of the population; this
small section does not fit under the
category that would be receiving
the benefits after land acquisition.
One
such
person
is
Seetarammamma of Nekallu
village.
Nekkalu is one of the primary
villages where land is being
acquired for the new capital region.
Seetarammamma does not come
under the category of landed and
landless farmers that is mentioned
in the package because she has no
proof that she owns land or that she
is a resident of that area. Her
deceased husband had a voter ID
proving that he was a local in the
area.
According to her however all her
efforts were in vain when she tried
applying for her own Voter ID with
her husband’s card as proof. She
also has an electricity connection
for her business in her husband’s
name but she has no document to
prove that they were married.
Seetarammama, 60, owns a
small eatery which sells breakfast
and evening tea time snacks. Her
menu includes Tea, Dosa, Idly,
Gaare, Bhajji, Punugu and
Pakodi.Though she does not have
the land registered under her name,
she has had the eatery for 12 years.
“I have gone around enough
offices to run my income for about
one week. I depend on the money I
get every day from my eatery and
every time I go to a government
office the whole day is ruined for
my business and I have to forgo the
income for that day. I cannot afford
to go around anymore,” says
Seetarammamma as she washes her
dishes and plates for her evening
customers who are mainly farmers
and other laborers returning home
from work.
Her husband, Sivayya died five
years ago. He succumbed to “boils
all over the body” according to her.
She took him to a government
hospital where they said she had
brought him too late. She still has
no clue what exactly killed her
husband. She is survived by a son
and a daughter, both of whom have
their own families and hardships.
She knows the problems her
children are in, so she wants to be
self-sufficient but age is catching
up with her.
She says, “My health is
declining and I feel tired all the
time. The doctor charges me Rs. 30
per day for the B-complex
injections he gives me every day.”
“Everybody is rejoicing that the
capital is being built on their village
but I have no clue as to where to
go; the villagers will no longer be
there to eat my tiffin. I am sure I
will not be able to work as a laborer
given my age,” she says.
“They are saying they will give
vocational training to compete with
other businesses once the capital is
built but someone told me that it
was only for people who had proof
that they were local residents,” she
adds.
With CM Chandrababu Naidu
claiming that all works related to
the new capital will be done on a
rapid basis, the fate of many people
like Seetarammamma, who cannot
prove that they are locals, hangs in
limbo.
SELLING THE NEW CAPITAL TO THE PEOPLE
MP Galla Jayadev (R) and Minister for Municipal Development P. Narayana at the land pooling kick-off in Ananthavaram. Photo: Santosh Gt
A “flourishing crop” will vanish soon
BAGIRATH REDDY
THULLUR:The locals claim
that all farmers of Thullur mandal
in Guntur district have grown cotton in their farms at one point or
another. Though the claim might
seem over the top, there is some
truth. The major reason for farmers
favouring cotton lies in the amount
of effort and capital put in cultivating it, than in other crops especially since the water and soil
conditions are perfect for this crop
around this region.
“Though the mirchi and tobacco
of Guntur are sold throughout the
country and are the trophy crops of
the district, cotton is like the unsung hero. The returns are not as
high as the other cash crops, but it
is fairly risk free,” says Dr. K.
Madhu Babu, an agrarian economist from Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur.
“Cotton crop has to be planted
every year and will usually yield
Farmers packing their produce in Nekkalu. Photo: Bagirath Reddy
one or more harvests. In the district
however, the farmer is guaranteed
to have two crops and if that particular year has a good monsoon or
if the land is on the riverfront, the
crop might also give a third harvest,” he says.
Dr.Babu further explains that of
the 1.39 lakh hectares of cotton
grown in the district, only 9,000
hectares are irrigated. The remai-
ning 1.3 lakh depends on groundwater and rainfall.
For most farmers like Bheem
Reddy of Nidamarru village, cotton
farming is a risk free capital building investment. He moved on to
flower cultivation with the returns
from years of cotton farming. Flower and vegetable farming require
daily-care, irrigation and are also
dependent on rainfall, but the re-
turns are higher compared to cotton.
When the cotton is ready to be
harvested, women are hired to pick
the cotton wool. The harvest is winnowed to remove seeds and chaff.
The cotton is then compressed by
stomping it in bags and packed to
be sent to cotton mills. The mills
cleans up the wool and the seeds
are sold for making other products
like oil. The wool is rolled into
bales and sent to textile mills to be
converted to yarn.
Since cotton cultivation is high
in the district, all the mills and market yards are all within reach,
which reduces the transportation
costs significantly.
The proprietor of Sri Lakshmi
Ganapathy Cotton Mills of Goruntla village, Chinthala Narasimha
Reddy employs around 60 labourers per day during peak harvest
season.
“The cotton market is thriving in
Guntur because of its close proxi-
mity to such flourishing cotton
fields. So many lives are dependent
on it and the farmer can also grow
chilli and pulses as intermediate
crops inside the cotton fields until
the next harvest,” he says.
“ Even a farmer with half an acre
of land can live a reasonably comfortable life growing cotton. What
right does the government have to
destroy such a flourishing crop?”
he adds.
If not anything, numbers clearly
suggest that Guntur is the perfect
place for cotton in the state. In
2007-08, Guntur was the leading
producer of cotton in the state just
like every year with 784 kg lint /
hectare and with Srikakulam in the
second place with 685 kg lint/ hectare.
With the new capital posing a
threat to the cotton fields and the
lives depending on it, the Government is providing vocational training centres to provide alternative
careers to the farmers.
GUNTUR I 13
Reel Deprivation
No cinema in Thullur, last one shut down in 2013
JUSTIN RAO
Archaeological sites may be hit
Vandalised walls of the Undavalli Caves (L) and the Maha-Chaitya in Amaravatibv which is bound to have a spikein tourists due to the new capital (R).
Photo: Santosh Gt
SANTOSH GT
Guntur: Archaeological sites in
and around the Guntur-Vijayawada
belt where the Government of
Andhra Pradesh is building the
new capital may be affected,
according to archaeologists.
Scholars and historians say that
proper environmental measures
haven’t been taken to ensure the
safety of these ancient monuments.
“The
minimum
distance
required
between
an
archaeological structure and any
construction surrounding it was
put at 100 metres,” said Rama
Rao, a caretaker with the
Archaelogical Survey of India.
“When
scholars
and
archaeologists appealed to the
Government to increase the
distance to 300 metres, the
Government argued against it
saying that a lot of land would be
lost,” said Rama Rao.
“However since construction for
high rises is bound to contribute to
pollution, 100 metres isn’t
enough,” said .
The Undavalli caves at
Mangalagiri are an archaeological
marvel carved out of a single
mountain which was previously an
active volcano.
Even though it is officially
under the Archaeological Survey
of India (ASI) it has been ruined
by people carving or painting
graffiti.
The ASI people tasked with
protecting the monument say they
are understaffed to prevent
vandalism.
Now with the new capital
coming, there is bound to be an
increase in the number of tourists
and this again could lead to more
vandalism and pollution.
“The Government has not
responded to our calls for more
workers at our sites and at the
museum. We have plans of
expanding the museum to
accomodate more pieces that were
recently excavated,” said Dr B.
Nageswaram, Chief Examiner at
the Amaravati Museum.
Other sites that require staff and
equipment include Vaddamanu,
Malkapur,
Dharanikota,
Nidamarru and Kalachakra.
Dreams on
three-wheels
JUSTIN RAO
Thullur: It was in the summer
of 2004, when Chanti decided to
try his hand at driving. He was
cycling with his friends, and the
fascination of driving his brother’s
new vehicle was enticing him.
Little did he know that 10 years
later this would become his
livelihood. That vehicle was an
auto-rickshaw.
Chanti, also calked Kishore, is
an auto driver in Thullur village.
His day starts at 9 in the morning
and ends at 6 in the evening
covering about 100 km daily.
"I drop peasants to their fields
early morning and pick them up in
the evening. It is in between this
that I take passengers," he says.
On a good day, he makes
anywhere between Rs 800 and Rs
1000.
Chanti was born in Dondapadu
and studied till standard 3 in a
government school and completed
10th standard in Gannavaram.
Chanti's parents are farmers in
Dondapadu, the village he left
once he started driving. "I grew up
watching my parents toil on the
fields. I had decided then that I'll
be anything but a farmer."
He learnt to drive an auto from
his elder brother. It took him less
than five days to perfect the art. He
moved to Thullur three years ago.
But he has no plans to settle
here permanently, wanting to go to
Vijaywada. However, another
plan, which is more important, is
to get married this year in
December.
"Vijayawada can wait. But
marriage
can't,"
he
says
sheepishly, adding that he is both
nervous and excited as he is
marrying
his
childhood
sweetheart.
"She loves what I do and has
immense respect for me and my
work," he says.
But does he think he could've
been something else if he had
continued his education?
After a long pause he replies,
"transporting people from one
destination to the other is very
satisfying. This is not an isolated
job. I deal with new people
everyday. You can either get bored
of it, or observe people and learn.
I learn everyday."
With Thullur coming under the
capital region development, he has
high hopes for himself.
"This is going to benefit
everybody a lot as there will more
job opportunities," he says.
Currently, he cannot enter other
districts and cities without a permit
but after the capital region
formation he hopes it will chnage.
Chanti too wants to join the
wave of development and move
from owning an auto to buying a
taxi.
"The region is developing, so
should the people," he says and
adds, "Auto is perfect for villages,
but tomorrow when this place
becomes a capital, I will need a
taxi to match up."
"I'll still drive around these
areas and probably work more in
the city," he says.
And what about the posters of
Kajal Agrawal in his taxi?
"Oh those will stay, she is cute."
Another reason or the theatre's
downfall was the rise in the
number of television sets. Even
entertainment channels started
screening new movies soon after
their release.
However there are still people
who believe in watching movies
only on big screen.
"T he pure joy of watching a
movie is not on a television screen
but on a big screen. The movies are
larger than life and so should be
the experience," says Praveen, a
20 year old Commerce student.
As part of capital region
development, Galla Jayadev,
Member of Parliament from
Telugu Desam in Guntur, has
promised to build malls and
multiplexes which the people are
extremely excited about.
"I go to multiplexes in
Vijayawada. I still cannot believe
we will have a similar one in our
village," says Praveen.
There are also those people who
have never been to a multiplex at
all.
"It (multiplex) looks posh and
fancy. If it comes to our village it
will be a new experience," says 65
years old Sambasiva Rao.
It is not that Thullur needs
theatres but caught in a tussle
between piracy and television, it
desperately wants one, so that the
people don't have to wait for a
television channel to air their
favourite movie, or travel to
another town to watch their
favourite star.
E-solution to illegal sand mines
POULOMI DAS
Chanti with his seven-seater auto in Thullur. Photo: Santosh Gt
Amaravati which was an early
centre of Buddhism in the country,
is home to the Maha-Chaitya, the
largest stupa in Andhra Pradesh
and a pilgrimage site for Buddhists
from around the world.
“With
the
upcoming
development and construction of
the capital over the next few years,
the condition of these archaeolical
sites will further deteriorate” says
T. Vignesh Rao, archaeology
student at Acharya Nagarjuna
University.
“Once the capital is established,
smoke and dust will contribute
largely to the pollution in the area
and in a few years time most
people would only be going to
theses sites to inhale the soot that
covers the statues,” he adds.
Thullur: There are large cut
outs of celebrities on the streets;
Telugu film songs are played at
every shop; movie stickers are
stuck on two wheelers, and posters
of celebrities welcome you
everywhere.
But there is no cinema hall in
Thullur village, where the new
capital of Andhra Pradesh is to be
built.
"We are a celebrity loving state.
We treat celebrities as Gods," says
Chanti, an auto driver, whose auto
has more than 10 posters of Actor
Pawan Kalyan.
Nearly 30 km from Guntur,
Thullur village lies in the lushest
area of Andhra Pradesh.
It has water supply, electricity,
Public Health Care (PHC) and
even English medium schools. If
there is one thing the village is
deprived of, it is a movie theatre.
For 15 years, Thulasi theatre,
located on a street which starts
with a PHC and ends with a wine
shop, was the only getaway for
movies. Owned by Gundu
Laksmipathy Rao, Thulasi had a
capacity of 600 people.
"The best part about Thulasi
was that unlike theatres in other
towns it was cheap. So we could
watch a movie on big screen and
yet not feel that we were paying a
fortune," says Kishore Ravi, owner
of a tea stall just beside the theatre.
The ticket rate for any show any
day was Rs 30.
Tulasi was known for releasing
new and popular films, always in
sync with the original release date.
But this time, there was a price
hike too.
"For the release of a big budget
movie with a big star, there would
be a ticket hike of upto Rs 100 for
the premier show," says Kishore.
But did that stop him?
"Not at all. You are getting to
see it before anybody else. It is
worth it.”
However, Thulasi Theatre was
shut down in September 2013,
citing heavy losses. One of the
major reasons for its closure was
—not multiplexes—but Piracy.
Before it became defunct, the
last movie it screened was Pawan
Kalyan's Attarintiki Daredi.
It was met with a tremendous
response, with shows going
houseful over the weekend, but
soon after that, the theatre again
bore an empty look. Not all films
drew a full house.
"The ticket rates were cheap but
it was easier and far more
convenient to buy DVDs and
watch movies at home," says
Chanti.
The village doesn't have a CD
parlour, so people preferred
travelling 26 km to Vijayawada
and buying pirated discs.
The movie Attarintiki Daredi,
which went on to become the
highest grossing Telgu film of all
time, was leaked online almost a
week before its release.
Guntur: Till about two months
back, 45 year old Srimathi
Sunderraman’s daily routine
comprised finding menial jobs in
and around her village that could
fetch her enough money to feed
her children at least one meal.
From grazing the cows, milking
them, trying her hand at
construction to washing dishes,
she has done it all. And, on some
days, she has even begged.
“But, that is a thing of the past
now. Now, I earn enough to afford
a decent lifestyle for my children,”
she recounts with teary eyes,
flanked by her two daughters on
either side.
A resident of Raipur village in
Adilabad district, Srimathi is now
the head of the Operations Team,
one of the many societies formed
by Self-Help Groups (SHG) after
the Andhra PradeshGovernment,
under its ‘Pedarikam pai gelupu'
(victory over poverty) drive
handed over the duty of the sale of
sand through its online website to
women belonging to Development
of Women and Children in Rural
Areas (DWCRA) and other SelfHelp Groups (SHG).
Every village formed multiple
societies comprising eight women
each, who were all responsible for
marketing sand, taking orders
online,
delivering
them,
overseeing on-field operations and
excavating sand.
In what was considered a first of
its kind, the government had
restricted the buying and selling of
sand to an online website, in a bid
to ensure transparency and
eliminate sand smuggling.
After the announcement in late
November last year, people
residing in all 13 districts of the
state had access to sand through
the website, without being at the
mercy of middlemen or the sandmafia.
Two months later, the efforts of
these women were visible with the
government making huge profits
through this scheme and the
reduction in construction costs.
Sreekumar Reddy, a builder
whose firm is entrusted with
building three housing projects in
Guntur district says “Last year, the
sand prices shot up to Rs 24,000
per tonne due to the cartel, which
increased the construction cost in
the state leading to huge losses for
us as a lot of people were unable to
afford the high prices. The current
price of sand is way less than what
the prevailing rate used to be.”
In Raipur village, alone, there
are about 80 societies of women
who have in turn formed the
Raipur sand-mining centre, which
is said to be making the maximum
profit.
They boast of a daily sale of
2,500 cubic metres of sand. The
price of one cubic metre of sand
has been fixed at Rs 650 by the
district committee.
Kaveri M (38), who looks after
the excavation of sand from the
Krishna river says “We work in
two shifts daily, from about 9 am
to 5 pm. After the excavation is
done, we are required to measure
Sand mining in Guntur, which is now legal, can be regulated now; sand is sold online by the Government.
Photo: Akshay Ramesh
them according to the orders
placed by customers through the
website and ensure prompt homedelivery of the sand.”
Customers can order sand
online
through
the
sandbyshg.ap.gov.in website after
registering their Aadhar cards.
The amount is to be paid
through either credit or debit card
transactions.
After an order is placed,
customers can even track the
vehicle carrying their load through
GPS trackers from the stock-point
centres as well, in order to ensure
that the driver doesn’t sell portions
of it to anyone else before the
delivery is made.
One of the major benefits of this
initiative is the availability of sand
to consumers in districts which do
not have enough sand, such as
Chittoor and Vishakapatnam.
Guntur and Krishna districts
which were infamous for their
smuggling of sand during the wee
hours of night, now paint a
completely different picture.
The night life, which the tiny
villages near the Krishna river
were used to till about a year ago,
with huge rafts ferrying sand-laden
trucks cross the Krishna river from
Guntur to Krishna district, is all
but gone.
Open defecation still rampant in Thullur
SANTOSH GT
Nekkalu: Guntur district in Andhra
Pradesh has a very uncertain future ahead of
it. As the designated area for the new capital
city of Andhra Pradesh, rapid development
will take place over the next decade. The
question is, are the people ready for such
fast-paced changes?
The health care system appears
inadequate with hospitals remaining
inaccessible because of their distance,
primary health centres having just one
doctor and poor villagers at the mercy of
private doctors in the interior regions of the
area. But this may improve once the capital
city is built.
However one major problem people will
be facing is that of sanitation. For all the talk
of a futuristic India and for all the acres of
land that the villagers own, they still
defecate in the open.
“We’ve always been very nature-oriented
and this is how my parents taught me,” says
V. Lakshmana Chary, a sweet shop owner.
If people were to visit any of the villages
before 11 in the morning, they would be
advised to take an auto or bus to reach their
destination. Walking to the villages is
discouraged for two reasons.
First, there will be people using the sides
of the road to defecate and they would be
uncomfortable doing their business with
people walking around and looking at them.
Second, the access roads to the villages
are narrow and walking along the sides isn’t
possible due to the presence of faeces both
human and animal on either side.
The Government of Andhra Pradesh has
started ‘land pooling’ – a process by which
the required area needed for the capital can
be acquired.Most of the villagers own a
minimum of an acre of land.
How is it then that people with so much
land and money still defecate out in the
open?
As 75-year old Arjuna said, “I’ve been
doing this since I was a little boy.”
So once Andhra Pradesh builds the capital
here, how are they going to change their
habit and start using toilets?
When the people are told that it isn’t
healthy, the reply is usually the same:
“We’ve been doing it this way for years and
nothing has happened so far.”
An argument taken up in their defence is
that the younger generation would be the
ones living in the city so they can start using
toilets now itself.
The problem is even they are encouraged
to defecate out in the open. Additionally the
toilets that are there in the few villages are
poorly maintained if at all and anyone
would prefer the open fields to those toilets
stinking and filled with dried mounds
faeces.
Since it is part of their culture and was
ingrained in them from the time they were
born, the villagers find the concept of toilets
useless. Plus with vast expanses of land at
their disposal, they believe that they are in
the right to do so.
Over the course of the next few years,
NGOs have already planned to help the
people change their lifestyle to something
that will suit them better in the city.
FACT FILE
Out Migration growing
J.VIGNESH
Heggadadevana kote is a taluk
headquarters in Mysore district
of Karnataka.
STATISTICS
Heggadadevana Kote has a
total population of 6, 2254 out
of which out of which 30810
are males and 31444 females,
according to 2011 census.
28.60% of the population is
Schedule Tribe.
Female sex ratio is 987 per
1000 males. The percentage
of female literacy is 56.90 and
male literacy is 71.20. The
total literacy rate is 64.10 according to 2011 census.
H.D. Kote has a geographical
area of 1622 sq kms according to 2001 census.
OCCUPATION
Agriculture is the main occupation of the people.
Animal husbandry is the other
major occupation.
The Self Help Groups’s
(SHG’s) are now promoting
small business ventures.
Traditional livelihoods such as
honey gathering are on a decline.
Tourism related jobs.
PROBLEMS
Common problems in the area
are:
Out Migration
Loss of traditional livelihood
Resettlement issues
Health Issues
Dropouts
Status of women
Agricultural labourers
Water Scarcity
Electricity
Infrastructure
Environmental problems
Man-Animal conflict
N. Belathur: Ugadi is the eagerly
anticipated time of the year for
many families in the N.Belthur
Gram Panchayat region. The reason is not just the New Year, it is
more importantly the time of the
year when many young men return
home from the coffee plantations in
Coorg. Out migration is a common
tale in the region. Due to the loss of
traditional livelihoods, young men
are left with no option but to work
as plantation workers.
Lingamma, who lives in Seegurhaadi, is waiting for the days to
rush past for her two sons Shivraju
and Raju who work as labourers to
return. They bring rice, sweaters,
fruits and the much needed cash
when they come home. Lingamma
has to survive for a whole year with
just her monthly pension of Rs. 500
and the cash that her sons give her
every Ugadi. Lingamma said that
once her sons leave, “All I do is sit
in front of the door waiting for
them to come.”
Rama, who resides two streets
away from Lingamma is part of the
same narrative. He used to work in
Coorg till last year along with his
son Krishna, but at 52, age has
caught up with him, he can no longer work as efficiently as he used
to. He now works as an agricultural labourer in the fields. “It is
hard work”, he says, “but they
(plantation owners) take good care
of us. We even have decent quaters
Rama, 52, who is old to work in the plantations is now in search of work.
Photo: Bhavna Uchil
to stay.”
The 2011 census clearly captures this phenomenon. The villages
Hallemagge, Malali and N. Belathur had a population of 1756, 178
and 3114 respectively during the
2001 census. But in 2011, the population has become 1275, 114 and
2712 respectively. Veerengowda,
an independent researcher said,
“The labourers are given accomodation, a reasonable pay and even
rice. Clearly, they would want to
work there.”
The most important link in this
process are the contractors. They
are the ones who are responsible
for getting together the labourers
from the different villages. Lingamma said, “ They have become
so used to our village that they even
speak our Jenu Kuruba dialect.”
Praveen Kumar MM (22), who
used to work as a supervisor in the
plantations said that this arrangement among contractors, labourers
and plantation owners, never leads
to bondage. “ The labourers come
of their own will. Some even work
only for a few months. See, there is
no dearth of labourers, so, it is the
people who want the work.” He explained that the labourers could
earn approximately seven thousand
a month. The only problem they
face, in his view is the weather.
“The area is known for its torrential rainfall and cold climate. But
then, they accept it as a part of their
work.” The labourers, he said,
“work for approximately 10 hours a
day. It is hard work, but still ten
hours is reasonable.”
Byraiah, who lives in Malali remembers those days when he used
to work in Coorg so that he could
fund his daughter’s college education. “Her nursing course, which
she did in Mysore , cost me
Rs.60,000. I used to juggle two,
three jobs to make it happen. Even
now, I go to Coorg when I require
money, otherwise I am satisfied
with the money I earn as an agricultural labourer.”
Out migration depletes the villages of able bodied young men for
long periods of the year.
But,“There are not enough jobs
in this area,” said Santhosh Nag,
Panchayat Development Officer, N.
Belthur Panchayat.
“Under MGNREGA a day’s
work would give a labourer Rs.191
but he could earn Rs. 250 in Coorg.
It is surely an obvious and practical decision”, said Santhosh Nag.
Malnutrition...
Continued from Page 1
SHRIYA SHARMA
However, with only 13 cases of
malnutrition recorded by the Primary Health Centre, and Anganwadi reports suggesting otherwise,
it is questionable whether tribal
women and children are getting the
attention they need.
Disorganized records, lack of
medical supplies and unsanitary
conditions of Anganwadi’s throughout the region, reveal the government’s inability to tackle the issue.
“An Anganwadi is not the solution to malnourishment”, according
to Dr. R. Balasubramaniam, Founder and Chairman of the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement
(SVYM).
“The Government has created
the problem and now they cannot
tackle it. For years the tribal people
got all they needed for a balanced
diet from the forests, now that they
are banned from entering the forests, they are forced to consume
food they are not used to and cannot afford. A diet of rice and sambhar alone, is insufficient for a child.
A malnourished woman will definitely give birth to a malnourished
child”, he said.
Where government reforms and
schemes failed, initiatives such as
The Viveka School of Excellence,
founded by the SVYM back in
1988.
This school attempts to integrate
the tribal population with the
mainstream, while being empathetic to the specific needs of the tribal children.
Primarily a residential school, regular health inspections as well as a
well thought out diet is provided for
the children.
Dr. Malathi, H.D at the Viveka
School of Excellence said, “ We ensure constant health support is provided for the children. The food we
give here is very different from
what the children would get at
home. Keeping in mind their traditional diets, we give ragi, millets,
fruits and a lot of green vegetables.”
Fighting malnourishment while
effectively rehabilatating tribal
communities, is a constant challenge for both State and private organisations.
“Malnourishment is a serious,
multidimensional and intergenerational issue that requires a change
in policy making processes”, said
Dr. Balasubramaniam, during a student interaction at the Swami Vivekananda Youth Mission centre in
Mysore.
“An Anganwadi is not the
solution to malnourishment”
- Dr. R. Balasubramaniam
Displaced by Kabini and left to cope with life
ABHINITA MOHANTY
Malali: “It happened in 1974 and our village was submerged and in those times we
are naïve enough not to protest. We were
unaware of our rights.” says Devaraj, the
ex-chairman of the N.Belthur gram panchayat.
In 1964 the Kabini Dam was constructed and 33 villages got submerged. Malali
is a resettlement colony and was carved by
clearing the forests.
Nearly 4500 acres of forest land was
cleared to ‘resettle’ the masses from 33 villages.
Devaraj said, “Those who had wetland
got Rs.2000 per acre and those who had 45
acres of dry land got only 18 acres of land
along with the compensation amount. But
no compensation was given for building
houses, we had to do it on our own expenses and the little compensation money “.
The 65 years old Verrabhadrappa had 8
acres of dry land and he got 6 acres along
with compensation.
“The
immediate
problem was that of
settling in a new
place. It took me 45 years to stabilize
my farmland. The
government only
chopped off the
tress without clearing the roots and it
took time for me to
clear those roots”.
During those years
it was difficult for
Ve r r a b h a d r a p p a
even to get one
square meal a day.
According to Satish, a farmer in
Malali “We got almost no compensation for our house
and there was no
Dropouts: cause for concern
THEJA RAM
H D KOTE
ply with him,” he said.
Three girls and seven boys out of 43 children
dropped out of the Ballehaadi primary school in
2014. In Udburhaadi, 23 students dropped out in
2014, out of which 19 were boys and the rest
Antharasanthe/ Magge (N Belathur):): Neelavati, a 17 year old from Honnaman Katte is
pursuing commerce in the Government Pre university College at Antharasanthe
while residing in the government
hostel. Her father, who was shot by a
forest guard four years ago for venturing into the Taraka Dam to catch
a bout of fish, is incapable of performing any kind of labor.
Neelavati’s mother Gange, works
as an agricultural laborer and supports the family. Gange disapproves
of Neelavati pursuing higher education and nudges her towards work
every now and then. Neelavati, on
the other hand wants to work in the
banking sector.
Mahesh Mahadeva is 12 years
old, lives in Ballehaadi and belongs
to the Yerava tribe. He dropped out
of school to accompany his father to
Coorg to work as an agricultural laborer in 2013 and discontinued
schooling after he returned. “Ten Children dropout due to out-migration Photo: Bhavna Uchil
students have dropped out to go to
Coorg with their parents in 2014.
They will join school after they are back,” said girls. All four girls dropped out after attaining
Shailaja, the Primary school teacher at Balle- puberty.
The schools in Magge and N Belathur boasted
haadi.
In Antharasanthe, around 20 students got back of having no dropouts. Harshavardhan, the High
to school after they dropped out. Srikanta, a 9th school teacher at Magge said, “Our school has
standard student dropped out when his drunken no dropouts and all the girls come too. In the
father beat him and did not allow him to attend years before we had a lot of dropouts but now
school. Srikanta’s father wanted him to work as we have none.”
The Panchayat records on the other hand rea cattle rearer. He joined school after a month of
vealed seven dropouts from the Magge High
nursing his injuries.
Ganesh, also in the 9th standard lives with his School, 5 of who were girls and two boys. The
paternal uncle who burnt up his books in an at- boys dropped out as they accompanied their fattempt to force him into work. “Ever since my hers to Coorg as migrant laborers while two girls
father died, my mother and I live with my uncle. in 9th standard were married and three dropped
He treats us badly and beats me if I do not com- out when their menstrual cycle began.
One of the resettled houses in Malali. Photo: Bhavna Uchil
In N Belathur, the Headmaster Sunil Kumar
denied children dropping out in 2014. The panchayat records showed 12 dropouts in 2014 and
all 12 were girls.
“Most of the student’s dropout because of the
extreme poverty they are
faced with. The girls stop coming to school once they start
menstruating as their parents
want them to get married
soon. The boys usually end up
migrating with their family to
Coorg.
Most of them have single
parents and sustaining a family with one person’s income becomes difficult for
them. Hence they leave school
to help earn,” said Mohanraj
K, a social science teacher at
the Antharasnathe High
School.
A study conducted by Mysore University says that 51%
of Jenu kuruba children are
dropouts at primary school
level and 67% of Jenu kuruba parents are illiterate, 9% have studied up to higher primary level
and 3% up to graduation level. The main cause
for it being poverty, disinterest among parents
and shortage of income representatives and learning disabilities.
“We have programs to get the students who
drop out back again. The teachers go to each
household and counsel the child and their parents. It has worked in some places like Antharasanthe and Hosaholalu but we are still trying to
get them back in other villages,” said the Panchayat Development Officer, Santosh Nag.
“Every major achievement has to begin with
a small success. We have got back 20 students
in our school. Other villages will soon be able
to do the same,” said S V Bhavani, a high school
teacher at Antharasanthe.
compensation at all for
movable assets”.
A resident of the village
Vimal said, “The farmers
got the land and small businesses were paid the
compensation but the landless labourers got nothing”.
These landless labourers had to work as coolies
and many of them had to
migrate due to lack of employment in the new village. The terrain of the
land is an important factor.
“The land terrain in our
old village was better and
the crop yield was higher.
The land in Malali is forest
land and in such lands, the
soil is much thinner compared to normal dry land”,
says Puttappa, a resident
of Malali. Devraj added that “In the initial
years it was difficult for the us to make the
land more fertile. It took time to make the
soil suitable and no incentives were provided by the government”.
Byriah echoed the same sentiment when
he said, “ The land where we lived before
was more fertile. The kabini dam did not
benefit Malali at all.”
When asked if they wanted to go back to
their old life? Or is life better here?
Devaraj says that Malali has a lot of advantage compared to their old village. “We
have better roads and electricity connection
now but water scarcity is still a major problem. Till 2012 we had to walk 3kms to get
drinking water. The government has recently dug up trenches because wild animals
were a menace in the village”, he says.
Eventhough it has been years since resetllement, the effects can still be felt.Malali is still in the process of
recuperation.Slowly, the bamboo making
way for brick and mortar.
Access delayed is access denied
THEJA RAM
underweight. Most women in the
haadis have no knowledge of sanitary pads or tampons and only 44%
N Belathur: Kulli, an agricultural
of the population practice family
labourer who sometimes rears catplanning. The women and children
tle died last year of a heart attack.
are severely malnourished due to
“We called the emergency number.
the lack of a balanced calorific diet.
The mobile van arrived three hours
The Anganvadis give each
later. My mother had already
pregnant woman 2 kgs of
died by then,” said Suresha,
wheat, 1 kg of rice and 1.75
Kulli’s 15 year old son.
kgs of toor dal for a month.
There were four such
The familial set up of the
cases in 2014 in Seegurhaadi
haadis includes a minimum
alone. In the neighbouring
of five members in each
Ballehaadi 3 such cases were
house. In practice, however,
reported and 2 in Maladaaround 17 to 18 members
haadi in the same year. Radwell in a single family.
jeshwari, a 20 year old
“The ration is barely
woman of Maladahaadi died
enough for a week since all
at child birth when the amof us consume it,” said Vabulence failed to arrive on
time. There is no road for ve- Maladahaadi is inaccessible to ambulances. Photo: santha, a 30 year old mother
of three.
hicles to enter the hamlet. Prabhudda Ghosh
The PHC lacks adequate
“The ambulance was too
late and because there is no road, and hypertension which is a recent supply of medical equipment and
supplies due to power shortages
we had to lay her on a blanket and phenomenon.
A study on the increase of hy- and lack of storage facilities for the
carry her all the way to the highway. It is easy for the houses near pertension among the jenukurubas medicines. “We do not have medithe road but we had to walk a good shows a 21% increase in hyperten- cines for snake bites which is comfive kilometers. She was gone by sion among people below the age mon among the tribals because it
the time we reached the ambu- of 30. The study attributes the cases requires to be stored at a very low
lance,” said Sannappa, Rajeshwa- of hypertension due to the lack of a temprature which our PHC does
ri’s husband, an agriculural proper diet and the low socio-eco- not have. We have to send someone
nomic condition of the tribal popu- to D B Kuppe to get the medicilabourer.
A single doctor, four beds, no lation. Cardiovascular diseases are nes,” said Dr Shashikumar.
The lack of medical facilities and
nurses and shortage of medical sup- the leading causes for morbidity
access to them has undermined the
plies sums up the condition of the and mortality.
Early marriage, extreme poverty, health indicators of the tribals in
N Belathur Public Heath Center
(PHC). There are no other PHCs in lack of health intervention for girls this area, which is a prerequisite of
the surrounding areas. A mobile- at puberty results in a malnourished human development. Tribal popumedical van visits the haadis to mother which extends to the child. lations are recognised as socially
According to Anganvadi records, and economically vulnerable, thekeep tabs on the heath of the tribals
47 out of 48 Jenu Kuruba children refore patterns and trends in tribal
every Friday.
“The doctor just asks us how we were malnourished in Seegurhaadi; areas requires to be monitored for
are feeling. He sometimes checks 35 out of 58 children were severely local epidemics.
our blood pressure and that is about
all the health check up we get,” said
Lingamma, the panchayat head of
Seegurhaadi.
the tribal population are faced
with severe problems of gastritis
due to heavy alcohol consumption
H. D. KOTE I 15
Corruption charges
in Ganga Kalyana
BHAVNA UCHIL
N Belathur: In October 2013 a
sum of Rs.1000 crore was allotted
by the government of Karnataka to
implement the Ganga Kalyana
scheme across the state. The benefits of this scheme which is meant
to help small and marginal farmers
belonging to the SCs, STs and
backward classes to dig bore wells
seems to be reaching the wrong
people.
Karnataka planned to sink
48,613 borewells in 2014-15 under
the scheme. “It is a good scheme,
but effective only on paper” says P.
Shiv Shankar, Director, State Institute of Rural Development. “There
are huge backlogs. It sometimes
takes two years for the process between digging and electrification (of
bore wells). By the time they are
electrified the bore well dries up”
he added.
There is also a huge gap between
demand and supply. About only a
fifth of the number of applicants
become beneficiaries. Chandru R.
is an electric contractor at the KEB,
H.D Kote. “Since the MLA is the
chairman of the committee which
selects beneficiaries, influence
works,” he says. The MLA and his
mediators select the beneficiaries
Shiv Shankar says. Santhosh Nag,
Panchayat Development Officer,
N.Belathur Gram Panchayat says
that favouritism does happen.
Nagayya is 49 and a small farmer who lives in Malali, a resettlement colony of those relocated
when the Kabini dam was built. He
alleges that the MLA’s supporters
expect bribes to select farmers as
beneficiaries, so do the Zilla and
Taluk panchayat members. Many
of the applications are also fake, of
those who are not small and marginal farmers at all, says Nagayya.
Though the beneficiaries are
supposed to be farmers with small
land holdings, big farmers who
own small plots of land in different
loactions become beneficiaries by
hiding their other land holdings,
Chandru says. Ganga Kalyana is a
‘No water, no money’ scheme. If
the drilling agent fails to find water,
he does not get the money from the
government.
“Often when bore wells fail, officials compel the farmer to sign
documents affirming that it yielded
water. They make a deal with him
that he can keep the profit by selling the motor and other equipment
that comes with it”. The drilling
agents work on contract and get
from Rs.30, 000 to Rs.50, 000 for
one bore well.
Shiv Shankar says “Again since
it is a ‘No water, no money’ scheme
there are very few takers. They (the
drilling agents) create a lobby and
whatever their demand, the government has to pay.” He questions
why the process of selecting the
supply agency and drilling agent is
highly centralized. They are fixed
from Bangalore.
Nagaraj P. is another Electric
Contractor at the KEB. He says
there is compromise in the quality
of equipment. The rates are hiked.
While a good motor costs around
Rs. 30,000 the inferior quality motors that are used cost Rs. 10,000
and hence are not durable. Everyone from the supply agency, drilling agent, field officer, manager to
the panchayat pocket the difference.
Nagaraj says it is not a problem
confined to H.D Kote taluk but is
happening across Karnataka.
The motor supply agents are selected through a process of tender
and given contracts. They take advantage of the monopoly they
enjoy in the situation.
“If competition was allowed
they would be less chance of corruption,” he says.
Awareness on wheels
J VIGNESH
N
Belathur:Aftab
Ahmed was standing
calmly under the hot afternoon sun as the Sarkara
Prathamika
Shaale(primary school)
children in Dammankatte were intently looking at a film which
was being screened inside a yellow van. The
film which ran for approximately 40 minutes
propagated good sanitary and hygiene practices. This initiative is a
part of Nirmal Bharat
Abhiyaan and has been
running for two years
and has so far covered
438 schools in the Mysore district.
Spreading awareness on hygiene and sanitation. Photo: Bhavna Uchil
Aftab Ahmed, who
drives the yellow van
said, “This is a very good program. ses how toilets promote hygiene will be awarded five lakhs under
In the villages there is less aware- and how washing hands keeps sick- the Nirmal Gram Puraskar.
Nandhini D.C. , the primary
ness about hygiene and sanitation. ness away. The other which is inUsing a film for promotion is a tended for the entire village school teacher said, “ Using media
very creative idea, the children get promotes betterment in the quality makes the program effective. The
engaged and learn from the film.” of living and encourages rural po- children get to know how the children outside their circle live. They
The program follows the rule- one pulation to build and use toilets.
Aftab Ahmed also informed that learn from the film and convey the
day, one school, one village. The
initiative is two pronged- one film the gram panchayat which achieves same to their parents . These kids
which targets the children showca- the ‘open defecation free’ status need to be exposed because they
Stealing power for
light in their lives
PRABUDDHA GHOSH
H.D.Kote: The failure of the
Bhagya Jyoti scheme in the tribal
haadi here has led to a massive increase in the incidents of electricity
hooking among the villagers.
The scheme introduced by the
Karnataka Government intends to
provide electricity at a subsidised
rate to the SCs and STs.
Under this scheme, the consumer
gets the first 18 units of electricity
free of cost. Despite the assurance
of H.D.Revanna , Minister of
Energy and Public Works, in the
State Assembly in 2005 that the
connections of the defaulters would
not be cut,
Karnataka State Electricity
Board(KEB) decided to cut connections leaving the villagers with
no option but to use electricity illegally.
So how bad is the situation? In
Seegurhaadi alone, the number of
houses having this kind of hooked
connections is over 35. Also these
houses have DTH T.V. connections
. Shivamma, an elderly tribal said
“The connection was here 20-25
years back, but it was cut 5 years
back as we couldn’t pay the bill”. It
was also known that KEB was coming up with new electricity lines.
For installing DTH connection,
they had to pay the private DTH
service provider Rs. 1000, and the
monthly package cost of Rs. 300.
To apply for the scheme, the applicant needs to send the copies of
his application forms along with
copies of photo ID Cards , along
with photos, caste certificate and
BPL card to the Panchayat . After
applying, it takes one week to install the connection.
Banuraj, Chief Waterman and
Electric officer of the N.Belathur
Gram Panchayat said that in case of
the electricity connection creating
problems, it takes three weeks to
repair.
But there is no helpline to lodge
complaints in case of any power
failure. For this, the villagers need
to inform the Panchayat officials in
N.Belathur.
There are no private electric connections except the KEB installed
ones in the villages and haadis. The
electric supply timings are 6-12 in
the morning and 7-11 in the evening.
The power supply is facing some
technical problems due to the voltage lowering, as the power production is very less. Banuraj said
the problem will be solved in the
coming May-June.
He informed that KEB installs
all the appliances and meter boxes
inside the households during the
installation of connections.
Asked about the steps taken by
the authorities to prevent the regu-
lar occurrences of hooking, Banuraj said that the Panchayat lets the
KEB to operate within its rules and
regulations when the complaints of
hooking come into picture. If a person gets caught by the officials in
cases of hooking, he remains in the
police custody until his bail order
arrives from court. In the past there
have been incidents where one individual has been booked for all the
four hooking cases in the haadis.
While asking about KEB’s
stance on the matter, Chandru R, an
electricity contractor of the KEB,
H.D. Kote said that it is difficult for
them to cut off all illegal connections, as the incidents of hooking
continue even if the illegal connections were cut in the haadis,
once the workers leave the spot.
He said there are talks of extending the Bhagya Jyoti scheme in
the 1400 newly government built
houses in the haadis. They are planning to extend the connection in the
older houses under subsidized rate
and have received 370 applications
till date.
“We know, it’s a kind of illegal
act on the part of tribal villagers.
We are taking adequate steps to
prevent further occurrences of hooking, but we also need to think
about a long-term solution to the
problem” said Mr. Santosh Kumar,
PDO of N.Belathur Gram Panchayat .
live in remote
areas.”
When the film
ended, the children
look at each other
and smile. Aftab
Ahmed gave a kind
smile as the kids
got up to go back
home. Then he
suddenly
calls
them back and
says, “ Nim thande
taayi ge heli, ivathu
aaru gentege film
idhe antha.” (Tell
your parents that
there is a film at six
today.) Nethra (10)
said, “ I have learnt
that washing hands
is important.” Sundaramurthy
(9)
gave a shy smile
and said that he had
learnt he should be
clean and hygienic so as to avoid
sickness. The other 35 kids in the
primary school shouted in unison
that they would follow what they
had learnt at the earliest.
Aftab is already packing to leave
to the village square but not before
saying that the hope that people
will follow the message keeps him
going.
Leaking roof, peeling
walls in anganwadi
Plaster peeling off the anganwadi walls. Photo: Prabuddha Ghosh
PRABUDDHA GHOSH
Seegurhaadi: The local Anganwadi in Seeguduhadi village here is
struggling for the past few months
because of poor sanitation and
crumbling infrastructure.
The lower nursery school, set up
for the Jenukudaba tribal kids here
, is still awaiting a reply from the
officials , regarding the repair work
of its walls and roof. According to
Gayatri, the school teacher , the
roof, made of tiles, leaks every
monsoon , causing water to collect
inside the building . Incorrect
laying of tiles has also addedto the
problem Water has seeped into the
wall , leaving big holes leading to
the disintegration of cement and
sand. The condition of the walls is
a matter of concern and during
monsoon, the school has to be closed for the sake of the safety of
these kids, according to Gayatri. ,
When these crumbling walls collapse in thunderstorms, it is “rebuilt with inferior materials”, said
Gayatri.
Although the government has
installed a solar panel at the school
to generate electrcity, it has stopped
working and so the school depends
on the conventional electricity supply from nearby Udvur district. But
to renew this connection, they have
to bribe the authorities.
“We are in a dire situation, nobody cares about us , the government, M.L.A,
nobody” , said
Gayatri.
This is representative of the
poor conditions of the anganwadi
schools across the state of Karnataka, as shown in a study by the Social Empowerment Mission Group
of the Government of Karnataka ,
and the Price Waterhouse Cooper .
According to this report , construction of the anganwadis is the
responsibility of the state under the
Integrated Child Development
Scheme , introduced in 1975 . The
sucess of the ICDS depends on the
quality and maintenance of the
physical resources and infrastructure of t Anganwadis the poor infrastructure of AWCs has dealt a
heavy blow to the scheme which is
the centrepiece of the Elementary
Education for Children Project.
The report also suggests that due
to the absence of the provision of
Repair and Management (R&M) in
the ICDS budget, it is difficult to
mobilize money for repairing the
schools.
Although the Zilla Panchayat is
entrusted with the job of repairing
and maintaining these schools,
there are no clear guidelines about
their role. .
The school has a pucca Indian
style bathroom , which has been
shut down for past few months ,
forcing the children to relieve
themselves in a makeshift bathroom , just outside the school compound, made of bamboo .
“ The bathroom, built by the pan-
chayat, has been closed for repairing for the past 5-6 months , as
they have some repairing works to
do” said Gayatri Gayatri, who joined the school three months back ,
said “Three years back , when the
locals complained about it to the
local MLA , he arranged some labourers to do the repairing job, but
they left their work midway, because of a dispute over wages.
Since then we have complained numerous times , only to be turned
down by the officials, I don’t want
to see, my students attending classes every day with the fear of a
building collapse”.
The School , currently has some
15 students , all between the ages
of 3 and 6 , while there are other
twenty children , who are not here,
as they have gone to Coorg, with
their parents who work on the coffee plantations . They will come
back only in the monsoon season
. Gayatri, a class 10 pass out ,
who has been in the teaching profession for the past 28 years , teaches poems and songs , both in
English and Kannada. She said that
these children prefer learning
through the medium of games ,
some of them are also learning
dance . She stays in Ballehadi, as
she has previously taught in another Anganwadi school near Magge
. She said that after passing out
from these school, these students
go to another primary school, 1
KM from Seeguduhadi.
Drinking their lives away
SHRIYA SHARMA
N.Belathur: “We get scared
walking back home after school
every day. The men start drinking
after around 5:00pm and we feel
very unsafe”, said 15 year old Kumari who studies at the Antharsanthe High School.
All tribal areas have a severe
alcohol problem, according to
Santosh Nag K, Panchayat Development Officer here at N.Belathur. Yet,
the
Karnataka
Government has not taken any active steps in conducting rehabilitation programs and workshops
for the tribal communities.
With more than 4-5 patients
walking into the N. Belathur Primary Health Center on a daily
basis, suffering from alcohol induced ailments, doctors and nurses alike are more than familiar
with the high levels of alcohol dependency in the region.
“We get many cases of alcohol
cirrhosis on a day to day basis.
The patients are mostly men as
women are not ready to speak
about these matters openly”, said
Dr. Shashi Kumar, resident doctor
at the Primary Health Centre here.
Dr. Jaganath who works at a
small private clinic in Antarsanthe
faces the same situation.
“We get about 20-30 Schedule
Tribe patients every day. A lot of
them suffer from gastric problems
“There are programs to educate all tribal
communities about the hazards of alcohol dependence, but these have not worked because drinking is not treated with
the seriousness it deserves”, said Dr.
Shashi Kumar.
and severe vomiting from alcohol
consumption”, he said.
A study conducted by the All
India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and the National
Drug Dependence Treatment
Centre, New Delhi, titled ‘The
Assessment of Pattern and Profile
of Substance Use among Children
in India’, found that Karnataka
has the highest percentage of alcohol usage among children in
comparison with the other states
studied- a staggering 88.9%.
“Children as young as 13 years
come to us with gastric problems.
The age group varies from 13-60
years. There are programs to educate all tribal communities about
the hazards of alcohol dependence, but these have not worked
because drinking is not treated
with the seriousness it deserves”,
said Dr. Shashi Kumar.
At the school level, however,
no programs are conducted to
educate the tribal children at an
early age about alcohol depen-
dency and addiction. Children are
either engaging in the activity
themselves or fear the adults in
the village once the evening session of drinking has commenced.
With the nearest Government
based de-addiction centre in Mysore, accessibility to alcohol rehabilitation is next to impossible.
The Swami Vivekananda Youth
Mission (SVYM) however, conducts a de-addiction camp exclusively for the tribal community,
yet, people are hesitant to sign up
for the camp as they either see it
as unnecessary or as something
one should not speak about publicly.
Fifty-one year-old Karia from
the Jenukuruba tribe who works
as a farmer on the Vivekananda
School of Excellence campus, has
been asked to sign up for the deaddiction camp several times, but
has refused. Hands and mouth
shaking uncontrollably due to
years of alcohol abuse, Karia accepts that he has cannot go a day
without drinking.
“I had never touched alcohol
when my family and I lived in the
forest. When we were made to
move out was when I tasted
brandy for the first time. Now, I
earn Rs.200 a day. I buy brandy
with Rs.100 and give the rest at
home to my wife for supplies”,
said Karia.
“Most of the monetary benefits
the government provides for the
tribal people are spent on buying
alcohol”, according to Dr. Shashi
Kumar.
Forced to merge with the
mainstream, the tribal people can
now access and purchase local
brands of liquor with ease.
Brought down usually from Mysore, alcohol is sold illegally from
huts within the tribal settlements
at cheap rates.
According to P. Shivshankar,
Director of Abdul Nazir Sab State
Institute of Rural Development,
the need for an intervention from
action oriented organisations is
the only way to tackle this problem. The change starts when
people stop seeing alcohol related
issues as being shameful or blasphemous, but rather accepting it
as a health hazard which affects
almost all areas of functioning.
“Before opening de-addiction
centres, there is an urgent need to
change people’s mindsets”, added
P. Shivshankar.
Memories abound
J.VIGNESH
Seegurhaadi:“Our language is a
different form of Kannada”, said a
rather pensive Puttamma as she
looked around for support from her
gang of old ladies. She was sitting
in the classical thinker’s pose, looking up, thinking, with her right
hand on her wrinkled cheeks and
her long index finger pointing upwards. The other three old ladies
nodded their heads in unison. Puttamma, Gowramma, Byramma and
Ningamma are so old, that they
don’t even know how old they are
- Yaarige goth appa (who knows?)
they say, laughing about their age.
Byramma explained the claim
about their language, “See, in Kannada you say Soppu togondba (get
the green leafy vegetables), we instead say soppu hogava (go to the
green leafy vegetable). Likewise its
neeru hogava (go to the water),
oorge hogava (go to the place), jatrege hogava (go to the fair). In the
Jenu Kuruba language, an object,
place or event are all meant to be
‘gone towards’.
Gowramma who was quietly listening suddenly cut short Byramma
and proudly said, “idhu nam
bashe” (This is our language). She
said that everyone, including the
little ones, in Seegurhaadi can
speak the language, but some of the
Jenu Kurubas who had migrated to
different parts of the district had
slowly shifted to speaking Kannada.
In these years the women have
seen life both inside and outside the
forest. Puttamma said, “They (the
government) promised us ola(firewood) and zameen (land), but we
have neither now.” Ningamma said
that when she was young , her people used to have a reasonable income by collecting and selling
forest produce like honey, pacchi
(algae), firewood, gum, flowers
and herbs. Her people, she said,
were known for their skill in collecting honey and hence their tribe’s name- Jenu (honey) Kurubas.
“But now”, Ningamma went on,
“we cannot even go into our forests
to collect dry firewood for cooking.
We have to beg, plead or fight with
the forest officials to even collect
fallen twigs and branches. At times,
our men collect firewood by stealthily going inside the forests like
robbers, but what to do? We cannot
cook without firewood.”
The women also claim that during the rainy season and the Kart-
hika maasa, the forest officials are corate the woman’s head with flostationed right
outside their
village so as to
prevent the villagers
from
going into the
forests to collect forest prod u c e .
Seegurhaadi is
a small Jenu
Kuruba resettlement right
outside the Nagarahole national
forest.
Puttamma
claims that her
Walking down the memory lane. Photo: Bhavna Uchil
tribe used to live
inside the forest in a place called wers and they would come out as
Balle. Ballehaadi still exists inside husband and wife and then they
the forest and now has a very small would touch the feet of the elders
population of both Kadu and Jenu to get their blessings, but now,
that’s all replaced by a thaali(sacred
Kurubas.
“Vanvasa ne channag ithu.” (Li- thread).” , said Ningamma. The
ving in the forests was better.) , said Jenu Kurubas are now left with no
option but to work as labourers on
Puttamma.
“Now we have nothing to claim fields or in coffee plantations.
The old women are now entirely
as ours. Even our ancient marriage
tradition is gone. Before the dependent on the pension for their
woman and the man used to ex- livelihood. Byramma gets only Rs.
change betel leaves, go inside the 500 as pension. There were days
forests where the man used to de- when she just got Rs.100.
Times have certainly changed for
the Jenu Kurubas, with their ages
old lifestyle on a wane, the only option left is to integrate into the
mainstream and feel like outsiders.
Bicycles for govt. school students
BHAVNA UCHIL
N. Belathur: Under the government’s Free Bicycle distribution
scheme, 32 students of class 8 in
the Government High School, N.
Belathur school received free bicycles.
Transportation is a deterrent to
education here and is one of the
major causes for driving up dropout
rates especially among girl children.
Prema, 13, is happy to get her
new bicycle. She belongs to the
Kadu Kuruba tribe. She walks 3
kms to school everyday since bus
services here are poor. But from
now on she would cycle to school.
Their teacher Hema who was
helping the excited students unlock
their new bicycles said, “Many students had to walk long distances to
come to school. Sometimes they
would get late. These cycles will
help them come to classes on time
and will be especially helpful to
girls.”
Sudeep S. from Karapura village
walks 2 km to school everyday
with seven other friends. Somehow
it takes the group an hour to cover
the
distance,
stop as they do
at many places
on the way.
Though he is
happy about his
new bicycle, he
plans to continue walking at
times.
Panchayat
Development
Officer Santhosh Nag, the
chief guest at
the function said
that this scheme
was aimed at facilitating education
since Bus services being poor bicycles are a boon to girl studistance
to dents. Photo:Bhavna Uchil
schools can be a
major deterrent.
Its initial target was girl students
“Many children join school to
get the cycle. Some children conti- of BPL families who were enrolled
nue studies at least till high school to class 8 in government and gofor it. This is a way to attract more vernment aided schools.
In 2007-08 it was extended to
children to schools.”, he said.
The Free Bicycle distribution both boys and girls of BPL famischeme was started in the year lies in government and aided
2006-07 to facilitate transport for schools within the city corporation
students in the hilly and rural areas. limits.
I climb a tree in 5 to 10 minutes:
Kancha, algae collector
PRABUDDHA GHOSH
H.D.Kote: For Kancha, collecting
forest products like algae and gooseberry is more than just a job, it is
a necessity.
Kancha, a 46 years old Kadu kuruba , climbs tall trees inside the
Nagarhole reserve forest . It is a job
which can sound difficult for ordinary people, but not for him. When
asked about how long it takes for
him to climb one tree, he replied
with a smile on his face “5 to 10
minutes”.
He has been in this profession of
forest produce collection for many
years. He is not the only one who
is doing this job , there are other
people in his village who carry out
the same activity, but they have
other options too.
While talking he opened the
white plastic bag he was carrying,
and then he took out the algae he
collected, some of which are whitish and blackish in colour.
He has two sons, both in their
twenties, work as forest department
staff in the Nagarhole Reserve Forest. They earn 6000-8000 rupees
monthly, by bathing the elephants
inside the forest area, as well as
training them. Both of them are
high school pass outs.
As Kancha was separating the
fresh green gooseberries on the
mud floor inside his house,he
spoke about his daily business . He
said “ I collect 15-20 Kg of gooseberries every day. I collect Algae
too. Then I have to inform my tribal village leader, “Mastih” is how
we call him. We need to pay him a
certain amount , from whatever we
earn by selling these products, as
he is the yejaman of our village”.
At this point Kancha , sounded helpless ,he said that after selling these
products in the market and paying
some share of the market prices to
the yajaman , he gets back only 150
rupees for his daily sustenance.
H. D. KOTE I 16
MGNREGA: Policy
and Implementation
ANUJ RAINA
H.D. Kote:A notice at the local
gram panchayat office informs the
locals of the documents they are required to produce in order to be enrolled in the scheme.
These include a voter’s ID card,
a ration card, and Aadhar card,
proof of residence, 8th standard
certificate, a savings bank account,
3 passport-sized photos and a filled
out application form. This leads to
the obvious difficulties one could
expect in a society where the majority of adults are completely illiterate.
However, B.V. Ramu, Panchayat
Vice-President for Heggadadevanakotetaluk, asserted that the panchayat had taken a leading role in
assisting the locals in enrolling
with the scheme. He added that the
Gram Panchayat went to the extent
of filing the paperwork of their
constituents so as to avoid red tapeism.
Devaiyya, 32, of Mallali village,
said that the panchayat’s help had
been invaluable to him. A participant in the NREGA, he works as a
construction laborer on housing
projects, earning Rs. 180 per day.
Another problem facing the
NREGA scheme is corruption. The
muster rolls which chart the identi-
NREGA
Karnataka Stats (2012 - 2013)
Total Households: 7476984
Total workers: 21525412
SC - 3557308 (16.53%)
ST - 1815013 (8.43%)
Women - 9925000 (46.11%)
Source: Govt. of India,
Ministry of Rural Development
ties of people enrolled under the
NREGA are inflated and middlemen pocket the difference. Before
the Right to Information Act (RTI)
came into force, NREGA muster
rolls were beyond public scrutiny.
Things improved after muster
rolls were placed in the public domain, and even displayed page by
page on the internet. Even so, loopholes in scrutiny endure.
Although the idea of transitio-
ning from direct cash payments to
bank payments in respect to
NREGA wages was a sound policy
breakthrough, it encountered logjams in the form of overloading the
banking system and leading to long
delays in payments.
Even today, banks and post offices find themselves unable to cope
with the demand on the system. For
the prevention of corruption, however, this was a step forward: the
new system makes it much harder
to embezzle NREGA funds since
the money now goes directly to
workers’ accounts.
Another challenge to overcome
is cultural in nature. Dr. R. Balasubramaniam, founder of the Swami
Vivekananda Youth Movement
which aims to improve the lives of
local tribal people primarily in
terms of healthcare and education,
pointed out that the concept of savings is an alien one among the
Jenu Kuruba tribe.
Traditionally a non-monetary society, their harsh introduction into
a monetized economy has left them
woefully ill-prepared for the outside world.
“They spend what they earn on a
given day, on that given day,” Dr.
R. Balasubramaniam says.
Sandhya Suraksha Yojana:
Is it a success or failure?
PRABUDDHA GHOSH
N.Belathur: Despite being a huge
success in the general villages and
tribal haadis around N.Belathur village Panchayat , the pensioners of
this village are demanding an increase in their pension amount
under the “Sandhya Suraksha Yojane” .
The old age scheme, launched
by B.S.Yeddyurappa , former Karnataka Chief Minister , on July 29,
2007 , aimed to cover more than
7.5 Lakh people above the age of
65.
The officials were instructed to
identify beneficiaries who had not
received other entitlements; mainly
agricultural labourers, small farmers , fishermen and unorganized
workers whose annual income was
under Rs.20,000.
The scheme operates under centrally sponsored Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension (NOAP)
Scheme, providing pension to BPL
households earning less than Rs.
6000 per yearly, since 1964.
“It is very difficult for us to sustain ourselves with a small pension
of Rs.500, now we have to work as
agricultural labourers to supplement this amount. This is not
enough to buy food and medicines.
It would be better if there is an increase of 500 rupees.”
The scheme is divided into three
categories, Old Age Pension
Scheme, Widow Pension Scheme
and Physical Disability Scheme .
In the first category, those above
the age of 65 receive Rs. 500, in the
second category, the amount is the
same and in the third
category , the amount is
Rs. 1200. For the third
category, the person
needs to be certified as
a “Physically Handicapped” by a doctor.
The cash gets disbursed through Post Offices and Banks as the
Sub Treasury Officer
sends the amount to the
postmaster of the Taluk
Post Offices and concerned banks.
“Most of the time
we prefer distributing
cash through post offices , as there is hardly
any bank here to distribute these amounts. For
the physically handicapped, we send our
peons, who deliver the
pension.
There are currently
around 900 pensioners A long wait for pension at the local post office. Photo: Prabuddha Ghosh
in the N. Belthur Gram
According to the Centre for Dedo a lot of travelling to the TahsilPanchayat area.
The amount is the same for the dar’s office and other departments centralisation and Development,
Institute of Social and Economic
SCs and STs.There are six haadis like Revenue Inspector’s office.
“I come once in two months, so Change, Bangalore, the scheme,
and seven general villages around
N. Belthur , which fall under the that I can get the amount for two since it’s inception in 2007 has
ambit of this scheme” said Mo- months at one time, which helps faced some serious problems like
hammad Jafar, branch post master. me to meet my expenses for a shortage of staff for weeding out
ineligible beneficiaries and delays
Perhaps the biggest problem month” she said.
Sakamma, another elderly in disbursing the pension amount.
with this scheme is the convoluted
“We know it’s insufficient for
woman said , “Sometimes the disprocedures.
Puttachandramma , an elderly tribution of cash depends on the re- old people to manage with a
between
Village monthly pension of Rs.500. Any
woman from Karapura, said that lationship
decision regarding increase in the
she had to depend a lot on her fa- accountants and the family.”
Pusammma, another elder amount can only be taken by the lemily and kin to complete the forms
as the application procedure is very woman, could not think of any ir- gislative members from this area.”
said Jafar.
complex, requiring the applicant to regularities in the distribution.
Blind beliefs hinder proper
breastfeeding practices
The algae is used to make paint. Photo: Prabuddha Ghosh
The tribals are heavily dependent on forest produce. Photo: Bhavna Uchil
THEJA RAM
Udhburhadi/Heggadadevanakote: Rojamma is 26 years old and
lives with her mother’s family in
Udhburhadi. Rojamma has had a
miscarriage and two still born children over the seven years of marriage.
In 2012, when she concieved
again, her husband’s family in H D
Kote consulted a fortune-teller in
Hunsur who advised her to deliver
the baby in her mother’s home and
not breastfeed her child for six
months. Rojamma’s son Rama,
died seven months after birth due
to lack of breast milk.
There is a prevalence of strong
socio-religious beliefs. A low level
of literacy is coupled with inadequate counseling of pregnant
women regarding the importance
of breastfeeding.
These are topped with an absence of proper hygiene in deliveries that take place at home.
A study by the International Ins-
titute of Nutrition, Pharmacology rished. In Seegurhaadi, a 15 year
and Neurological Diseases shows old Neela delivered her first child
that a lack of proper breastfeeding in May of 2014, at home.
Sumi is 20
leads to anemia
years old and
in underweight
has a 6 month
children, a risk of For mothers failure
old baby boy
severe thinness
and wasting and to breastfeed is asso- and did not
feed her son
may sometimes ciated with inciwithin the stialso result in
dence of
pulated time
death.
because accorMost of the
premenopausal
ding to her
mothers in the
grandmother,
villages surroun- breast cancer, ovait is a tradition
ding N Belathur
are not aware of rian cancer, retained to feed the
baby sweetethe concept of gestational weight
ned water first.
‘first
milk’,
You should
which determines gain, Type 2 diabenever feed the
the child’s immutes, Myocardial
baby mother’s
nity. It must be
fed to the infant inarction and Meta- milk first. We
must feed it
within 30 minubolic syndrome
with the sweetes of birth.
tened water
Ambreen Jan
blessed before
of Magge did not
breastfeed her son Ayan regularly. god who ensures its health and saShe herself is extremely malnou- fety. That is how it has been for
many years now. We are still alive,
aren’t we,” said Sarojamma, Sumi’s grandmother.
Dr Shashikumar of the N. Belathur Public Health Center says “Infants not being breastfed is
associated with an increased incidence of infectious morbidity, as
well as elevated risks of childhood
obesity, Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, leukemia, and sudden infant
death syndrome.” This was the
case of Rojamma’s son.
For mothers failure to breastfeed
is associated with incidence of premenopausal breast cancer, ovarian
cancer, retained gestational weight
gain, Type 2 diabetes, Myocardial
inarction and Metabolic syndrome
“We have doctors who visit the
haadis and educate the expecting
mothers about the importance of
breast milk but many of them are
blinded by superstition and give in
to antiquated rituals of no importance at all. It is also difficult to
convince such people.” Dr. Shashikumar said.
H. D. KOTE
I 17
Child marriages on the rise Dreams not allowed
THEJA RAM
N
Belathur:
Seegurhaadi/
Lengamani’s furrowed brow was
sweating as she dished out the
remnants of lunch from her plate
outside her small house as her fouryear old son watched her actions
intensely. Lengamani of the
Jenukuruba tribe is 20 years old
and a mother of two.
After dropping out of school at
14, she married Manjunath of the
same haadi and delivered her first
child, Vishwasa at the age of 16.
“My husband saw me one day
and told my parents that he liked
me, so we were married. I had to do
what my parents told me to do,”
she says.
After her first birth, she suffered
from constant dizzy spells and
fatigued easily. “She was very
weak. The first few days after the
delivery, she couldn’t even sit up
on her own,” said Kullamma,
Lengamani’s mother-in-law.
Lengamani is not the only one in
Seegurhaadi who was married at a
very early age. According to the
Anganvadi Birth Record, 22 out of
the 33 mothers from the years 2012
to 2014, had conceived below the
age of 18 and 12 out of the 22 bore
a second or third child.
A few kilometers away in
Ballehadi,
another
hamlet
populated by the Jenu kuruba and
Kadu kuruba tribes, 6 out of the 7
matter. I either had to get married
or die. I’m sure my mother would
have killed me if I disagreed,” said
Sheelavati, a resident of Magge.
Sigurhaadi
22 out of 33 women were married
before the age of 18.
98% of women were malnourished
47 out of 48 children were born
underweight.
Poor Hygiene
High rates of hypermanoragia
and dismanoria.
56% households lack toilets.
Ambreen jan was married at the
age of 17 and has a 2 year old
son. Photo: Theja Ram
mothers who conceived for the
second time in 2014 were aged 20
years or below; 10 such cases
occurred in N Belathur, the
panchayat headquarters, 14 in
Magge and 19 in Antharasanthe
which fall under the same gram
panchayat.
“In our village, if your parents
tell you to get married, you have to.
You don’t have a choice in the
Since the girls are very young,
they do not know how to take care
of themselves during pregnancy
nor the child after the delivery
and these result in pre-natal or
postpartum depression.
Sheelavati is 21 and was married at
the age of 16.
Most of the girls are married at
an early age because of the
economically poor condition of
their families. “We cannot afford to
feed and look after the girls for
longer and since they are of an age
close enough, marriage is the only
option. I got married at 14,” said
Empowering rural women
Women from different self help groups (SHGs) gathered together in CMRC to discuss issues of finances, expenditures and earnings. Photo: Abhinita Mohanty
ABHINITA MOHANTY
N Belatur: Self Help Groups are
making women financially independent and confident to deal with
life’s challenges. Here many NGOs
run these SHGs which work in the
field of agriculture.
SHGs help them in training and
provide loans. It has also instilled
the habit of saving in them, said
Shilawati who is a part of one of
them.
They work as micro-finance organizations. Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project
(SKDRDP) is one such programme
which gives women loans for agricultural purposes. It also provides
training to women on the knowhow
of running SHGs. There is also its
SHG for men called “Pragati
Bandhu Sangha”.
“When we meet, we decide the
agenda for next three months and
divide the activities among the
members. SKDRDP gives a loan of
Rs. 50,000 and we give Rs. 10,000
each to 5 people at a time, but all
the 10 people involved need to sign
as witnesses who would pay it
back”, says Jayamma of SKDRDP.
In case of a defaulter among the
people who signed, the rest have to
pay. When a person fails to repay
the loans regularly and are not lent
money again, Jayamma says.
Yaduraj D.S., Manager of Kaveri
Grameen Bank says that out of the
10 SHGs active in N.Belathur, 4
have defaulted. “Many SHGs have
failed due to lack of income generation. Undertaking systematic financial activities and planning is
very important for SHGs” he said.
Community Management Research Centre (CMRC) is an NGO
and maintains updated records on
expenses, earnings and activities of
SHGs under it. “Different people
are sent to banks to deposit money,
so that everyone involved will have
an idea about the way banks work”
says Susheela of CMRC.
The Self Help Groups have
come a long way in N. Belthur,
changing lives on the way.
Sheelavati’s mother Anusuya.
According to Dr Sashikumar of
the Public Health Centre in N
Belathur, most of the women who
conceive at an early age are prone
to pre-term deliveries and anemia
which is passed on to the child. The
poor hygiene in the haadis has
resulted in hypermenoragia and
dismanoria, so when a girl
conceives at a very early age, she is
prone to become anemic. Also the
rates of miscarriages and still birth
are more when the girl is around 15
or 16 years.
“Since the girls are very young,
they do not know how to take care
of themselves during pregnancy
nor the child after the delivery and
these result in psychological
problems like pre-natal or postnatal depression,” he said.
“The people are not aware of the
ill effects of child marriage in the
villages, especially the haadis
because they are superstitious and
stick on to their traditional practice
of early marriages. Although we try
to create awareness, they don’t
seem to understand. Besides, we
can only report a case of child
marriage if we catch them in the act
and produce proof of its
occurrence,” said Santhosh Nag,
the PDO.
BHAVNA UCHIL
Maladahaadi: Usha Lokesh lives
in a non descript haadi (village) of
about a few mud houses. The roads
are of mud, goats play around
houses and ginger dries in front of
doors. Usha is 19, but looks
younger like a lot of young people
in tribal hamlets like this one.
She is wearing a sindhoor,
married as she was two years ago
when she was just 17. Her
schooling was stopped as soon as
she attained maturity, she says.
While at school she did well, her
favourite subject being Kannada.
She was always aware that once
she comes of age she would be
withdrawn from school. “Kannada
teacher”, she says shyly when
asked what she would want to
become had she had the choice.
In Maladahaadi, her case is an
unusual one. Other girls were
allowed to continue going to school
even after they attained puberty.
They studied at least till standard
X. So when she was made to drop
out, her friends had continued their
studies. Though most of them were
also married at 16 or 17, their
families allow them to go for some
coolie work.
Usha does not question Lokesh,
her 22 year old husband when he
refuses to allow her to work. “I had
asked my father to let me study, but
he would not listen”, she says. Her
mother had wanted her to study,
though.
All that Usha has now are unfulfilled dreams. Photo:Bhavna Uchil
“I don’t want to have children
for another three to four years. I am
scared of childbirth” she says. But
there is mounting family pressure
on her to bear a child. Her younger
sister who got married after her
already has a child. But Usha is
adamant. Since she does not have a
child, after her aunt died, she is
taking care of her aunt’s five-yearold boy Chetan Raju.
Back in school she used to draw.
But now she hardly gets the time.
Cooking and washing utensils and
clothes take up all the time. She
likes reading books but does not
have any.
In Maladahaadi there are no
toilets and everyone including
women bathe in dilapidated
enclosures at the back of their
house which they call their
bathroom. Like many other women
in her tribal hamlet Usha bathes in
the dark hours of early morning or
late night. She has had her share of
bad experiences, with men teasing
and howling while watching her
take bath.
It is hard not to see the irony that
her family was protective enough
of its women to stop their education
when they attained maturity , but
does nothing about the everyday
danger
from not having
bathrooms. But Usha has no
comments on it. She has learnt to
accept it like many other things in
life.
A long way to go for women
BHAVNA UCHIL
H.D Kote: Agriculture and allied
activities form the main source of
livelihood for about 90 percent of
the population here. According to
the 2011 census data, while among
men there are more agricultural
cultivators than agricultural labourers, it is the other way in the case
of women.
The census definition of an ‘agricultural cultivator’ is one who is
engaged in cultivation of land
owned and such cultivation includes effective supervision and direction in cultivation. An ‘agricultural
labourer’ is a person who works on
another person’s land for wages in
money or kind or share.
The obvious reason for the low
number of ‘cultivators’ among
women (13,750 female as against
34,692 male), is that women are not
owners of the land. In patriarchal
society land is mostly in the name
of male members of the family.
When we look at the number of female agricultural labourers there
seems to be equal and even marginally more participation of women
(28120 female as against 28096
male).
H.D Kote taluk is yet to see farm
mechanization. High yielding variety seeds have made their way
There is a wage disparity of exactly 100%
between men an women in the region.
here, but that only means more labour-intensive work, since they require more water and enable
multiple cropping. Green revolu-
Gopamma, an agricultural labourer
from Malali. Photo: Bhavna Uchil
tion without mechanization means
more labour input.
Gopamma lives in Malali, where
those displaced when the Kabani
dam was built live. She does not
know her age, but looks about 40.
She calls herself a ‘coolie’, another name for a casual agricultural
labourer in rural areas. There is a
wage disparity of exactly 100%
between what she is paid and that
what men are. When she gets
Rs.100 for eight hours of work,
men are paid Rs.200.
For certain kinds of work, like
ginger cultivation she is paid
Rs.150 per day. But the wage gap
stays on. Men are paid Rs. 300 for
the same work. Asked why this difference in wages she says, “They
say they can’t afford it. They can’t
afford to pay the same wages for
women too.” Women have tried demanding equal wages as men, but
they are told, “If you want you
come, or don’t come.’ Gopamma
has a little over 6 months of work
in a year and a family of six to look
after. Her husband passed away in ----------. Her son and she are the
only bread winners. She has no
choice but to go to work.
She is part of a self help group
which enables her to borrow from
banks. It has been one year and she
is still repaying a loan of
Rs.12,000. “Taking a loan and repaying it is all we do”, she says ruefully. There is a sexual division of
labour in agriculture. Women do
weeding and transplanting, while
men plough. Landlords pay less to
women pointing out that men’s
work is more labour-intensive. But
ask Gopamma what her work has
done to her health. She suffers from
backpain because her work involves bending for long hours and severe headaches from working in
the sun.
Gopalraj is another agricultural
labourer. He gets about Rs.350 a
day, while women get Rs.150. He
justifies the difference in pay because men work from 8 in the morning to 5.30 in the evening, but
because of domestic duties and safety issues women come late to
work at around 10.30 in the morning and leave by 4 pm.
One of the studies conducted on
this wage disparity concludes that
it is the greater female labour supply in South India as compared to
that in north India that is the cause
of the low wages and this wage differential. Cultural restrictions in
South India in work force participation are much less than in the
north.
Though the wages paid to
women meet the minimum wage
requirements of the State of Karnataka, there is a long way to go for
gender equality in wages for agricultural labour.
Women’s participation in Gram Panchayat leaves much to desire
Most girls in Ballehaadi end up being housewives
J. VIGNESH
N. Belthur: Malali village was
mourning; Raju (45) had died of a
heart attack. Ram Shettar, a village
elder, said that Raju had worked tirelessly for the betterment of the
village. The villagers themselves
were unstinting in their praise as
they listed his services; Raju had
built the primary school compound,
mended the drainage system, got
the local minister to listen to the
village’s grievances and made sure
that they were addressed. Raju, for
them, was the ideal Panchayat
member.
Further enquiries revealed that
Rajamma, Raju’s wife, is in fact the
Panchayat member from Malali.
Rajamma is one of the seven
women members of the panchayat.
B.V. Ramu, the Vice- President
said, “Raju did service using his
wife’s position. He helped in the
development of his village. His
wife is the member. She worked for
development along with him.” Rajamma’s proxy role holds true for
almost all of the women panchayat
members.
Banuraj, the panchayat waterman said, “All the women members come with their husbands.
They seek their counsel and guidance. They themselves want them
to come.” The N. Belthur panchayat also boasts of a woman president, Puttamani Kemparaju .
Puttamani Kemparaju has overseen
cleanliness drives, bore well schemes, drainage improvement, Self
Help Groups promotion, Udyoga
Yojana (employment generation)
and laying of roads. Puttamani has
even donated her own money to the
Men continue to dominate in Gram Panchayats. Photo:
setupachayat.wordpress.com
Legal constarints prevent pucca school structure
high school’s infrastructure development. But the general perception, Banuraj said,“ Kemparaju is a
hardworking person who is respected a lot. He does good work and
has played a huge part in the development of the Gram panchayat
and especially of his village. His
wife has also played a good role.”
Banuraj feels that there is nothing wrong with the women members getting their husbands along
and in fact wants the husbands to
come. He then added that some of
the husbands come along because
they feel insecure since their wives
have to deal with other men.
Santhosh Nag, Panchayat Development Officer, explained his side
by saying, “The women members
are not as educated as their husbands. They want their help in performing their official duties. Since
Rehabilitated tribals, who were promised cooking fuel, fetch firewood.
Photos: Bhavna Uchil
this is a village setting, they are hesitant to even talk properly to men.
So for smooth functioning, husbands play a crucial part. There are
7 out of 18 members
of the N. Belathur
gram panchayat are
women.
times when we go for inspection,
and at those times it is not nice to
call women to come with you. It is
better if you call their husbands.”
The 50 percent reservation for
women in the gram panchayat was
hailed as a stellar move.
The directive came to force in
August 2009. The quota for women
was increased to 50 percent from
33 percent.This initiative was expected to give women more decision taking power in grassroot
governance.
P. Shivshankar, Director, Abdul
Nazir Sab State Institute of Regional Development, said, “Women taking independent decisions is a
growing area. There has been a
considerable change in the situation
since 1993 when the bill was passed”.
“The women are still dependent
on their male counterparts but they
still play a role in decision making.
To see a significant change, we
might have to wait for one more generation. The next generation could
change the situation”, said P. Shivshankar.
18 LIFE THROUGH THE LENS
Plains or plantations, women don’t have it easy
MEENAL THAKUR
Weaving no more!
Women board the estate lorry to go for work. Photo: Vijay Kishore
JUSTIN RAO
Thullur: Every rural household
has a generational conflict; with
fathers wanting their sons to move
on from their traditional labour, and
gain a better standard of living.
Hanumantha Rao’s family is one
of the weavers of Mangalagiri
town, which is famous for its
fabric. Each saree they produce,
however, does not allay their fears
about their profession.
"This art is dying," says
Hanumantha, who has been
weaving since he was 10 years old.
"There are few weavers left in
town, with everyone choosing
other work."
The number of weavers has
reduced from 20,000 to 1,500. One
of the reasons for this decline is the
pay. On an average, a weaver gets
paid Rs.1500 for five sarees per
week. "The rate is fixed,
irrespective of how complex the
design is," he says, adding that the
same sarees are then sold for
between Rs.1200 to Rs.12000.
Ramana Murthy is a hand-loom
distributor and owner of a loom and
currently has 30 weavers working
under him.
"The biggest problem for
weavers is the pay, but a bigger
problem for the distributors is the
sales," he says.
Even though hand loom fabrics
are extremely popular, they face
stiff competition from the power
loom.
"A weaver makes one saree per
day but a power loom produces 50
sarees per day," he says.
Gowardhan Rao, who once
owned 50 looms, is one of the
oldest weaving contractors of
Mangalagiri. Before the power
loom became popular Gowardhan
used to send clothes to Bombay, but
he had to halt his production due to
the competition.
Valparai: The number of women
plantation workers at Valparai has
increased over the years and so
have their problems brought upon
by the profession. According to
The Hindu, around 15,000 workers
were employed on tea and coffee
plantations here in 2013, women
outnumbering men.
A normal day on the plantation
starts at 8 a.m. Women, who pluck
beans and leaves, have to achieve
the daily target of 40-50 kg,
varying from estate to estate, and
hence they have to work till 5 p.m.
Men, on the other hand, are mostly
engaged in spraying pesticides and
are assigned certain hectares of
land per day. Once the work is
done, which usually gets over in 45 hours, they are free to leave.
Even though the type of work is
different and women put in longer
hours than men, both get paid
Rs.213 a day. Men are paid extra
for any additional work they do.
Women also have this option but
their daily targets take up the entire
day, leaving them with no time to
do extra work.
Putting in more work hours
renders women vulnerable to health
problems like arthritis and uterine
prolapse. “Women stand and work
on the plantation for hours together,
because of which they get
arthritis,” says Dr Mary Sugantha,
who runs a private clinic at
Valparai. The estate hospitals
provide women with free
injections, but it brings relief just
for two days.
“The only treatment is to keep on
working. The moment we sit idle
the pain comes back,” says Masani,
a 30-year-old widow.
Daily scissoring and lifting
heavy weights put pressure on the
abdomen which causes uterine
prolapse. Once it happens, women
find it difficult to carry weight,
because of which they get their
uteruses removed.
“Around 30% women get their
uterus removed. This usually
affects women who are 55 years
old and above,” says M. Anandan,
Medical Officer at the Valparai
Government Hospital.
“I suffered from uterine prolapse
and got my uterus removed 14
years ago. Our work is so
demanding that getting it removed
is always better,” says 60-year-old
Netramani.
Out of all estate hospitals, only
Tata has the facility for this
operation, others’ patients are
referred to the Coimbatore Medical
College (CMC) Hospital.
Though doctors recommend
light work for up to six months
after the operation, which results
in general weakness, workers
seldom heed their advice.
“Workers can avail themselves
of medical leave, but the estates
have made paperwork so
cumbersome that workers prefer
going to work to wasting time
applying for leave,” says Dr.
Anandan.
Lifting excess weight also causes
hernia, among both men and
women, though it is less common
than uterine prolapse. Men have to
carry heavy pesticide buckets for
spraying which causes scrotal
hernia. Women also suffer from
anaemia because their wages are
not enough to meet their daily
calorific requirements.
However, “over the years cases
of anaemia have significantly
decreased due to government
schemes like the National Rural
Health Mission, where free iron
tablets are distributed among
people to make up for any iron
deficiency,” says Dr. Anandan.
"Power looms have an enormous
production rate, which we can’t
compete with. The hand loom is
superior in quality, but few can tell
the difference ," he says.
The best chance for weavers
right now, according to Murthy, is
to work in tandem with distributors
to sell their products.
"Since we don't own any
equipment it is not possible for us
to produce and sell independently,"
Hanumantha says.
Hanumantha has high hopes for
the new capital region. He is not as
hopeful about his profession,
however.
"Ten years," he says, "that is the
maximum it will last."
Does he want his kid to become
a weaver?
"Never.
There
is
no
independence in our work. I don’t
want my kid to weave clothes. He
should have a life of his own."
(Top left) Age is not a barrier when it
comes to weaving saris. A 79-yearold weaver from Mangalagiri who
has been weaving for more than 30
years.
(Top right) Mangalagiri weavers are
famed but their workplace stands
testimony to the conditions they
work in.
‘
(Bottom left) A weaver inspects the
high-speed loom shuttle before
continuing his silken masterpiece.
(Bottom right) Women receive equal
pay as men unlike some other
professions. Photos: Santosh GT
’
Tribal tongue falls silent Regional pre-history revealed
ANONNA DUTT
Patalkot: Bharauti, the local
tongue of the Bharia people of
Patalkot, is rarely heard in the
valley. People from Chimtipur
and Rated, the two villages near
the top of the valley, speak only
in Hindi - the most common
language in Madhya Pradesh.
“We have to go to the top of the
hill for all our needs, so, we
learned Hindi,” said Bisan Lal
Bharati, a farmer and migrant
labour from Rated. People from
Patalkot survive by selling their
agricultural produce and herbs
and buying vegetables and salt in
return from Chindi, Tamia, Bijori
and Parasia villages outside the
valley.
According to Brujlal Bharati, a
Lower Division Clerk in the
Chhindwara Collectorate and a
native of Rated, only the elders
speak Bharauti to one another.
The kids no longer learn the
language, he added.
Bharias and Gonds are the
major tribes that reside in
Patalkot. While the language of
the Gonds, Gondi, is in the
UNESCO’s list of endangered
languages in India, Bharauti is
not even given a mention.
According to a study by
People’s Linguistic Survey of
India (PLSI), the official number
of 122 languages is far lower than
the 780 that the organisation
found across India. The authors
also suspect there are an
additional 100 languages which
they could not find. The major
reason for the disparity in the
official figure and the figure
projected in the survey is that the
government does not recognise
languages that have fewer than
10,000 speakers.
The PLSI survey also predicts
that the death of native speakers
and the ambivalence of the
younger
generation
will
culminate in a further 150
languages disappearing over the
next 50 years.
Little, however, is being done
by the Government to protect the
endangered languages.
People, who until very recently
lived in isolation, have given up
on their linguistic heritage due to
monetary concerns.
“The
children do not need to learn
Bharauti,” said Bisan Lal Bharati,
“Hindi is needed. No one speaks
our language nowadays.” “Hindi
is vikaas (development) for
them,” said Daya Bai, a social
activist who is currently working
in Chhindwara district.
The primary and the few
middle schools in Patalkot teach
only Hindi and a little bit of
English. The teachers do not
interact with the students in
Bharauti. Shashwati Bharati, a
primary school teacher in the
Chimtipur government school,
said that she was educated in the
nearby Tamia village and had
moved to Chimtipur
after
marriage some 20 years ago.
Although she has been in the
village for a long time she has
never made an effort to learn
Bharauti. “The children talk only
in Hindi,” she said.
Bharauti is just a spoken
language which has no script and
thus no physical literature;
instead, it is passed down through
the generations via an oral
tradition. The government has
done little to conserve Bharauti
or the wise sayings of the village
elders. When asked about the
dying language, N. S. Barkade,
the Assistant Commissioner for
Tribal Welfare, replied, “These
people have been talking in Hindi
since I was a kid.”
Without any attempt from the
people to preserve and pass down
their own language, or an interest
on the part of the government, it
seems likely that Bharauti will
become another lost language of
India.
SRUTHIN LAL S
Poondi (Tiruvallur) : Poondi
village of Tiruvallur taluk boasts of
a treasure of archeology, a prehistory museum - the only
site-museum in India. Portraying
the regional pre-history, the
museum reveals stories about the
early hominids, the ancestors of the
human race, who inhabited this
area about one lakh years ago.
Located
at
the
village
headquarters and adjoining the
primary health centre, a small pink
building, looking too unattractive
for its importance, might go easily
unnoticed if you really don’t put an
effort to find the blue board at its
entrance.
The energetic and passionate
curator of the museum, S.
Srikumar, says, “This museum
showcases the Madras hand tools,
Life-size models of hominids outside the pre-history museum. Photo: Srutin Lal
that are similar to the Acheulian
hand tools, excavated in France.
These were used by the early
humans, even before they found
fire or started practising settled
agriculture.”
In India, Tiruvallur and Sohan
valley (in western Punjab) are the
only sites, where Old Stone Age
(datable to one lakh years and
above) tools are identified.
Established in
1985
by
the
government
of
Tamil Nadu, this
museum
showcases many
artefacts like hand
axes,
cleavers,
scrappers
and
borers, excavated
from
different
parts of Poondi.
“We excavated
these areas with
the help of the
local villagers of
Poondi. This was a
job that required a
lot of care and a bit
of expertise. But
the villagers were
very intelligent
and
did
a
Poondi
village of
Tiruvallur
taluk has the only
pre-historic site
museum in
India
wonderful job in helping
us, even though they were not paid
anything by the government,” says
Srikumar about his experience in
excavation in the area.
Disppointed with the low turn
out, Srikumar says, “Local visitors
are very few. Many don’t
understand the importance of the
museum. But many foreigners
come here...”
The museum also has fossils that
are millions of years old. One is
that of an 80-million-year-old
marine ammonite fossil, serving as
proof that the area was under the
sea back then. Many geological
artefacts, like rocks belonging to
different geological ages, are also
showcased in this pre-history
museum.
LIFE THROUGH THE LENS 19
Ways of seeing, ways of telling..
Dear Master Blaster
A child wearing a mask of Sachin Tendulkar. Photo: Aditi M.
Dear Sachin,
We went to Puttamraju Kandriga, the village in
Gudur Mandal of Andhra Pradesh you adopted last
year under the ‘Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana.’
Reaching there was not easy as the roads were
poor. But when we arrived the sight was promising.
Puttamraju Kandriga was alive with the sound
of progress; road-rollers and excavators rattling
away and workers carrying concrete mix yelled out
to each other; dust rose in the area as roads took
shape; electricity poles were being erected and
pavements were being laid.
There was a newly constructed drain and two
brand new, blue-roofed compost pits in the
distance.
A 32-year-old village resident, T. Lakshmi, said
that 24-hours drinking water, more or less 24-hours
of electricity and toilets have been provided to each
house. Lakshmi said that you, Sachin, came to the
village last year on Nov 16. You saw their houses,
their fields, and their lives. You played cricket with
the children.
It looks like you have made a difference. The
village is on the path of progress. But the Sarpanch
of the village, B. Nageswara, said that all the work
we saw, the roads, the drains and the electricity
poles, was by the Government. It seems that the
District Collector had sanctioned Rs. 3.5 crores to
make Puttamraju Kandriga a model village.
Nageswara said that the promised Rs 2.79 crores
from your MP funds had not yet arrived.
There is no medical facility in the village. The
closest health centre is 10 km away at Chennur.The
people want compound walls for their homes and a
high school in the village, but there is not enough
money.
There are problems with the ongoing work too.
Lakhsmi said that the construction on an adjoining
road had stopped two days ago. The contractor said
that it was all they were told to build.
The sarpanch complained that the new obeliskshaped electric poles were likely to fall down. And
are you aware that male workers get Rs. 500 for a
day’s work, while the women receive Rs. 350?
They seemed to accept it as they did not want to
offend the men.
Most of the villagers are lemon farmers and
some rear cattle. The infrastructure is being
improved, but will anything be done to improve
their livelihood?
“Only buildings will come up, their lives will be
the same,” said B. Venkateswarulu, the government
engineer in-charge of the roads.
The villagers want you to prove him wrong,
Sachin. They say you promised to build a cricket
ground and a high school for the children. A fish
pond, a veterinary clinic, a vegetable market, an
auditorium and two more compost pits are also
planned.
They say that the work done by the government,
sluggish in the past, accelerated after you adopted
the village. They have hope now.
The people of Puttamraju Kandriga are looking
up to you. Their homes have your face plastered on
the walls. The children wear your masks at school.
You have done it on numerous occasions for your
country,with the hopes and dreams of a billion
people resting on your shoulders. It is time to step
up and deliver once more for 500 people in this
village in Andhra Pradesh.
Tribal communities in hamlets
around Gudur, the largest
division in the district, have
their own distinctive tales to
recount. Having endured
years of class and caste
oppression, they hang on to
their lives depending on a
range of diverse activities for
their subsistence.
Villagers of south Nellore
earn their through agriculture
and allied activities, shrimp
farming, cattle rearing, the
Mahatma Gandhi National
Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme, seasonal migration
and other odd jobs.
(Right) Cattle rearing is an
additional means of livelihood
for
the
residents
of
Pidurpalem, who are primarily
agriculturalists. These Reddy
Yanadi settlers were formerly
bonded labourers.
Big brands boot out
traditional trade
SUNDAR SETHURAMAN
Sathyamangalam: Inga yaarum
illai (there is no one here), said a
woman, replying to a query on
shoemakers at Komarapalayam
before she directed us to the house
of Ponnuswami, one of the few
remaining in the trade here.
A second generation shoemaker,
Ponnuswami (47) joined the family
business at the age of 10, helping
his father along with his siblings.
But his brothers have left the
profession and are into cheap
footwear
trade
in
Erode.
Ponnuswami makes five pairs of
chappals every day, at a cost of Rs.
160 a pair, and takes the product to
shops at Sathyamangalam once 15
pairs are ready. “Ideally we should
get a profit of Rs 100 a pair. But
lack of demand forces us to sell
chappals at a margin of Rs. 40- 50,”
laments Ponnuswami.
Shopkeepers have their own
grievance. “Youngsters don’t prefer
handmade- chappals. Five years
ago, even we used to make
handmade-chappals with 20
employees. There has been literally
no demand since the advent of
branded footwear, which has
superior design and lasts longer.
Branded chappals will last for six
months, whereas a handmade
product wears off in three months,”
said Babu, owner of Modern
Footwear at Sathyamangalam.
“I had 10 people working for me
but the advent of branded footwear
crushed my business, “said
Guruswamy, a third generation
shoemaker who now works in a
shop where he used to sell his
handmade-chappals.
Other reasons forcing traditional
shoemakers out of the profession
are rising raw material costs and
“stigma.”
The price of raw material has
escalated as many tanneries in
Erode were closed following
complaints of effluents discharge
into water bodies. Moreover, they
[traditional shoemakers] don’t have
the means to go out of town and
purchase
in
bulk,”
says
Karuppuswamy, Director of the
Rights Education and Development
Centre, an NGO working with the
Arundathiar community, to which
shoemakers at Komarapalayam
belong.
Starting a venture of their own is
out of question as they lack the
necessary resources. The 30%
subsidy from the Tamil Nadu Adi
Dravidar
Housing
and
Development Corporation is not
helping much, he says.
“Many people don’t have pattas
so they don’t have any collateral to
show for taking loans”, he points
out.
Moreover, the “stigma” attached
Yours sincerely,
Manas Mitual
to the profession is dissuading
youngsters from taking up their
family profession. Shoemaking
has always been associated with
Arundathiyars in Tamil Nadu.
Youngsters fear they will be looked
down upon if they remain in this
profession,” says the NGO
Director.
Ruing the decline, Ponnuswami
said that 10 years ago 100 out of
the 150 families at Komarapalayam
were involved in the shoe making
business, now it was a mere 20 and
more people were leaving the trade
with each passing day. “One can
earn up to Rs. 500 per day in
painting and construction work,
whereas in shoemaking, we can get
just up to Rs. 250. If things don’t
work, even I may quit the
business.”
(Top left) Chellaiah from Nawabpet climbs coconut palms for his daily bread. Though he fishes only for his subsistence, it is the chief
occupation for many others in the village. (Top right) A milkman on his way to Lakshminarasimhapuram, an ST colony. (Bottom left)
Madhavapuram is an island village on the Pulicat Lake, where the villagers work on their farmlands during the harvest season. They migrate
to nearby towns during the off-season. (Bottom right) Challamma of Thupilipalem dries a portion of the fresh catch her husband fetches
every morning. On a good day, she earns Rs. 500-600 but, such days do not come too often for her. Photos: Milan George Jacob
Shiva Temple unifies 33 villages
ABHINITA MOHANTY
Ponnuswami, one of the last survivng shoemakers in Komarapalayam,
Sathyamangalam. Photo: Jeevan Ram
Malali (H D Kote) : Malali is one
of the 32 villages in the region
which were resettled after the
construction of the Kabini dam in
1974 submerged the area. The
Mahadeshwara temple, however,
was spared. The cultural life of all
the villages still revolve around this
sacred Shiva temple. “It is our
ancestral temple and we all pray
there on every occasion”, says
Satish, a resident of Malali.
The temple festival that all the
villages look forward to each year
is more than just a religious ‘ritual
or pilgrimage’. It is a festival which
brings together people from all
backgrounds. A resident of Malali,
Puttetappa
says
that
the
Mahadeshwara temple festival is
not just for upper caste Hindus; it
includes everyone.
“This festival is completely
organised and sponsored by the
villagers,” says Devraj, the former
chairman of the N. Belthur Gram
Panchayat. The Muslims and
Christians donate more than the
Hindus and show equal zest in
participating in all the events. The
Schedule Castes and Tribes also
participate.
The three-day festival begins
with the ritualistic bath of Lord
Mahadeshwara (Shiva) as the idol
is decorated and taken for a boat
ride. The lord is worshipped in a
traditional fashion accompanied
with the sound of drums and conch
shells. The idol is then taken for a
chariot procession. This is followed
by lunch where the prasadam is
distributed.
The festival also features a cattle
fair where cows and bullocks,
decorated with flowers and their
horns painted or wrapped in red
cloth, are taken as a part of the
tradition: there is no buying or
selling of cattle in the fair.
Devraj says, “It is through this
festival that we go back to our old
life for a while and stay in touch
with our people”.
One of the
older photographs
of the festival
shows
people
from
different
communities and
tribes who have
gathered together
to witness the
various cultural
programmes of
dance, drama and
music performed
by children in the
evening.
Festivals like
this prove that
religion can play
a unifying role in
bringing many
people together,
rather than serve
as a point of
dissension and a
potential source Lord Shiva taken in a colourful chariot accompanied by
the cheerful crowd and traditional musical
for conflict.
instruments. Photo: Guru Studio, H.D. Kote
-
FACT FILE
NELLORE
No SEZ jobs for farmers
MILAN GEORGE JACOB
Total Area: 17,626 km2
Nellore is located in southern
Andhra Pradesh, bordered by
the Bay of Bengal to the east,
Kadapa district to the west,
Chittoor and Thiruvallur (TN)
to the south, Prakasam district
to the north.
POPULATION
Total: 29,66,082 (2011)
Population density: 227/ km2
Urban: 8,62,240
Tribal: 2,42,257
Sex ratio: 986
OCCUPATION
Paddy cultivation,
aquaculture, weaving, mines
and industries
PROBLEMS
Bonded labour, caste
discrimination, inadequate
infrastructure, unemployment
and environmental issues due
to industrial development
Menakuru (Naidupet): The
villagers who lost their land to the
Special Economic Zone (SEZ) here
have accused the government of
failing to ensure that they got the
promised jobs in the SEZ.
Zilla Parishad member of
Naidupet mandal, Sriram Prasad
“The
villagers
lost
said,
commercial crop lands where they
grew turmeric, chilly, and paddy.
The government had assured us
that at least one member from each
family will get a job in the SEZ.”
“However, jobs were not given
citing the reason that the villagers
were not qualified to match the
required international labour
standards. Only five percent of the
local
youth
have
gained
employment in the SEZ. All those
who lost their lands did not get
complete justice,” he added.
The Andhra Pradesh Industrial
Infrastructure
Corporation
(APIIC), a government initiative,
acquired 6000 acres of land for the
multi-product
SEZ
from
Dwarkapuram,
Pallepalem,
Menakuru,
Konetrajupalem,
Attivaram, and Palluchuru villages.
“In Menakuru, settlement land
(land with ownership documents)
were acquired at Rs. 2.25 lakhs per
acre and assigned lands (right to
cultivation without right to sale)
were acquired at Rs. 2.17 lakhs per
acre,” Prasad said.
However, the farmers have not
yet received the promised 25 cents
Farmers left “high and dry” by SEZ industries. Photo: Milan George Jacob
of land despite four District
Collectors assuming office during
the five years from 2009.
The SEZ has industries that
make iron and steel products,
automobile spare parts, glass,
heavy transformers, textiles, air
conditioners, pharmaceuticals, and
plastics.
A 59-year-old farmer, G.
Damodaran said, “Our fertile lands
were taken away in return for job
offers. But, my son, who has
completed M.Tech, was denied
employment saying they are only
looking for school dropouts for
menial jobs.”
G. Gunnavau (57), said “Life
was comfortable as agriculturalists.
The companies in the SEZ hired
only unskilled labour. Our age was
also a hindrance for the jobs on
offer. We used up all the
compensation given for our land in
a year.”
The farmers, who lost major
chunks of their land, work on the
fields of rich agriculturalists during
the season. Otherwise, they have to
depend on old age pensions.
Some women are employed in
housekeeping jobs in textiles and
glass industries, earning Rs. 6000
a month. Girls who had passed
class 10 got jobs on factory floors,
said Prasad.
Though work under Mahatma
Gandhi
National
Rural
Employment Guarantee Act
(MGNREGA) is available in the
area, the farmers are unable to
complete a full quota of 100 days.
The government diverts the
work into infrastructure such as
laying roads, which does not have
much scope in Menakuru,
according to Damodaran.
A 26-year-old B.Tech graduate
in Electrical and Electronic
Engineering (EEE), K. Doraswami
said he could not find a job in the
SEZ that matched his qualification.
Presently, he works as a contract
labourer in a glass factory.
“Even graduates work at the
same level as an unskilled
labourer,” he added.
Attivaram village has a similar
story where promised jobs were
not given in return for the acquired
land.
The villagers lost three to four
acres each and are working on
smaller pieces of land now,
according to Chandrasekhar
Reddy, the village Sarpanch.
“The 25 cent plots promised by
the sub-collector are still not a
reality nor have the companies
done anything as part of their
corporate social responsibility,”
Chandrasekhar added.
Nonetheless, the village was
able to complete 100 days of work
under MGNREGA, he said.
“The companies did not give
jobs to Telugu-speaking people due
to their incompetence in other
languages,” stated D. Pichilaiah, a
farmer.
According to another farmer, M.
Ramanaiah, the standard of living
of the villagers has gone down
after they had to give away their
land to the SEZ. He added that his
son, who was skilled in handling
machinery, also did not get a job in
any of the companies.
“Better off before port”
VAIBHAV SHARMA
Allergy, asthma,
a norm around
power plant
The APGENCO Power Plant has not brought any smiles to the local farmers
at Nelaturu and Mamidipudi. Photo: Milan George Jacob
JIGYASA WATWANI
Mamidipudi (Muthukur): The
Damodaram Sanjeevaiah Thermal
Power Project at Nelaturu has
invited the ire of Mamidipudi
residents on grounds of pollution
and lack of adequate compensation.
Sponsored by the Andhra
Generation
Power
Pradesh
Corportion (APGENCO), the
power station is two kilometres
away from the village.
“Skin allergies, cough, colds and
asthma have become the norm
here. Ash from the plant fills the
village because winds blow from
the plant to the village for nine
months a year,” says Meera
Mohiddan (56), a resident.
Farmers claim that pollution
from the plant has halved their
yield. “Before the plant came up,
an acre of our paddy farm yielded
60 bags, where a bag weighed
around 48 kg. Now, it has been
reduced to 25-30 bags per acre,”
says K. Srinivasulu (55).
K. Chinayya (45), claimed that
their crop had developed reddish
spots ever since the plant came up.
Over the last few years, more
than two dozen thermal power
plants have come to be
the
near
concentrated
Krishnapatnam port in Nellore
because transportation of imported
coal would become cheaper.
The Telugu Desam Party, in its
online portal, has claimed that
environmental clearances have
been awarded only to 14 projects to
produce 14,460 MW of power
while most plants have an installed
capacity of over 24,000 MW.
The region within a five
kilometre radius of the port is in
danger of becoming one of the
most polluted zones of the country.
“Nellore district is fast becoming
the state’s dumping yard for
intensely polluting coal-based
thermal plants. The appraisal
bodies have been clearing these
projects without looking at the
impact of these projects taken
together,” a report by the NGO
Human Rights Forum (HRF) stated
in January 2012.
Moreover, the Electricity Act
allows these plants to sell
electricity to other states and/or
institutions.
As a result, the plant has no
obligation to sell electricity to
Andhra Pradesh Southern Power
Distribution Pvt. Ltd.
“It is ironic how we get power
for only seven hours a day, while a
thermal power plant located in our
vicinity sells power to a grid in the
Manubolu mandal,” Chinayya
adds.
Villagers claimed that the police
cracked down on them when they
tried to protest against APGENCO.
The group said the projects spew
close to 2,700 tons of sulphur and
1,30,000 tons of toxic ash into the
environment.
They also claim that they have
not been adequately compensated.
“We were only employed as
labourers during the construction of
the plant. After the plant came up,
five or six of us applied for jobs.
Only one or two got jobs and that
too through contacts,” Srinivaslu
added.
G. Venkateshwaralu (25), a
qualified Industrial Training
Institute (ITI) electrician, claimed
that he had applied for a shift
operator’s job at the plant, but was
asked to pay a bribe of Rs. 3 lakhs
to get a job he was eligible for.
Nellore:
Boasting of two
intermediate and 14 non-major
ports, Andhra Pradesh has become
one of the major hubs for the
shipping industry. The State has six
more ports under development that
are expected to handle a cargo of
200 million tonnes by 2019-2020.
While the ports are looked upon
as markers of development, in
some cases they have adversely
impacted communities in the area,
according to the residents.
In Utla Balijapalem, the villagers
say they lost their livelihood after
the construction of Krishnapatnam
Port. Covering around 4,550 acres,
the port made the sea inaccessible
for the villagers who were
traditionally a fishing community.
G. Gangaiah (56), a member of
the community said “While other
villagers got jobs at the port, we
were left to fend for ourselves.”
The villagers, who belong to the
marginalised Yanadi tribe, started
clearing iron and heavy metal
loads. They also worked in salt
pans which had to be closed down
as the iron dust from the port
started settling on them.
Yakkaseri Sanjeevaiah (55), who
was a fisherman, claims that his
earnings have been reduced ever
since the port came up. He now
works as an agricultural labourer.
Tupilipalem, the proposed site for the upcoming port, is the primary source
of catch for the local fishermen. Photo: Milan George Jacob
“We were better off before the
port,” he laments.
M. Polaya (28), a fisherman
from Tupilipalem village north of
Krishnapatnam,
echoes
Sanjeevaiah’s opinion. He said the
fish population declined after the
port was built. While he was able to
make sufficient money before the
port, Polaya claims that he now has
to struggle to make ends meet.
An air of uncertainty looms over
Tupilipalem village. The villagers,
who are complaining of the impact
of Krishnapatnam Port, might now
have to face eviction if the
proposed Dugarajapatnam Port is
constructed. The status of the
Dugarajapatnam Port, however, is
shrouded in ambiguity.
Although A. Gopal, a resident of
Tupilipalem village, said that they
had received no official word on
the construction of the port, D.
Koteswari, member of Association
for Rural Development (ARD), a
Nellore based NGO, claimed to
have attended a meeting in the
village where the District Collector
listed the ‘benefits’ they would
receive
after
the
port’s
construction.
Gopal said that “no such meeting
has taken place.”
Irrespective of whether or not the
port is constructed, Polaya has
decided to give up fishing. He
hopes the Dugarajapatnam Port
would be soon constructed as he is
confident of getting a job there.
Polaya conceded that his biggest
concern was eviction from the
place where he has spent his entire
life. He, however, is willing to
move to the nearby Chittedu village
if he gets a job at the port.
Greentech Industries adopted Dwarkapuram as a part of its Corporate
Social Responsibility, but the “kaccha” roads tell a different story.
Photo: Manas Mitul
Nothing “special”
for Dwarakapuram
VAIBHAV SHARMA AND
MANAS MITUL
Naidupet: The Special Economic
Zone (SEZ) in Naidupet Mandal,
Nellore, has left farmers in the
region disgruntled with “unfulfilled
promises”.
While the SEZ is celebrated for
bringing fast-paced industrial
development to the region, its
impact on the surrounding villages
is ignored, the farmers allege.
In 2006, four major industries
were planned in the SEZ. Paddy
cultivators were made to give up
their farmland on the promise of
adequate compensation and jobs.
Greentech Industries of the
Taiwan-based Mei Ta Group was
one of the companies given land in
the SEZ. The company became
operational in 2012.
A.V.G.V.
Prasad,
Deputy
General
Manager,
Human
Resources, at Greentech, said that
the company had adopted the
neighbouring
Dwarakapuram
village and helped in its growth as
part of its Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR).
"We have given 100 percent jobs
to
the
villagers
from
Dwarakapuram," Prasad said,
adding that the company had also
employed villagers with no formal
education as unskilled labour. He
said a total of 1700 people from the
villages in the area had been
employed.
According to Prasad, Greentech
also repaired a school, constructed
roads and erected streetlights in the
village. Prasad’s claims however,
were refuted by the villagers.
S.K. Mastan (26), resident of
Dwarakapuram who gave away
two acres of his land to Greentech,
said that the company had only
employed around 30 people from
the village, and that too only those
who had a degree or a diploma.
"Not everyone who gave away land
got jobs at Greentech," he
complained.
Stating that he had not received
any monetary compensation for the
farmland that he gave, Mastan said
that he earlier earned Rs. 3 lakhs to
Rs. 4 lakhs a year but now had to
struggle to make ends meet. He
blamed Greentech for taking away
a major share of his livelihood.
S.K. Alabaksha (49), a farmer,
said that his son worked at
Greentech at the machine shop and
earned Rs. 6000 a month. He too
had given away an acre of his land
and received Rs. 2.25 lakhs as
compensation from the Andhra
Pradesh Industrial Infrastructural
Corporation (APIIC), responsible
for the facilitation of land for the
industries in SEZ.
"The
farmers
from
Dwarakapuram gave a total of 125
acres of land away to the
industries," Alabaksha mentioned.
Prasad credited Greentech with
building roads in and around
Dwarakapuram. But the approach
road to the village is a bumpy mud
track and villagers claimed that
they had to wade through kneedeep waters during heavy rain.
"These are the two roads that
Greentech built," Suresh said,
pointing at the two roads inside the
village that led to a dead end.
“Even the street lights were put up
by the Panchayat,” he said.
Greentech’s Prasad mentioned
that 1.1 percent of the total project
cost was initially allotted for CSR
and 0.5 percent of the profit made
every year for the following years.
The villagers said that Greentech
had provided school bags and
school-uniform for the children, put
up an L.E.D. television at the
primary school, and had largely
ignored long-term development
and growth of the village.
They gave their land for “empty promises”
JIGYASA WATWANI
Nellore: The setting up of industrial units has not gone down well
in some parts of Nellore district,
with residents, mostly farmers,
saying that it has led to pollution
and health problems.
Menakuru village in Naidupet
mandal, designated as a Special
Economic Zone (SEZ), has 10
small scale and four large scale
units. Pollution from these industries has become a huge problem,
say the residents.
In Attivaram village, for instance, some 400 acres have been
affected by smoke from an iron factory situated just 500 metres from
the village.
This is despite the fact that there
is a stipulation that industries must
be located at least a kilometre away
from the fields.
Polluted water from the unit gets
into the canals, affecting paddy
fields and even animals that graze
in the area.
“In Attivaram, the paddy yield
has reduced by 10-15 bags after the
steel manufacturing plant came
up,” said Sriram Prasad, Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency
(ZPTC) member.
Srinivasulu (40), a resident of
Attivaram, said, “We get skin infections and our buffaloes have
stopped giving milk after drinking
polluted water. There hasn’t been
enough rain since the industry
came up.”
Chandrasekhar Reddy, Sarpanch
of Attivaram panchayat, says, “The
Pollution Control Board issued a
clearance certificate without even
inspecting the area. No permission
was taken from the panchayat.”
Reddy, who claimed that 67
acres of his agricultural land was
acquired for the SEZ, also alleged
that iron dust from vehicles ferrying goods to the factory polluted
Attivaram Sarpanch Chandrasekhar Reddy makes a point at a meeting in
his office. Photo: Manas Mitul
the area.
Hemalatha, another resident of
Attivaram, said, “When the village
heads themselves went to talk to
the authorities and couldn’t do
anything, what can people like us
do.”
However, companies in the SEZ
claim that their operations are ecofriendly.
A.V.G.V. Prasad, Deputy General Manager, Human Resources,
Greentech Industries Pvt Ltd. says
that the Taiwan-based company has
all the required environmental clearances.
Sriram Prasad said, “It will be
better if industries talk to the farmers before establishing units near
their homes and farms. Right now,
lobbying happens only at the government level.”
Another source of pollution is
the mica mining industry in Gudur
mandal.
Yellampalli Subhashini (18), a
resident of Shamenu, a village near
mica mines, says, “Cough and
other respiratory diseases are common here. There is no one at home
and I am forced to take my child to
the mines while I work there. There
are no safety precautions or regulations followed in the mines.”
Shrimp farming hits agriculture
MILAN GEORGE JACOB
Mallam (Chittamuru): Shrimp
farms bang in the middle of paddy
fields have made the water saline
and affected the crop in coastal
areas of Nellore district.
At Mallam village of Chittamuru
mandal in the district, small
farmers blamed these aqua farmers
in the region for the decline in yield
of paddy.
At least 200 acres of paddy fields
were affected according to farmers,
as either the seeds did not
germinate or the crop produced
empty shells of paddy due to
increased salinity of the soil.
“The soil which was excellent
has become black and unusable
now. The shrimp farmers release
saline water into the fresh water
streams on which farmers depend
for irrigation,” said Malla
Venkataiah, one of the affected
farmers.
A seasoned agriculturalist P.
Nagayya said, “Rich farmers pump
out fresh water from deep
borewells to their fields before the
point where saline water is
released. Small farmers like us do
not get good water for irrigation.”
With several crop failures,
marginal farmers are in huge debts,
finding it difficult to repay credit
obtained from large farmers. They
had to toil on the fields of their
creditors in order to sink their
loans, he said.
These farmers do not prefer bank
loans, as their lands would require
Nellore: Thrift and credit. Women in
rural areas of Nellore are familiar with
these terms, or as they say in Telugu,
“Podupu,” a popular programme that
encourages women to save, facilitating
credit under the
scheme for
Development of Women and Children
in Rural Areas.
Anala Sridevi (31) and Anala
Kameswaramma (45) are the
group leaders of one such Podupu
group, comprising ten members in
Puttamraju Kandriga village of
Gudur mandal.
“First we each save Rs. 100 a
month and that totals to Rs. 1000,
which we put in the bank. If we do
this for six months, then we get a
loan of Rs.50,000 which we divide
equally amongst ourselves,” says
Sridevi, adding that gradually, the
amount increases to Rs. 1 lakh, Rs.
2 lakhs, and so on.
The women are free to use the
money for their needs, be it
farming or their children’s
education.
Sridevi
and
Kameswaramma
work
as
labourers in the lemon orchards.
The villagers have a lot of hopes
DYING
TRADITIONS
200 kg of salt every ten days,”
admits Muthu Guruvayya, a
prawn farmer.
On the other hand, some
farmers, like T. Zangayya (47),
say they do not add salt because
their prawn ponds are closer to the
sea and naturally saline.
G. Venkateshwara, a farmer,
says, “The stagnant saline water of
a prawn farm seeps into the
ground and contaminates the
groundwater therein. The villagers
of Srinivasapuram, a village on
the boundary of our farm here,
complain that their drinking water
has been contaminated.”
According to a 1994 report in
the Economic and Political
Weekly, an intensive pond
requires a regular pumping of
seawater of 30-35 PPT salinity
mixed with groundwater to
maintain the required 15-20 PPT
salinity.
Ajay Parida, Executive Director
at the M.S. Swaminathan
Research Foundation, Chennai,
says, “After 2-3 years, the salinity
of the pond reaches levels so high,
Nagayya and other affected farmers. Photo: Milan George Jacob
mortgaging.
The farmers approached the
Mandal Revenue Officer (MRO)
N. Ramesh, whose shrimp farms
are located just a few hundred
metres away from paddy fields
said, “Shrimp cultivation is
possible both in fresh water and salt
water. Agriculture might be
affected only if shrimp farms in
their proximity are brackish, as
paddy grows at zero salinity.”
Nonetheless, the yield from fresh
water shrimp cultivation was less
compared to saline water
cultivation, added Ramesh.
Ideally, an investment of Rs. 25
lakhs per acre, on seeds, feed and
electricity and a salinity level of 1520 PPT would reap a profit of Rs.
15-16 lakhs, said Ramesh. Seed
quality and climatic conditions are
important factors determining the
yield of shrimp.
Ground water contamination - a side effect
JIGYASA WATWANI
Mallam (Chittamuru): While the
Andhra Pradesh Government
encourages prawn farming in the
name of a ‘blue revolution’, a
growing
number
of
environmentalists have opposed
the aquaculture boom.
Prawn farming has increased
the salinity of the ground water,
affecting paddy cultivation in the
coastal area.
“We put four bags of salt in
each 1.5 acre farm, amounting to
Small savings
for a big loan
SADHANA C
with their grievances, but in vain.
They accused the MRO of
allegedly breaking the bunds
constructed to prevent salt water
from entering the fields. A
representation to the District
Collector had no outcome, added
Nagayya.
Unable to count on agriculture,
many farmers turned to the odd
jobs on offer under the Mahatma
National
Rural
Gandhi
Employment Guarantee Act, which
proved non-remunerative.
The total cultivated area in
Nellore district is 63 percent of its
total geographical area, leaving
agriculture as the prime source of
livelihood. However, with its huge
export potential, aqua culture has
been gaining popularity in the
coastal district, requiring lesser
labour while yielding higher
returns than agriculture.
as it has been adopted by cricketer
Sachin Tendulkar and would be
developed as a “model village.”
“Right now, to save up and pay
the interest, we depend on the
money we get from coolie work
which is not stable,” says
Kameswaramma, adding that if
their means of livelihood remains
the same, all the development in
the village would be useless.
In Tupilipalem village of
Vakadu mandal, another Podupu
group leader V Kameswari, says
the groups unify the women in the
villages. Her group, which has
saved enough to get a loan of Rs.4
lakhs, gets together every month
to discusses domestic issues and
the importance of saving.
However, the groups have been
facing diffuculties in paying
interest. N. Kamalamma, a
member of the group in
Tupilipalem
says,
“When
Chandrababu Naidu came to
power he promised that the loans
would be waived, so we stopped
paying the interest. Now, we
learned that we have to pay an
interest of Rs.60,000 apart from
monthly interest.”
SADHANA C
Bangarupeta
(Venkatagiri):
G.
Kesavulu, 35, wakes up at 5 a.m., starts
working, and takes a break at 9, when his
wife, Sobha takes over the work for an
hour. He resumes work again for a couple
of hours, and when he breaks for lunch his
wife takes over for another hour.
This goes on until the duo cannot
continue any longer, which is usually at 8
“
If we could do
anything else, we
wouldn’t be doing
this”
p.m. They make Rs. 8000 a month.
The couple are weavers of the famous
Venkatagiri handloom tradition, and stay
in a weavers’ colony in Bangarupeta,
about 3 km away from Venkatagiri town.
There are about 500 looms in the
village, and it takes a full family to keep a
loom going. Women and men work away
at their looms, creating brightly patterned
saris. However, these looms may soon fall
silent.
“Earlier, there used to be at least two
looms in every house, but now it’s only
one. Weaving is dying,” says Kesavulu
nonchalantly, as he labours away at his
‘machine loom,’ standing in the pit from
that it becomes unsuitable for
prawn cultivation.”
He adds that this implies
successive degradation of shrimp
ponds, destroying the environment
even further.
Semi-intensive prawn farming
involves restrictions on the use of
chemical fertilisers, and discharge
of water after harvest.
Prawn farms also use a lot of
water and energy for pumping it.
Artificial feed for the prawns,
their faecas, fertilsers and
pesticides contaminate it further.
Degrees, but no jobs
PRIYANKA SAHOO
Nellore: Primary education has
raised hopes of a brighter future
among the rural young, but only a
handful of them manage to cross
the bridge to higher secondary
education.
K.
Lakshmi
(18)
from
Madhavapuram wanted to become
a teacher but had to drop out of
school after class ten, like many
others in her village as the junior
college was far off.
Born to weavers in Venkatgiri,
class eight student C. H. Niranjan
aims to become an engineer.
However, there are people who
have graduated despite the hurdles,
especially in technical fields, but
have not been able to find
employment. Some even had to
settle for menial contract jobs.
Twenty-six
year-old
K.
Doraswami is an Electrical and
Electronics
Engineer
from
Menakuru in Naidupet mandal.
Having applied for various jobs
and having been rejected for lack of
communication skills, he now
works as a contract labourer in a
glass factory at the Menakuru SEZ.
Since the previous generation
was denied jobs because the
industries in the SEZ employed
only technical staff, Doraswami
chose to study Engineering but has
been struggling with “no vacancy”
and “lack of communication
skills.” “We are educated in Telugu
and communicating in English is
Unable to find
technical jobs,
graduates from
rural Nellore are
taking up menial
contract work
difficult for us,” he says.
Villagers in Puttamraju Kandriga
in Gudur mandal are enthusiastic
about the developments following
Sachin Tendulkar’s adoption of the
village but Dasari Rajesh (25) is
still toiling to end his days of
unemployment.
While most students do not
pursue
education
beyond
matriculation
because
the
government colleges are far, Rajesh
completed his B.Sc. in Computer
Science from Gudur Vidyalaya
Degree College, 17 km away from
the village. Further, he got an MCA
degree from S.V. University in
Tirupati, a good 77 kms away.
Rajesh, who has been searching
for a job in the software industry
for over a year, says, “Institutes
providing technical training should
also focus on developing soft skills
of the students.”
Rajesh feels that with their
limited communication skills, it is
difficult for the educated rural
youth to compete with the urban
population. Having done a .NET
course from Hyderabad, he now
plans to do a spoken English course
to increase his chances.
Rajesh says he does not want to
take up the family occupation of
farming as he has spent a
considerable amount of time and
money on education in the hope of
getting a better paying occupation.
In the same village, Kokulu
Mahesh, an MBA, is the first and
the only one to have bagged a job.
The number of success stories,
however, remains few.
NELLORE I 21
Mica mine
workers
“exploited”
Y. Subhashini (left), a resident of Shamenu village, near Gudur, is a victim of
child labour in the mines. Photo: Milan George Jacob
MILAN GEORGE JACOB
Gudur: Social workers and
scheduled tribe (ST) mica
mineworkers here, in the country’s
second largest mica belt, have
accused mine owners of carrying
out illegal mining and exploiting
the
labour
with
meagre
remuneration.
Ankamma, a mine worker
inhabiting Shamenu village near
Gudur said, “I am paid Rs. 2.50 for
sorting one kilogram of mica. My
weekly income would be a
maximum of Rs. 300- 350. Mica is
weighed improperly and less wages
are paid to us.”
Gudur is home to over 50 mica
mines, most of which are now
illegally operated as their leases
have expired. The leases were
given for periods varying from 75
to 99 years.
A local social worker M.
Somsekhar alleged that the mines
were banned in 2001 and were
being illicitly operated since then.
Somsekhar
said,
“The
underground mines are blasted
using explosives.”
“The blasted pieces are loaded
onto trucks and transported for
segregation. About 250 labourers
work in a mine.”
“The white portion of the stone
has to be separated and at least 50
labourers work on that at a time.”
“For an eight hour shift, they
should lawfully earn Rs. 700-750
but as the labourers do not know
the method of estimation of their
exact amount of work, the
employers use it to their
advantage,” he added.
Mica commonly occurs as
flakes, scales or shreds. At present,
only some of the units mine mica.
Most of the mines employ labour to
sort mica from the debris, which
has accumulated over years.
The labourers also have to sort
white dust from the rocks, which is
subsequently used as rangoli
powder.
Rangoli powder itself is a
separate small-scale industry in the
area with around 50 workers.
According to Somsekhar, the
mica workers are scared to stand up
to the mining mafia due to constant
death threats.
A Dalit activist and Centre of
Indian Trade Unions (CITU)
member was murdered when he
questioned the atrocities of the
mafia.
As per a TV9 report, in the last
10 years, at least 10 tribals were
murdered by the mining mafia and
no action was taken.
The mine owners live in Chennai
and Hyderabad, and run the
business
through
managers,
according to Somsekhar.
The managers hire less labour
than required and pocket the money
saved by deploying a reduced
workforce.
“Around
10
mines
are
functioning illegally in this area
alone, with no action from the
government,” said S. Hussain, an
employee of the Association for
Rural Development (ARD).
He added that the exploitation of
mine workers was one kind of
bonded labour.
Child labour is also prevalent in
these mica mines, with children
working from the age of seven,
according to Hussain.
Soon, the silence of the looms in Venkatagiri
where he can operate the loom. He makes
intricate movements with his hands, with
the CAD-punched sheets that determine
the design on the sarees hanging overhead
and casting a pattern of light and shadow
on him.
It takes his family four full days to
finish a silk saree, if they work at full
speed for the entire time.
A master weaver commissions small
weavers to make sarees, and sometimes,
like in the case of Kesavulu, giving them
the materials to do so.
Kesavulu earns Rs. 1500 for a saree
which, he says is sold in the market for
about Rs. 6000.
Sobha, makes and dyes the thread for
the sarees in a floor charkha, which most
women in the village, old, and young are
seen spinning away at, at all times.
Lakka Srinivisasulu, 49, who calls
himself a ‘designer and a weaver,’ weaves
some of the most intricate designs on his
sarees. He teaches part-time at the Indian
Institute of Handloom Technology at
Venkatagiri, one of nine such colleges in
the country.
“The college has only two full-time
teachers. I teach them Computer Aided
Design and update them on the
technology which, sadly, very few people
can afford to keep up with.”
Srinivisasulu, who makes about Rs. 1.5
lakh for a saree which takes about five
months to weave, says that the
remuneration each weaver gets depends
on their skill level. “I was lucky enough
to be noticed by a master weaver for my
G. Nagayya, whose family has been weaving for generations, works on a saree which would take him 15 days to weave. Photo: Milan
George Jacob
art, who sent me to training courses to
learn advanced techniques.”
G. Nagayya, 66, along with his wife
Eeramma, 60, weaves Venkatagiri-sada
sarees, in the traditional way, without the
help of machine-aided designs. “Young
people can weave four or six sarees a
month but with both my wife and I being
old, we can make two.”
The couple make the material for the
simple colour-blocked sarees at home,
and sell the sarees to a master weaver at
Rs. 1000 for a saree.
“We get pension. We manage with the
Rs. 4000 we make a month,” says
Eeramma. “If we could do anything else,
we wouldn’t be doing this.”
Nagayya’s sons are also weavers who
live nearby, and his grandchildren go to
school, but he is sure that weaving will
not die out.
“It is only if the kids study that they
will be able to get out of this profession.
There will always be slackers who will
not and they will not have any option but
to resort to this and weaving will continue
forever.”
P. Parvathi, 16, sits in a corner with a
notebook, while her grandmother is
weaving and says she wants to become a
Telugu teacher. “There is no future in this
profession, ” she says uncomfortably.
Her mother, Vani, 35, chimes in, “I will
see my best so that my kids do not have to
resort to this.”
Ch. Ranagaraju, president of the local
weavers association, says the government
must support the weavers.
“We went to Delhi a few months ago
and met Venkiah Naidu who promised to
help us but so far we have not heard
anything.The government needs to
concentrate on skill development, so that
everyone gets an opportunity to develop.”
22 I NELLORE
Still an unfair deal for them
SADHANA C
of fisherfolk, the complaint is the
same. Shapra B., 62, said that the
women could not avail themselves
Nellore: The women of rural Nellore
of NREGS benefits as they were not
were once famous for spearheading an
encouraged to go out and work. “We
anti-arrack movement that led to
would like to work at home and
Prohibition in the State of Andhra
make some money, but we have not
Pradesh for a brief period in the midbeen able to.”
nineties. However, two decades later,
Many of the women who manage
the movement seems to have been
to find work, suffer from time
wiped out from the popular
poverty. They find little time for
consciousness.
themselves as they have to work
Ammandamma (47), is one among
long hours for a meagre income.
a group of construction labourers from
In the Yanadi colony of
Srikakulam who settled in Nellore in
Pidurupalem,
Sanjeevamma
the early nineties. Her daily wage is
Thupakulolla, 30, wakes up at 3
Rs. 100 lesser than what a man earns
a.m. every day in hopes of fetching
for the same amount of work.
more water than the allotted two
“ It’s an insult to the men if they are
vessels a day. She then cooks a meal
paid the same as the women, no?” she
and sets off to work as an
shrugs. “There’s no use even if they
agricultural labourer at 7:30. She
are paid more. Half the men’s daily
can afford to cook only once a day,
wages (Rs. 200) is spent on buying
and has to look after her family
liquor every day.”
before going to sleep at about 11
The girls in many villages are
p.m.
mostly married off at the age of 18. A.
The women of a fishing village,
Kameswaramma, 45, of Puttamraju Women of Tupilipalem spend their afternoons playing a game with colourful beads. Photo: Milan George Jacob
Tupilipalem who have to remain at
Kandriga says, “We are scared to send
our daughters to faraway places for of Yellasiri (ST), the women work in the
“Our farms are drying up because there home, however, have found an amusing way
education. So we let them study till the 12th fields during harvest time and do the has been no rain for the past two years, and to pass their time. Every afternoon, armed
this money has not come in as well. We have with Rs. 5 and coloured beads, they sit in a
class, and then get them married. How can available NREGS work during summer.
circle and play a game in which the first one
In Dwarakapuram, S.K. Shanawaz, 50, a to strive hard for a single meal.”
we keep them at home till they get a job?”
While women in agricultural villages to draw eight beads of a single colour from a
Many women depend on the NREGS for farmer who owns two acres, said that the
work, which has been partially implemented villagers were yet to receive the money for manage to eke out a living, wives of bucket takes home the pooled money. They
say it’s the game that’s “in fashion,” this
in the villages, with none of them having the one month of work they had done the fishermen do not have many options.
In Nawabpet, a mainly muslim settlement month, that will soon be replaced by another.
done the full 100 days of work. In the village previous year.
Muddy trails lead to the poor quarters
MANAS MITUL
Nellore: Hamlets around Gudur,
the largest municipality in Nellore
district, tell a story of neglect and
abandonment. Some of them lack
basic infrastructure and have not
benefited
from
government
schemes, say the residents.
Pidurupalem, a small village
about 13 km from Gudur and just
off Manubolu on the ChennaiKolkata National Highway, has no
permanent or metalled roads. A
narrow tar road leads to the main
village chiefly populated by landed
upper caste Reddys.
The road disappears on the way
to the village interiors where the
Yanadis, the Scheduled Tribes of
Andhra Pradesh, live in a colony
called Lanka. The road in the
Yanadi colony is an uneven muddy
trail .
A single pump supplies water to
all the 42 families of the colony.
“The water supply starts from three
in the afternoon and lasts for a few
hours. Each household is allowed
to fill two vessels a day,”
agricultural labourer Sanjeevamma
Thupakulolla (30) said.
Mekala Anandamamma, who
does back-breaking work from
eight in the morning to one in the
afternoon in the fields owned by
the Reddys, said that the kaccha
roads get inundated when it rains
and become impossible to walk on.
There is no high school in the
village.
“The village has a Zilla Parishad
Primary School but children from
the village have to go as far as
Gudur to attend high school,” said
Bandi Subbamma. Her six-year-old
daughter and 10-year-old son,
attend the village primary school.
With funding from the State-run
Integrated Novel Development In
Rural Areas and Model Municipal
Areas housing scheme, Lanka has
semi-constructed pukka houses
built by the Association for Rural
Development (ARD), an NGO
working with the Yanadis. The
ARD claims that the government
funding had stopped, stalling the
construction.
In Lakhshmi Narasimhapuram
village in Manubolu mandal, a
small Yanadi community of about
27 families, most of them
migratory agricultural workers,
faces an even harsher reality.
The tribals live in scattered
thatched huts and a few dilapidated
pukka houses separate from upper
The isolated tribal settlement with thatched huts at Lakshmi Narasimhapuram village. Photo: Manas Mitul
caste households in the village.
They work for upper caste farmers
and most of them migrate
seasonally, preventing children
from going to schools.
There are no toilets here forcing
people to defecate in the open.
Srihari Naidu, a 62-year-old
farmer and a former sarpanch, said
that the government had built a
toilet but it came crashing down
after some cattle pushed it.
The power supply in these tribal
hamlets is sporadic, lasting a few
hours and blacking out during
heavy rain.
Some of the houses siphon off
electricity from the main line to
power a single bulb hanging from
the ceiling.
The situation is similar in
hamlets in other mandals in the
district.
Madhavapuram,
Chinnathota, Pudikuppam and
Nawabpet are villages inhabited by
people displaced by the Sriharikota
project of the Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO).
As these villages are surrounded
by reserve forests not much
infrastructure development has
been possible. There is a ban on
construction of tar roads there.
Marooned for life
MANAS MITUL
Madhavapuram
(Vakadu):
After a 65 km drive from Gudur,
you reach Chinnathota, a hamlet
bordering the Pulicat Lake which
opens out to the Bay of Bengal.
You cross a small wooden
bridge on the lake, reach a thin
strip of land, wait for the bullock
cart to take you across the
shallow waters of the lake to an
island called Madhavapuram.
Here people displaced by the
Sriharikota project (SHAR) of the
Indian
Space
Research
Organisation (ISRO) in the early
seventies still live to tell their tale.
Madhavapuram, home to about
70 families who moved from
Sriharikota in 1971, has no road
access. One can walk in kneedeep water for a kilometre or hop
on a bullock cart.
The people are mostly
agricultural labourers who also
work on casuarina plantations.
The rest are fishermen who
depend on the catch from the
lake.
V. Venkateswarulu, a firewood
contractor, says that the
government gave them a
compensation of about Rs. 1500
an acre for people who had land
and Rs. 500 for others.
Giving up their land, these
people moved to Madhavapuram,
a grazing land in the middle of a
forest reserve.
Situated in SHAR’s backyard,
Madhavapuram is a contrast to
the scientific jewel in ISRO's
crown. Where Sriharikota boasts
of being India's only spaceport
and the launch site for
Mangalyaan, Madhavapuram has
a single kaccha road.
Lack of drinking water and
roads is the major concern of the
villagers. During cyclones and
monsoons, transportation shuts
down as the water level rises
around the island.
"The children will have a
future only if there are roads,"
says Changamma Yellapothu.
The village has to depend on
Chinnathota for drinking water.
The water supply is scarce in
summers and rainwater is the
primary source. Due to the
sporadic water supply, the
villagers have to drink the
brackish water from the
surrounding lake.
"We are used to drinking the
salty water," says Changamma.
Sometimes, power outages last
for four to five days. Lack of
healthcare,
sanitation
and
education are also a worry. There
is no primary healthcare centre in
the village. People have to be
rushed to nearby villages in case
of an emergency.
Four heart patients have died
on the way to the hospital. 55year-old Raghava Reddy Kandan
died while waiting for the bus
after he had crossed the lake to
reach Chinnathota, said Nuneeta
Yellapothu,
Changamma's
daughter-in-law.
The lack of toilets has forced
the people to defecate in the open
and use thatched cubicles in their
homes for bathing.
Children have to travel long
distances for higher education.
Eighteen-year-old
Manikala
Mohan, a class nine student,
wades through the lake to
Chinnathota every morning.
From there, it is a nine-kilometre
bicycle ride to his high school in
Mulapadava. The entire journey
takes two hours.
Madhavapuram is trapped by
rules. The entire Pulicat Lake
region is a protected forest area,
an ecosystem that must not be
disturbed. There is a ban on
building roads and on the use of
heavy vehicles.
Madhavapuram is about 20 km
to the north of Sriharikota. One
can see the towers of the Satish
Dhawan Space Centre in the
distant horizon from the island.
Mohan says he can see rockets
taking off clearly. Everyone in the
village can. But Madhavapuram
will remain where it is.
Ignorance keeps them ill PHCs still out of reach
PRIYANKA SAHOO
Nellore: Migration, prolonged exposure to
mica dust, polluted surroundings, poor
sanitation and lack of nutritious diet have left
the inhabitants of rural Nellore vulnerable to
various health ailments.
Ignorance and reluctance to seek treatment,
which is commonplace in many villages, have
further deteriorated the health conditions.
Dr. P. Padmavati, Gynaecologist and Incharge Superintendent, Gudur Area Hospital
said that they received about 40 new cases of
HIV per month. She attributed the alarming
number to ignorance and seasonal migration.
While awareness camps are frequently
conducted in villages to educate the people
about HIV, safe sex and contraception, Dr.
Padmavati felt that there was a need to monitor
health status of the villagers.
Tuberculosis (TB) was another widespread
disease in the region.
“Nellore has the highest number of TB cases
in Andhra Pradesh,” said Dr. Padmavati. Apart
from TB, other respiratory ailments like
bronchitis, asthma, silicosis etc were also
widely prevalent.
Industrial development in the region has
polluted the surroundings. Krishnapatnam port
area has more than two dozen thermal power
plants and villagers from nearby areas complain
of coal dust and fly ash particles in the air.
“Sometimes the power plants give off a
pungent smell. The children become nauseous
and get fever,” said G. Gangayya (56), a
resident of Utla Balijapalem in Muthukur
mandal. Four children in the village had died of
this fever, he added.
A considerable number of people involved in
mica and silica mining had developed
pneumoconiosis or occupational lung diseases
following which the mines were shut down.
Dr. M. Gopikrishna, who received many
respiratory infection cases at the Community
One-year-old D. Varshini is under medication for
goitre. Photo: Milan George Jacob
Health Centre at Mallam in Chittamuru mandal,
said that poor sanitary conditions aggravated
the condition of people with respiratory
ailments.
These infections were communicable and
hence care should be taken to prevent it from
spreading in the family, he added.
Talking about sanitation, Dr. Padmvati said
that unhygienic living conditions could be one
of the reasons for a high number of leprosy
patients in the region. Leprosy, also a
communicable disease, is a skin disease caused
by slow growing bacteria Mycobacterium
leprae and may lead to nerve damage in the
limbs.
In the Primary Health Centre (PHC) at the
Chinnathota village in Vakadu mandal, Dr. C.
H. Rajeswari had identified three new cases of
leprosy and was awaiting the Leprosy Officer’s
certification before starting the treatment.
In the Chittamuru mandal, Dr. Gautami
Nallareddy of the Nidigurthi PHC was treating
six cases of leprosy.
Open defecation being a common practice in
the region, the PHCs also received cases of
diarrhoea and infections. “While diarrhea and
dysentery are not epidemic here, we do receive
a few cases,” said Dr. Gautami.
While the children suffered deficiency
diseases like malnutrition and goitre, among the
women, the most common issues were anemia
and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs).
Both Dr. Rajeswari and Dr. Gautami said that
a large population in the region lived below
poverty line and hence the women and children
could not afford proper diet. Most people lived
on a diet of rice and pickle.
Through Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife
(ANM) camps, the women in the villages had
recently been educated about using sanitary
napkins.
However, the use of cloth instead of napkins
was still a widespread practice and women
complained of fungal infections.
A major challenge the doctors faced in the
region was the people’s inherent fear of
healthcare facilities and medicines.
No amount of awareness camps have been
able to remove the inhibitions of the people.
Dr. Padmavati complained that because of
this fear of the unknown there was high patient
irregularity.
Dr. Gopikrishna said, “Even for minor cases
like scorpion bite and dog bite, people turn to
home remedies and complicate the case.”
Dr. T. Venkateswara in the Vakadu Cluster
Hospital explains that the villagers do not report
their ailments for the fear of being shunned by
the community and ultimately losing their jobs.
“There needs to be more awareness among
the people to know the benefits of medical
science,” he said.
PRIYANKA SAHOO
Nellore: A farm worker blinded by
cataract in one eye helps women
deliver babies in Lanka, the tribal
colony in Pidurupalem village in
Manubolu mandal.
Thupakulolla Ganamma, a 50year-old midwife, locally known
as a mantrasani,is the best option
for the villagers in emergencies
because the nearest Primary
Health Centre (PHC) is about 15
kms away at the Mandal
Headquarter in Manubolu.
Although rural health has
benefited largely from the
establishment of Primary Heath
Centres, poor accessibility to the
PHCs has deprived many villages
in the district of basic healthcare.
According to the revised Indian
Public Health Standards (IPHS)in
2012, there should be one PHC for
every 30,000 rural population in
the plains and one PHC for every
20,000 population in hilly, tribal
and desert areas.
However, due to non-uniform
distribution of population, each
PHC covers the specified
population in a radius of 20 km.
In Madhavapuram, an island
village in Pulicat Lake in Vakadu
mandal, people have to cross the
lake on bullock carts to get to the
nearest PHC.
The nearest dispensary in
Chinnathota (3 kms away) was
upgraded to a PHC three years
ago. Despite the IPHS mandate of
six beds per PHC with 24-hour
nursing facilities, the Chinnathota
PHC operates in the Cyclone
The Cyclone Shelter that doubles as a PHC in Chinnathota. Photo:
Priyanka Sahoo
Shelter building from 9 a.m. to 4
p.m. and has only three beds.
Kutty Jayalakshmi (19) from
Madhavapuram is seven months
pregnant and says, “Most of the
women in our village stay with
relatives in towns during
pregnancy as the hospitals are far.”
The Community Health Centre
(CHC) in Mallam in the
Chittamuru mandal is the nearest
24-hour facility for deliveries.
However Dr. M. Gopikrishna
said
a
round-the-clock
gynaecologist was needed. He had
to refer most delivery cases to the
Gudur Area Hospital or Nellore
Government Hospital.
Inaccessibility to basic
healthcare has made the villagers
turn to Registered Medical
Practitioners and Private Medical
Practitioners, who according to the
villagers are more accessible but
charge high rates.
While the medical infrastructure
is in a sorry state, the doctors in
rural healthcare units also face
difficulties.
Dr. C.H. Rajeswari has been
treating a population of 2,363
across 10 villages in the
Chinnathota PHC for three years.
A resident of Naidupet, she finds
it difficult to commute due to
inadequate public transport.
“During the rainy season, I either
have to walk a few kilometers or
hitchhike rides from villagers.”
Dr. Gautami Nallareddy of
Nidigurthi PHC also pointed out
that the staff was inadequate.
“Each sub-centre should have two
Auxillary Nurse and Midwife
(ANM). Here we have only three
ANMs for three sub-centre.”
Infrastructure woes in schools
ADITI MAITHREYA
Nellore: Erratic electricity, water problems,
unclean toilets and insufficient classrooms
are some of the problems faced by the
primary schools set up under the Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) programme in some
of the villages in Nellore district.
According to the official website for the
SSA scheme, the programme seeks to
strengthen existing school infrastructure by
providing additional classrooms, toilets,
drinking water, maintenance grants and
school improvement grants.
Even 14 years after the inception of the
programme, the infrastructure in the primary
schools is in a poor condition.
The Mandal Praja Parishad Schools
(MPPS) in the villages of Pidurupalem,
Madhavapuram and Yellasiri (ST) have only
one classroom for all the students from
classes 1 to 5.
Students from classes 4 and 5 are taught
inside the classroom while the remaining
students are taught in the school verandah.
The strength of each school varies between
30 and 70 students.
The blackboard is a black patch painted on
the wall which retains chalk marks and is,
therefore, not used often. Tattered text books
are stacked in a small shelf. There are no
desks and chairs for the students.
Students from Classes 1 to 5 are taught together in the verandah. Photo: Aditi M
In most of these schools, the toilets which
have been constructed are either not enough
or not maintained properly.
“There is one toilet for girls. The boys
relieve themselves in the open,” said K.
Bhaskar, a teacher at the primary school in
Yellasiri (ST).
In Pidurupalem, the toilets have not been
cleaned because there is a shortage of water
in the village. A similar problem in
Kondurupalem village has left the toilets
useless.
While there is a staff toilet constructed in
the school at Dwarakapuram, there is no
toilet for the students. Uma Devi, a teacher
at the primary school there, said that the
students defecate in the open.
These villages also face the problem of
unclean drinking water.
“The water used for bathing, washing,
cooking and drinking is the same and is
collected from the tap,” said G. Prasad, a
mathematics teacher at the MPPS in
Pidurupalem.
The government has provided two pairs of
uniforms to each student. But due to the
shortage of water, the students cannot wash
them and wear them again, he added.
Apart from this, there are power cuts for
about two hours everyday in the school at
Dwarakapuram.
The teachers also said that the government
grants given for the maintainance and
improvement of the school are not enough.
“We receive about Rs. 10,000 from the
government for the maintainance of the
school. How is it possible to accommodate
study aids, whitewashing and painting of the
school building and maintainance of the
toilets with this amount?,” said C.H.
Subramanian (52), a teacher at the MPPS
school at Kondurupalem.
Subramanian also said that he contributes
from his personal income for the painting and
whitewashing of the school building.
Since the school lacks a compound wall,
he paid for a fence with barbed wire to be
constructed around the building for security
purposes.
In Puttamraju Kandriga, the village
adopted by Sachin Tendulkar, the story is
different. The students are hopeful because
of the promises made by Sachin.
The teachers in the village hope that the
promise of constructing a high school, a play
ground, a swimming pool and clean toilets,
would be kept and that the project would be
completed in a year.
Just a dream for
‘Meagre funds, poor food’ Nawabpet girls
MIDDAY MEAL
ADITI MAITHREYA
Nellore: With the rise in vegetable
prices, women preparing meals
under the Mid-Day Meal (MDM)
Scheme at the primary schools of
Nellore district complained that the
per child government expenditure
for the scheme is insufficient.
According to the official website
for the MDM, the cooking cost for
primary students is Rs. 2.69 per
child per day and Rs. 4.03 for upper
primary children from April 1,
2010. Also, it would be revised by
7.5% every financial year from
April 1, 2011 after gaining
approval of a competent authority.
“The government has alloted Rs.
4.50 per student per day. This is
barely enough to buy the required
provisions,” said 45-year-old
Pollamma. She has been a cook at
the Mandal Praja Parishad School,
Chittamuru mandal, Yellasiri (ST)
since the school was founded.
She said that while the rice was
provided free of cost, the price of
tomatoes and onions had risen. She
contributed a little money from her
income to make up the difference.
The official website also stated
that 6.70 lakh kitchen-cum-stores
had been constructed to store food.
But in the primary schools of
villages like Dwarakapuram and
Yellasiri (ST), the room provided is
not maintained well and is filled
with dirt, cobwebs and small
insects. The vegetables are kept on
the ground and not stored properly.
The schools are eligible for
The cooking area in Yellasiri (ST)
Primary School, Chittamuru
mandal. Photo: Aditi M
supply of subsidised cooking gas
cylinders, according to the Union
Ministry of Petroleum and Natural
Gas. Yet, there are no cylinders
used in these schools.
“We don’t get cooking gas. We
have to collect firewood every day.
The government does not provide
an allowance for it,” said Mumtaaz
Begum, who cooks at the primary
school in Dwarakapuram village.
Pollamma and Mumtaaz cooked
their food in the open claiming that
it was impossible to cook using
firewood in the closed room.
Pollamma said that constantly
lifting big utensils with food gave
her severe back-aches and the
smoke led to respiratory and kidney
problems.
The stipulated salary of a cook
under the MDM scheme is Rs.
1000 a month. Pollamma said that
this was barely enough to support a
family which usually consisted of
three to five members. In the last 14
years her income hasn’t increased.
She said that her sons were college
drop outs while her daughters were
married off when they turned 18.
The quality of food provided in
some of the schools is poor. For
instance, Kunadi Jaya (29), who
sends her two children to the high
school in Chinnathota complained
that the food had worms and insects
because of which she packed lunch
for her children.
The problems in the effective
implementation of the MDM
scheme in Nellore are not new. In
2010, newspaper reports said
women’s groups stopped serving
meals in several schools in Nellore
because the State Government had
not paid the expenses for the
agencies which implement the
scheme for six months. This was
due to a hike in prices of essential
commodities. The expenditure per
student per day had also been
reduced by one rupee for both
primary and high school students.
In another report published last
year, Ananth Kumar, Union
Minister for Chemicals and
Fertilizers, said that the MDM
scheme had failed to benefit even
50 percent of the total 12 crore
students. He also said that the lack
of monitoring and huge corruption
and misuse of funds had destroyed
the scheme.
ADITI MAITHREYA
Nawabpet ( Vakadu): It is
a distant dream for the girls
in the Muslim-dominated
coastal village of Nawabpet
to go to upper primary
school.
It isn’t uncommon for
girls to stop schooling after
class 5, said the residents.
The village has two
schools – one has classes 1
to 5 and the other is a
Tamil medium school up to
class 10.
The residents say they
were
evicted
from
neighbouring Sriharikota Nawabpet girls cannot study beyond
when the rocket launching Class 5. Photo: Aditi M
facility came up.
“They don’t teach properly.
The bearded men walk around
in lungis and skull caps. The Students are mainly taught how
women, if they venture out, are to read the newspaper,” said
clad in burqas and the girls wear Umaid Abdullah, a resident.
When asked why the girls
a hijab.
“My parents stopped sending were not allowed to study beyond
me to school after class 5,” said 12 years of age, he said, with a
Sakina Bhanu, a 16-year-old girl. smile, “That’s the way it is. It
She said that her sister, also 16, can’t be questioned.”
On the other hand, boys are
would be married off soon.
Sakina’s father is a fisherman sent to an intermediate college in
and her mother is a housewife. Gudur. They also attend the
She said that after five years of traditional muslim schools
schooling, she took care of (madarsas) where they are taught
in Arabic.
household chores.
Surprisingly, not many boys
Some residents of the village
said that while there was a school get educated beyond class 10 and
in the vicinity, the quality of beome fishermen as it would add
to the family income.
teaching was very poor.
NELLORE I 23
All for a better
education
Bhargavi is a high school student from Madhavapuram. Photo : Aditi M
ADITI MAITHREYA
Madhavapuram
(Vakadu):
Waking up at five in the morning,
wading through knee-deep water
for two kilometres and cycling for
another three kilometres – this is
how 15-year-old Bhargavi reaches
her high school every day.
Bhargavi is a resident of
Madhavapuram, a small island
village in the Pulicat Lake in
Vakadu mandal.
Bhargavi is a first generation
student in her family. Her father is
a farm labourer and her mother is a
housewife.
She studies at the Zilla Parishad
High
School
(ZPHS)
at
Chinnathota. It has students from
classes 6 to 10. Being governmentrun, the education and books are
provided free of cost.
But the school has problems
concerning infrastructure and
sanitation. “My school has ten
classrooms. None of them have
electricity. Only the headmaster’s
office and staff room have it,” says
Bhargavi. She also said that the
school had eight computers but
they were not working anymore.
Apparently, there are separate,
but poorly maintained toilets for
boys and girls.
As Bhargavi and her friends
struggle to understand and speak
English, Kunadi Jaya (29), who
sends her children to the same
school, says that the faculty is illequipped and lacks experience. She
says that they provide the students
with reference books, without
teaching them the subject.
“The marks are not disclosed to
the students after the exams.
Whether they have passed or failed,
they are promoted on the basis of
their attendance. Also, if the student
questions the teacher they don’t
clear their doubts,” says Jaya.
In fact, the school does not have
enough teachers. For instance,
Bhargavi says that the school lacks
a Social Science teacher. A faculty
member teaching another discipline
takes their Social Science classes.
The arduous journey to school is
exceedingly tiresome and adds to
their problems, says Bhargavi.
Since Madhavapuram lacks
roads and the only access to the
village is by a bullock cart that
wades through the lake. The travel
becomes even harder when they
return at 6.30 p.m as there are no
lights. This is why her parents pick
her up in the evening.
“During the rainy season, the
village gets flooded. We don’t
attend school. But if there is an
examination, we wade through the
water and go”, says Bhargavi.
Despite these hurdles, she feels
that the school has given her some
big opportunities. Her orange
jersey and navy blue track pants
mark her place in the school’s
Volleyball team. She plays for the
Nellore District.
The school has made sports
mandatory and Kho Kho, football,
volleyball, basketball and kabaddi
are some of the games played.
Apart from this, Bhargavi and
the other children in her village
attend evening classes conducted
by the Chinnathota Child
Development Centre (CCDC), set
up by Christian missionaries.
Bhargavi says that they are
educated on physical hygiene and
the teachings of Christ.
The Centre has also provided the
children with cycles and good food
in the evening. Every quarter, they
provide amenities like soap and
toothpaste to the residents.
As Bhargavi prepares to give her
board examinations, she knows that
it is probably her last year of
education.
“The colleges are 50 kilometres
from here. The absence of a girls’
hostel makes it very unsafe for our
daughters,” says Jaya.
Jaya says that three boys from
Madhavapuram attend college. But
the story is different for the girls.
Like most other girls of her village,
Bhargavi is aware that she will be
married off soon.
When caste defines class The exorcist of Bangarupeta
VAIBHAV SHARMA
Nellore: For eight hours a day,
Kathi Yelaparunendi toils on a
paddy farm. He walks through
knee-deep
stagnant
water,
examining each sapling for pests.
A veteran of over 20 years,
Yelaparunendi has gained expertise
at paddy cultivation. He, however,
cannot use his prowess to harvest
his own crops. He is a Yanadi.
Yanadis are a scheduled tribe
and are said to be one of the most
marginalised people in Nellore
district.
Members of the tribe find
themselves trapped in a circle of
both social and economic
backwardness. Deemed a ‘lower’
caste, Yanadis have accepted
discrimination as a part of their
lives.
Yanadi settlements across
Nellore are away from the rest of
the village resulting in their
physical segregation from the other
castes, like in Pidurupalem village.
In the past, Yanadis worked as
bonded labour for the upper castes
in order to pay off loans that they
had taken to fulfill basic needs.
While the combined efforts of
the State Government and NGOs
have resulted in most of the
Yanadis being freed from bonded
labour, their class position has not
Kathi Yelaparunendi, a Yanadi, cannot own a farm of his own. Photo: Milan
changed.
Y. Venkateswarlu, Project Head,
Integrated Tribal Development
Agency, says that people from
lower castes are expected to do
menial work that yields limited
revenue.
Citing the example of Yanadis,
he said, “Most of the people from
the tribe work as agricultural
labourers. They manage to earn
between Rs.100-200 after working
for 6-8 hours a day.”
In Nellore, people from lower
castes do not own sizeable acres of
land and hence find themselves
without any substantial means of
economic sustenance.
S. Hussain, Member, Association
for Rural Development (ARD), a
Nellore-based NGO, points out that
The economic
subjugation of the
Yanadis is linked to
their caste
the majority of lower caste people
have no option but to work as
agricultural labourers, bricklayers
or woodcutters.
Gara
Venkateswarulu,
an
activist, said that villagers from
Yellasiri were able to get
documents proving their ownership
of government sanctioned land that
had been taken over by the upper
castes. But it took them five years
to locate and take possession of it.
The recovered land was covered
with wild growth and had to be
cleared before it could be
cultivated. Of the 150 acres
recovered around
Yellasiri,
only 15 acres have been cultivated.
Since socially they are not
‘entitled’ to own land and have also
had their government sanctioned
land taken away from them, the
Yanadis continue to experience
difficulty in moving up socially and
economically.
SK. Basheer, Executive Director,
ARD, said “Their lack of
education, limited job opportunities
and lower income are all linked to
their caste.”
According to Basheer, education
was considered the exclusive
domain of upper castes. Since
people
from
backward
communities were not educated,
they lacked awareness about their
rights.
This not only made it easier for
the upper castes to oppress them
but also ensured that Yanadis could
not work as skilled labour when
they were rehabilitated.
ADITI MAITHREYA AND
JIGYASA WATWANI
Bangarupeta(Venkatagiri): A
bunch of neem leaves, a lemon,
coconuts, mango seeds, camphor
and a few chants – that is what 73year-old Krishnaiah says he has
been using for the last 30 years to
cure people of illnesses and to
remove spirits from them.
Clad in a white lungi matching
his thick white beard, Krishnaiah is
a resident of Bangarupeta village in
Venkatagiri mandal in Nellore. He
was a weaver before he became a
healer and an exorcist.
“When my eyesight became bad,
I stopped weaving. A few years
later, I started practising this
profession even though I get paid
peanuts,” says Krishnaiah.
When a mother brings her little
son to Krishnaiah to cure him of
fever, he looks at the child
carefully. Then he chants some
mantras in his head. He continues
to chant as he waves a bunch of
neem leaves in front of the child’s
face. He finishes chanting and throws the leaves away.
Finally, he takes a lemon with a
burning camphor ball balanced on
it and moves it in circles in front of
the child before throwing it away
and blesses the child.
Krishnaiah says he can cure all
Krishnaiah curing a child with fever.
Photo: Manoj B
kinds of illnesses. He claims that
the person is cured within a couple
of days after he has performed the
ritual.
“Bhootavaidya
(Exorcism)
works on the power of faith and
devotion. When medicines fail, it is
prayers that work,” he explains. His
customers, in fact, believe that his
methods are ayurvedic.
Exorcism, which has become a
profession in its own right, mainly
involves the removal of a
dangerous spirit residing in
someone or something.
So long as people are convinced
about the existence of demons and
their ability to possess people, there
will be a belief that some people
are powerful enough to tame these
demons.
Krishnaiah doesn’t demand any
money from the people who visit
him. He says that he accepts how
much ever is given to him, which is
usually between Rs. 10 and Rs. 30
per visit.
“I do it because it helps cure
other people and gives me some
little money at this age,” he says.
Apart from being a healer, he
performs rituals to remove spirits
from people. In such cases,
Krishnaiah is paid a larger amount
for his services.
“People from neighbouring
places like Tirupati, Chennai,
Guntur and Nellore also visit him.
Almost the entire village here
comes to him,” says his wife.
However, she claims that
members of four other families in
Bangarupeta
practise
Bhootavaidya. She says that the
whole procedure is less expensive
when compared to a visit to a
doctor and people return to him as
they find it effective.
Krishnaiah says that he was
trained by his guru, Pullaiah, who
taught him the chants using a
golden metal chart. He plans to
pass on the knowledge to his two
sons, both of whom are weavers.
FACT FILE
VALPARAI
Estates beckon migrants Locals unhappy,
People from Assam, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal join tea estates
MEENAL THAKUR
PRATIBHA RAWAL
Total Area: 958 sq. km.
Valparai is a taluk in the district
of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. At
3,500 feet above sea level, the
hill station is located on the
Anamalai hills of the Western
Ghats.
POPULATION
Population: 70,859 (2011)
Sex Ratio: 1013
OCCUPATION
The economy of Valparai
depends on tea and coffee
plantations. Most of the people
depend on these plantations for
their livelihood. About 35,000
people work in the 56 estates
that surround the town.
PROBLEMS
Man-animal conflict
- Animal incursions into tea
estates and tribal settlements.
Migration
- Migration of labourers from
the estates in search of better
jobs.
Health
-Lack of manpower in the
government hospital.
Coffee estates
-Tea estates are replacing coffee
estates.
Bank loans
-Locals are denied loans by
banks.
Loss of tribal legacy
- Tribal traditions are being lost.
Ecology
-Invasive plants threaten the
ecological balance.
Valparai: Sitting on a semi-rotten
wooden plank, 30-year-old Abida
Beva soaks in the sun. Being new
to the place, she becomes alert
when she sees unknown people
approaching her house. She gets up
and treads cautiously to enquire
about these strangers. A migrant
from Assam, she came to Valparai
with her family only four months
ago, to work as a plantation worker
on a tea estate of the Bombay
Burmah Trading Corporation Ltd
(BBTC).
Her having to repay a loan of Rs
50,000, taken to treat her husband’s
heart problem, forced Beva to
travel all the way to Tamil Nadu.
“We have taken small amounts
from different moneylenders at an
interest rate of 10 per cent.”
Beva married Idu Sheikh (40)
after her husband Mohammed
Shahjamal, a rickshaw puller in
Assam, died seven years ago. Now
Idu is spraying pesticides on the
same estate where Beva is involved
in tea plucking.
INCENTIVES
The couple earn Rs 213 each
every day and send home whatever
money they save to repay their
debts. Beva says she has saved Rs
14,000 in her four-month stay here.
Back home, where she worked
as a construction labourer, Beva
easily earned Rs 200-300 a day —
more than what the estate pays her.
“But the cost of living is very high
in Assam, we were left with no
money at the end of the day.” Here
she enjoys free housing, electricity,
education for her children, monthly
rations and free medical facilities at
the estate hospital.
“It is because of such incentives
and work opportunities available
on the estates that Valparai now has
2,700 migrant workers,” says
A.T.K. Dhanapandiyan, General
Secretary, Centre of Indian Trade
Unions (CITU). Migrants come
here from Odisha, Jharkhand, West
Bengal and Assam. “In the past,
only one or two people used to
come but today the entire family
Turned down by banks,
they turn to pawnshops
SUSMITA JOSEPH
Valparai: A majority of tea estate
labourers at Valparai depend on
moneylenders and pawn brokers
for loans as “government banks
have slammed the door in their
face.” They complain they are
unable to repay these loans with the
salary they earn.
But the manager of the State
Bank of India, S. Krishnakumar
says: “The labourers cannot expect
us to loan them large amounts of
money when they do not have the
means to repay. Most of them are
ineligible for taking loans as they
do
not
provide
sufficient
collateral.”
The manager of Indian Bank, J.
Ravichandran says: “Ninety per
cent of our clientele are tea estate
labourers who do not have any
security. We give them loans which
they do not repay and this is a huge
loss for us.”
He says banks are wary of
labourers, many of whom, he
alleges, use the loans to migrate out
of Valparai.
The banks are unable to track
the labourers as they switch off
their cellphones and do not leave
any trace of their whereabouts, he
complains.
However, pawnbroker M. Suresh
blames the banks at Valparai as not
being customer-friendly. “The
labourers are always turned down
by the banks which is why they
come to us. We loan them money in
lakhs without harassing them for
collateral.”
He said most of the labourers
pledged their jewellery and took
loans mainly for higher education
of their children.“ The labourers
earn two hundred rupees a day and
A shop in demand. Photo: Sushmita
most of them do not have their own
property. However, he adds, his
clients have paid him back without
any hassle.
‘BANK LOANS, NO WAY’
R. Mani, a labourer, said, “I
cannot dream of taking a bank loan.
I try my best to avoid taking loans
but when I am in desperate need of
money, I take loans from
pawnbrokers.”
Refuting the allegation that
labourers migrate without clearing
the loans, Karpagavalli, a tea estate
worker, said: “Banks do not give us
loans in the first place. Nor do we
have the means to leave and start
afresh. This is our home.”
She said estate owners lent them
money which they deducted from
their salary.
Sudha, a resident, said her
husband had to run from bank to
bank for a loan of Rs. 30,000
which he finally received from the
local Repco Bank. “The interest
rate is high. We are still paying
back the loan.”
comes here to work,” he added.
Confirming
what
Mr.
Dhanapandiyan said on the influx,
MV Subbaiah, former executive
chairman at Murugappa Group,
which owns Parry Agro Tea, points
out that many families from Assam
join its estate.
People wanting a job on tea
estates come here throughout the
year, whereas coffee and
cardamom plantation workers turn
up from September to February,
harvest season for these crops.
AJISH GEORGE
MAYA NANDHINI
CONTACT PERSON
They get in touch with migrant
labourers from their States who are
already working on some estate.
Jiten Chhetri, from Assam, who has
been working as a security guard at
BBTC for the past 10 years, is one
such contact person.
“In the past 3 months, I have
brought 30 families from Assam to
this estate,” says Jiten, who gets a
commission of Rs 20 from BBTC
for each worker he brings here. He
helps these people settle down, gets
their permit cards made — using
which these workers can avail
themselves of various estate
facilities, and also makes them
familiar with the area.
‘TOUGH AT TIMES’
“I started doing this work 2 years
ago, it helps me make some extra
money,” adds Jiten. Currently, he is
preparing to bring another 15
families to the estate next month.
At times, he even arranges
workers for other estates, but he
plans to return to Assam soon and
settle there. “This job can get tough
at times, especially when
differences arise between these
workers,” he says. A few days ago
Jiten had to send back 20 people to
Assam. They had been fighting and
creating a ruckus here. “Ultimately
I am responsible for the actions of
people I bring here.”
Beva’s
18
year-old-son,
Mohammad Saddam Hussein, was
among the 20 people who were
sent back. Daughter Shukhjan
Khatun (17) is staying back with
her. Beva’s three-year-old son,
leaving town
Migrants at housing quarters. Photo: Pratibha Rawal
Mohammed Abidur Islam, by
her second husband, spends time
n the estate creche while she
works on the plantation. “They
teach kids, but most of it is in
Tamil, so it’s of no use to us. But
at least I don’t have to worry
about him while I am working,”
says Beva.
Despite these incentives, Beva,
like most of the migrant workers
who come here, plans to leave after
five months — a time period
enough for her to save money to
repay her debts.
Caressing her son, Beva stares
into the tea plantation that
surrounds her house. Fighting her
tears, she says: “Here we have no
one to call our own. Life here is
more comfortable but our land, our
home, our people, everything is in
Assam — something we cannot
exchange for any amount of
comfort.”
However, once she leaves the
estate, another family will be ready
to take her place.
Mursful Bewa (42), a widow,
came here six months ago to earn
money to clear loans she had taken
for the education of her son, who is
studying Arabic in Chennai. She
plucks tea leaves at BBTC and her
other son also works in the
company.
Fakir Ali (53), another
Assamese working in the
company, said that last year he
came here alone. But this year, he
brought his whole family as all of
them get employed.
He admitted his children to the
company-run elementary school.
“We don’t have to buy a single
thing for us. The company
provides safety equipment like
helmets, clothes and gloves to the
migrant labourers. “We are
planning to go home in May.
However, we will come back here,
once we are done with harvesting,”
says Ali.
Bhim Singh (40), from West
Bengal, who works at Nalakatta
Tea Estate, says workers get jobs
only for 100 days in his State. But
here they get employed all 365
days.
“Language is the major problem
here. Otherwise, it is the best for
poor people like us to make
money,” said Singh.
The migrants are a happy lot at
Valparai but local labourers insist
on their being given priority in
employment. In some tea estates,
migrants are not allowed to work.
“The company should give us
priority. Many local labourers are
unemployed but the entire migrant
workers get employed here,”
complains S. Ganeshan, a local at
Sholayar Tea Estate.
Valparai: The tea estatedominated hill town of Valparai,
which once provided job security
and accommodated people who
settled down there from various
other parts of Tamil Nadu and also
Kerala, is witnessing population
decrease day by day.
Census data from 2001 and 2011
shows that around 30,000 people
have left Valparai.
Maya Phillip, a retired doctor
and small estate owner, estimates
that “around 45,000 people have
left Valparai by now.”
This exodus is attributed to low
wages, frequent animal incursions,
lack of basic facilities and
healthcare, and an aspiring young
generation.
With the population declining,
the estates are moving towards
mechanization and bringing in
labourers from other parts of the
country.
But migrants do not contribute to
the local economy as their
consumption pattern is different
and they work here for six months
and go back home and invest their
earnings there during the harvest
season, says Soundarya Pandyan,
president of the Merchants
Association.
In Valparai, except tribals
everyone is a settler, mostly of the
second or third generation now.
Much of it is occupied by tea
estates and the remaining land
belongs to the Forest department.
Estate labourers account for the
majority of the population who do
not own any house or land.
Workers stay in the labour lines
which they should vacate once they
quit the estates or retire from
service.
Moreover, most of the
labourers are indebted to
moneylenders. S. Ganeshan, a
tea plucker, says that with his
daily earnings of Rs 210 he has
to manage his household
expenses and that of his
children, who are studying in
an English medium school in
the town.
R. Chandrika, a field worker at a
plantation nursery, says, “Life in
the plantation is very uncertain. We
get bitten by leeches; snakes hide
in bushes and an animal attack
might happen any time.”
The workers complain of several
health problems caused by long
work hours and carrying heavy
loads.
“The labourers involved in
spraying pesticides and weedicides
suffer from respiratory problems
and those caused by allergic dust,”
says M. Anandan, Medical Officer
at the Government Hospital,
Valparai.
As for lack of infrastructure,
people complain that there are
roads which have not been
maintained for the past 10 years
and settlements inside estates
which cannot be reached by an
ambulance.
As the Valparai economy
creates demand only for estate
labourers, educated youth find no
opportunities. Moreover, it is said,
the people are facing restrictions
on growing crops or raising
livestock as it might attract wild
animals.
Shalini, a school teacher prefers
to settle in Coimbatore because, “it
is easier to find a job there and you
get paid more.”
Murugun, son of an estate
worker studying in class 9, does not
wish to work on the estates like his
parents do, he wants to be an
engineer.
Summing up the problem, John
(name changed), a supervisor on
the Parry Agro estate said, “In
2004, I had 1000 people working
under me over an area of 347
hectares. Now, in 2014, there are
only 150.”
Chinnappa, a tea plantation
worker, attributes this phenomenon
to the high cost of living and low
pay. “We do not want our children
to undergo what we are going
through,” he said.
The workers collectively felt that
a pay raise would better their
conditions.
“If we are paid at least Rs.500 a
day, it would benefit us,” said one
of them, Vanaraj.
Tribal legacy makes way for money
MEENAL THAKUR
Valparai: Long time ago, there
was a big forest which had
numerous houses. A pregnant lady
while going to the forest, was
starving. She prayed and the God
appeared. Asking for help, she fell
at his feet. God asked her to bring
a ural (a pounding wooden pole
used to separate rice from paddy)
and gave her four legs. Next he
asked her to get a muram (used to
clean rice) and made it her ears.
He then asked her to bring her
saree and folded it to make a trunk.
Finally, he asked for a parakol
(used to take tuber), kept it on her
back and made it a tail. Then the
God vanished. She (now a
supposed elephant) walked away
and after some time gave birth to a
baby. She saw her husband coming
from a distance and called out to
him. She told him that the child
was theirs but said she would
never come back home for fear of
getting beaten up. She, however,
asked him to bring the villagers as
she had some advice for them. She
told them that whenever they come
to the forest, they should light a fire
so that we (elephants) would not
cross their way or hurt them.
“We have been following these
instructions since then,” says 68
year-old Mani, who narrated the
story.
Kept alive by oral tradition, this
is one of the few stories that has
manged to escape from fading
into oblivion— where most of the
Kadar folklore now rests.
Only fragmented versions of
the story have been passed down
over the years —each generation
knowing less and less than the
previous one.
Situated in the Anamalai hills,
Native skill: Kadar women with their hand-made straw sieve and pouch. Photo: Karthik R
the Nedunkundram settlement with
30 houses is home to 65 families of
Kadars — one of the three tribes
native to these hills, the other two
being
Muthuvar and Malai
Malasar.
The rich legacy of the Kadars
has unfortunately become the
biggest casualty in the tribe’s
search for employment.
The tribe, which once mastered
the art of making musical
instruments like drums and the
nadaswaram, can now only boast of
this lost skill.
Earlier, the men of the village
would cut trees, keep the wood for
drying and then start chiselling it
taking over a month to complete
one instrument.“This art died
down when I was a kid,” says 67year-old Maragadam, whose
ancestors also lived in the same
settlement.
Though made to be used during
festivals, these instruments were at
times sold at Rs 1 a piece —a good
price then.
“We never went out, people from
nearby settlements themselves
came here if they wanted to buy
any instrument,” she recalls.
If men were engaged in making
instruments, women would make
sieves, mats and small baskets
using straw. The men would
collect all raw material and women
would work laboriously to make
different items of daily use out of
the straw.
“We could make one sieve a day,
maximum three if we worked the
entire day,” says Maragadam.
These items earned the women
some good money.
Thus, people here were mostly
self employed and they also
collected wood from the forest
and sold it to vendors.
“We used to go to the market and
exchange our money for goods.
This also gave us time to learn
different skills from our elders,”
says
53-year-old
Bhagyam,
Maragadam’s cousin.
“But today we cannot sell
anything because we do not make
anything anymore,” she adds.
With the coming up of tea and
coffee estates in the area around
100 years ago, the Kadars saw in
them a steady source of income and
job security.
They took up jobs as plantation
workers either plucking leaves and
beans or spraying on fields or
working in the factories. The new
8 to 5 job, coupled with the
travelling time to the estates
situated far away from the
settlement, left them with little time
to carry on with their traditional
activities.
Even the younger generation,
most of whom are now employed
on the estates or work as forest
rangers, cannot learn these dying
skills though they are willing to
do so.
“Given an option, I would learn
all that I can as it is a part of my
culture, but there is no time due to
our jobs,” says B. Balamurugan
(25), working on the Tata Attakati
coffee estate.
The way in which festivals like
Pongal, Diwali, marriages and earpiercing ceremoines for newborns
were celebrated has also changed
over the years.
Though the customary practices
of decorating the settlement,
fasting for 10 days before the
festival, worshipping their dead
and taking their ashes along with
big idols along a promenade of
sorts and then immersing the
ashes in water followed by
singing and dancing are still
prevalent, they seem to have lost
their charm.
The instruments they use are no
longer their own. They rent out
instruments at Rs 500-600 each
for about a week from Valparai.
Secondly, over the years a new
trend of setting up a stage with
mikes and speakers in the middle
of the settlement has crept in.
“This is usually done when local
politicians come here during
festivals,” says Maragadam.
The biggest loss still are the
songs which once enriched these
festivals. A small number of people
among the tribe, mostly elders, are
the only ones who remember
abridged versions of these songs.
Anamalai Adavu (we are the
residents of Anamalai) is one such
song still ringing in the ears of the
Kadar tribe.
A steady flow of income has
cost the Kadars their rich legacy.
Ahead lies a tough battle between
their survival and the survival of
their identity.
VALPARAI I 25
Here is SMS, stay clear of elephants
KUSHEL M
Valparai: A bulk SMS system has
come in handy to deal with mananimal conflict in Valparai.
The system, which seeks to
bring down human casualties in
encounters by sending out mass
text alerts, has penetrated rural
areas where mobile phone use is
quite common.
Ananda Kumar of the Nature
Conservation Foundation (NCF)
says, “The elephants have seen the
changing
from
landscape
undisturbed forests to fragmented
patches. It is too short a time for
them to adapt to such dramatic
change. You cannot expect
elephants to not enter plantation
areas as these are still part of their
home as they know it”.
However, the NCF came up with
the SMS scheme after it found out
that 35 of the 39 deaths from
elephant attacks in Valparai since
1994 were due to the humans not
being aware of the pachyderms’
presence. Most of these deaths
occurred in late evenings when
workers were returning home.
According
to
Ganesh
Ragunathan,
a
wildlife
photographer who is part of this
elephant tracking initiative, “Most
of these are surprise encounters. By
the time poeple realise that there
are elephants, it is too late.
Similarly, the elephant too is a little
scared. In self-defence, it charges
at people if the distance is too close
and this is when they get killed.”
The intitiative, which considered
ways of informing people of
elephant movements, stumbled
onto the idea of using the local
cable network.
Every day, after 5 p. m. , a scroll
would be run across the local cable
channel telling the people, with the
help of a pachyderm tracking team,
where the elephants were spotted.
Once people switched to satellite
network, it became a problem. But
by then, mobile connectivity had
improved and the team noticed that
almost everyone, especially
workers, had a mobile phone. Thus
a new idea was born.
“We started exploring options
and then we found out about a bulk
SMS service provided by Gupshup
Enterprises,” Ganesh said.
The tea estates’ management
had been working with the NCF for
long and so was easier for Ganesh
and Ananda Kumar to pitch their
idea. They talked to the workers
about the service which would give
them elephant location updates in
both Tamil and English.
The system works around
receiving location details from
people who have noticed elephants
in tandem with a tracking team.
Vulnerable residential zones would
A loyal martyr squad
PRATIBHA RAWAL
Boys with their Bhima. Photo: Sitadri Dhara
be identified. Mobile numbers were
selected from a database and the
early warning SMS sent.
Priya Sudevan, a shopkeeper at
Valparai, says this system has
saved many lives. “There is a sense
of relief on receiving these
messages as you now know where
to go and where not to.”
The tracking system takes care
of man-animal conflict through the
cable network system for people at
home and through bulk SMS for
those travelling.
Is there a possibility of the bulk
SMS service or early warning
lights being manipulated by
hunters or poachers?
Ananda Kumar says, “So far,
no such cases have been reported.
Touch wood. The Forest
Department has been proactive in
ensuring that criminals would
find it quite hard to escape with
such acts.”
Valparai: Dogs are pets and
street sentinels wary of strangers.
But a squad of seven has taken
up a bigger role at the
Nedunkundram settlement near
the Anaimalai hills, protecting 65
families from wild animals.
Bhima, Khariman, Jimmy,
Karchi and other male dogs are
owned by residents of the corner
houses.
“By barking they alert us to
advancing elephants,” says
Thangaraj. “Then we go and
chase away the elephants.”
“All of them are stray dogs.
We brought them from Valparai
market,” says Sundarraj, one of
the owners.
“They are very close to us,” he
says. For their part, the villagers
won’t allow the dogs to go
outside after 8 p.m. for fear of
leopards. “Despite our care, they
don’t survive for more than six
months and fall prey to the
beast,” says Sundarraj.
When one of the dogs gets
killed, the villagers bring another
one from the town. “We cannot
imagine our protection without
dogs,” he says.
The villagers won’t rear
female dogs, for they say, it is
more difficult to protect puppies
from leopards.
‘Allow us to hunt
foraging animals’
Valparai: Animal incursions into
tribal settlements have become
more frequent in recent times with
incidents being reported on a daily
basis. The tribals of the
Nedunkundram
and
Udumalaipaarai
settlements,
situated deep within the forests of
Valparai, have co-existed with
animals for centuries before it
turned into a problem for them.
Aruldas, a native of the
Nedunkundram settlement said,
“We tribals know how to handle the
animals but the Forest Department
prevents us from doing so.”
He remarked that restricting
them from hunting has led to an
increase in the number of animals
trespassing into the hamlet.
“I have seen tribes of other
countries hunting animals on the
Discovery channel. We are tribes
like them too. If they are allowed to
(hunt), why can’t we be?” he asked.
The tribals reported incidents
where elephants and monkeys have
ravaged the crops on the farmlands
surrounding their settlement. The
settlements have a few acres of land
where they cultivate crops such as
millets, ragi, corn and kappa
(tapioca). “Once the crops are
ruined, there is nothing we can do.
This has forced us to look for work
in the tea plantations,” says
Kanakaraj, a resident of the
Udumalaipaarai settlement.
The Forest department has dug
trenches around the settlements and
filled them with water to deter the
elephants from coming in.
Apart from that, the tribals use
various methods to drive away the
animals. “Bows are used to pelt
stones at the animals. We also use
drums and shout to scare them
away,” said Mangalasamy, from
Nedunkundram.
Elephants and monkeys are
common. Leopard sightings have
also been common in the hamlets,
say the tribals. There have been no
casualities yet, but leopards are
known to have attacked smaller
animals and, in rare cases, children.
“We have stationed dogs at all the
corner houses to warn us in case of
an
animal
attack,”
said
Mangalasamy.
Jagadeesh
Kumar
from
Udumalaipaarai, however, sums it
up, “The animals don’t disturb us
until we disturb them. After all, we
are occupying their territory.”
Rainforest restoration is
the essential key
Valparai: The Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) and the Forest Department are working
towards restoration of rainforests in
Valparai.
The Anamalai hills, a hot spot
for wildlife, had remained undisturbed for around 150 years until
the British converted fragments of
forests into plantations for growing
tea, coffee and cardamom.
The building of roads and dams
also resulted in a loss of forest
cover. One of the major goals of forest restoration is conservation of
wildlife.
Dr. T.R. Shankar Raman, NCF
scientist who specialises in forest
restoration, says, “Animals get confused and displaced when their ecosystem is altered. Forest restoration
creates buffer zones for animals to
forage between forests and plantations.
Growing tall trees which form a
canopy over roads and forests
allow for safe movement of many
arboreal animals such as langurs
and macaques, preventing roadkill”
Rainforest restoration lays stress
construction or widening of roads,
laying of rail lines or water pipes,
and construction of canals cause
habitat fragmentation, gaps in
various other disturbances.
Many arboreal mammals such as
the giant squirrel, the lion-tailed
macaque and the Nilgiri langur
MAYA NANDHINI
SUSMITA JOSEPH
on indigenous plants. The Western
Ghats has been plagued by “alien
plants” which are appealing to the
eye but are destructive to the ecosystem.
One of the most invasive plants
found here is the lantana, a common weed.
Dr. Shankar Raman explains that
clearing vegetation for building
roads leads to the spreading of
weeds. It also blocks underground
aquifers, resulting in loss of water
retention in the forests.
“Restoration involves replacing
invasive alien plants with indigenous plants, wherever it is possible.
Alien trees such as the silver oak
are not useful to the wildlife here,
yet they are grown for providing
shade to tea estates. Such trees cannot be removed during the restoration process as it will create a
drastic change in the landscape.”
NCF scientists educate and involve local people in Valparai in
restoration of forests
Dr. Shankar Raman says “It is a
long process and takes a lot of effort and patience to succeed. We
have to initiate the process and then
leave it in the hands of nature to recreate its glory”.
‘
KARTHIK R
Valparai: A silver-white mane is a
sharp feature of the lion-tailed
macaque, distinguishing it from
other primates. Its sardonic stare
would seem intimidating. But in
reality these are shy creatures
which prefer to stay in their
comfortable surroundings. That’s
not to be, thanks to human
intervention.
Found abundantly in the
Anamalai hills, this species’ natural
habitat has been shrinking steadily.
The Valparai range is characterised
by green contours of tea
plantations. With many trees felled
to make way for plantations, many
fragmented forest areas have
formed and species like the liontailed macaque (a protected
species), get confined to these
areas.
Rainforest conservation projects
are under way in the Valparai
range, to recreate ideal habitats for
the lion-tailed macaque. T. R.
About 40% of the total population of lion tailed macaque in
Anamali hills has been forced to
live in fragmented forest areas.
Shankar Raman, a scientist at the
Nature Conservation Foundation
(NCF), who has studied the linear
intrusions that affect wildlife
habitats for around 10 years, says,
“Nature restoration is not like art
restoration. We cannot fully restore
what was lost. But we are
attempting to give back to the
animals a near-best replica of what
they lost.”
He also says that with forest land
taken up for tea estates, the animals
are a confused lot as they can
recognise only natural boundaries
and this results in many deaths.
To reduce the gap between
With tourism boom, wildlife safety at the crossroads
MEENAL THAKUR
Valparai: The Anamalai Hills of
the Western Ghats, a biodiversity
hot spot, have witnessed an
upsurge in tourism in the recent
years– a development problematic
for fauna and flora. Animal
mortality due to vehicular traffic is
one of the visible impacts.
A survey of wildlife roadkill,
carried out in the Anamalai Tiger
Reserve and in parts of the Valparai
Plateau from June 2011 to June
2012, recorded 3027 deaths, and
the numbers have increased over
the years. Amphibians were the
dominant victims (93% of the
roadkill recorded were frogs and
toads), followed by invertebrates,
unidentified
taxa,
reptiles,
mammals and birds.
The study, conducted by the
Nature Conservation Foundation
(NCF), aimed at identifying critical
crossing points of animals-along
the road in and around the Tiger
Reserve-and suggesting measures
to minimize mortality.
Linear intrusions in forests like
Cruel end to a tiger- a victim of road kill. Photo: NCF
canopy contiguity along the road,
spread of invasive alien plant
species, animal injury and
mortality (roadkill, electrocution),
changes in animal behaviour and
require connectivity in the canopy.
When tree branches are cut to
maintain roads, animals are forced
to travel on the ground, thus
making them vulnerable to
roadkill. In the case of some larger
wildlife such as deer, there is also
the risk of injury to motorists,
particularly two-wheeler riders.
As a mitigation measure, five
canopy bridges in two rainforest
fragments in this region were
installed at critical points where
animals were frequently observed
crossing the road and where tree
canopy connectivity was absent or
low due to breakage caused during
road widening.
“These bridges are made up of
fire hose and are 15–20 m long. It
was observed that many of the
bridges were used by these
mammals
soon
after
the
installation,” says P. Jeganathan, a
scientist who has been working
with the NCF for the past six years,
studying the impact of roads on
habitat and sustainable tourism.
Another problem that has been
identified but not addressed by the
government is indiscriminate
slashing of roadside vegetation
(including rainforest tree saplings).
The exposed soil creates conditions
suitable for invasive alien weed
’
Pushed out of habitat,
primates in peril
Do the elephants know they are being tracked? Photo: NCF
Looking for ideal habitat. Photo: NCF
species
such
as
Lantana,
Eupatorium and Parthenium to
grow rapidly. Flowers like
montonova and the Mexican
trumpet, though good for road
beautification, grow rapidly and
hinder visibility for motorists.
On the other hand, native plants
and ferns, though they never grow
like this, prevent soil erosion.
The NCF has also suggested
placing speedbreakers at specific
locations at regular intervals.
According to its study, the
Highways
Department
had
constructed 12 speedbreakers on a
three-km stretch passing through
the Tiger Reserve (from Monkey
Falls to the Azhiyar checkpost) in
March 2013. Slender loris,
elephants and sambar deer were
seen frequently crossing this
stretch.
However, in May 2013 prior to
the summer festival in Valparai,
local stakeholders felt there were
too many speedbreakers on a short
stretch and five of them were
removed. “The removal of a few
speedbreakers shows the need for
better planning and engagement
with the concerned officials to
implement various mitigation
measures,” says Mr. Jeganathan.
Construction of parapets suitable
to the area has also played an
important role in mitigation.
Parapets along forest roads without
any gap hinder the movement of
terrestrial fauna (such as small
mammals, porcupine, ungulates,
reptiles, and amphibians).
”After our suggestions, the
Highways Department has started
constructing
parapets
more
carefully, leaving gaps in many
places in and around the Anamalai
Tiger Reserve,” said Mr.
Jeganathan.
Despite these preventive steps,
ignorant tourist behaviour is still a
big problem. They litter at empty
places and near waterbodies, which
attracts animals down to the roads
where they get hit by vehicles, and
smaller animals even get hurt by
broken bottles. As a preventive
measure, signboards have been put
up in accident-prone areas and
where animals crossing is frequent.
fragmented forests, overhead
bridges have been built to connect
trees. This helps the primates hop
across trees. But this is not a
permanent solution, nor will all
primates choose this overhead
route.
“Sometimes, these animals don’t
use the bridge if the alpha male
uses it first. So they use the roads,
which only increases the chances of
accidents”, says Dr. P. Jeganathan,
a scientist at the NCF.
He says that these macaques are
resigned to roaming through the
roads for food, what with forest
regions remaining fragmented.
Only one vet for
Coimbatore
MEENAL THAKUR
Valparai: Coimbatore district, with
wildlife hot spots like Valparai has
only one wildlife veterinary doctor
who serves the entire region.
Dr.Manoharan of the Tamil Nadu
Forest Department specialises in
wildlife treatment and has been
working here for more than 20
years.
“It takes almost 3 hours for the
vet to reach Valparai from
Coimbatore and in case he is not in
town, it takes even longer. The
delay in treatment can prove fatal to
animals,”
says
Ganesh
Raghunathan, a scientist with the
Nature Conservation Foundation
(NCF), where they encounter
various kinds of animal injuries on
a daily basis.
He said that though vets from
other departments are present, their
expertise is limited to treating
domestic animals only.
Dr. Manoharan said that the
ecological health of Valparai was
good but agreed that more
healthcare was required in the area.
26 VALPARAI
School-bound, crammed like sardines
AJISH GEORGE
Where education still
takes a back seat
Bursting at the seams: crowded buses, unsafe travel. Photo: Ajish George
AJISH GEORGE
Valparai: A PSLV ready to launch,
a model of a human heart and a
volcano throwing up molten lava
were part of a science exhibition
conducted on January 9 by students
of the NESAM Trust – SSA
Residential School for tribals and
dropouts.
The students in this school, near
here, running classes up to
Standard VIII — now there are 46
boys and 21 girls — are all first
generation learners.
Headmaster S. Jayakumar says,
“We have children from all the
tribal settlements in Valparai.” But,
“education is only secondary for
the parents of these kids. Safety,
care and affection are what they
consider important.”
‘
G. Vivek, a teacher, says, “The
children come here mostly after
class five, but are not able to solve
simple problems. Everything has to
be taught from scratch.”
The school, coming under the
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, has a
separate teacher for each subject
and it also provides vocational
training.
However, students drop out
once they leave the school and
hence government permission has
been sought to extend the classes
up to Standard X, says Mr.
Jayakumar.
The management said that the
school functions on rented
premises and a new building with
more facilities and space is under
construction.
The school is run by the
NESAM Trust on a contract which
was recently extended till 2017 by
the government. Its chairman C.
Senthil Kumar, says the Trust was
started as an initiative to prevent
child labour.
A study conducted by the Centre
for Social Development and Social
Work Research showed that out of
14 tribal settlements in Valparai,
only eight had access to primary
school.
There is a drawback: some of
these primary schools are located
deep within the forests. In the
absence of access to roads, teachers
are finding it difficult to reach these
schools, say the tribals.
Valparai: Shortage of transport
buses here, especially for schoolgoing children of labourers
working on tea estates, results in
their being packed like sardines,
coupled with unsafe travel,
complain residents.
C. Suresh, a daily wage labourer
working on an estate of Jay Shree Tea
and Industries Limited, says he has to
spend Rs 600 just for sending his
younger daughter to school in a van.
While the older daughter, accompanied
by seniors, uses public transport to go to
the same school, “I can’t send the
younger child in a crowded bus because
she will be trampled,” says Suresh.
P. Sumesh, studying in class 7 in
the Government Boys Higher
Secondary School, feels travel will
be easier if there are more buses.
With a majority of Valparai’s
population living on tea estates,
Curbs or fine, plastic won’t go away
MAYA NANDHINI
Valparai: Plastics have been banned in this hill
station for 10 years now but a look at the garbage
dump there reveals a different story.
According to sanitary inspector Manikandan,
the ban, clamped since 2004, “has been 95%
effective so far.” Shops and other commercial
establishments would be imposed a fine up to Rs.
5000 if they do not adhere to the rule. “It is up to
Rs. 5,000 for the seller and Rs. 500 for the buyer,”
said Singaravelan, a fruit seller.
The fines were introduced in 2014 in a move to
tighten plastic use in the town, which had slowly
started increasing.
Plastic bottles and trinkets are sold all over the
place. “We cannot completely curb the usage of
plastic as a lot of commercial products come
packaged in plastic,” says Manikandan.
KUSHEL M
Valparai: The vroom of two
motorbikes could be heard from a
distance. The vehicles navigated
pretty well through an unfamiliar
rocky terrain until they found their
destination in the Nedunkundram
tribal settlement. The settlement
was a steep trek deep into the
forests of Valparai.
“They are looking for me. I did
not go to work today,” said
Muthukumar, a tea estate worker.
He walked towards the riders and
spoke to them. They were
apparently estate managers. After a
few minutes, he came back to his
house and sat on the verandah with
a resigned look.
“I was not feeling well so I had
to take the day off,” he said. That
meant
Rs
210
gone.
Muthukumar(52) is the head of one
of the 65 Kadar families that
inhabit the settlement in 35 houses
that have roofs provided by the
panchayat as well as the labour of
neighbours. The oldest of his three
daughters is married to a man
within the settlement. One of the
other daughters wants to study in
college after completing her
education in the Valparai
Government School.
“I don’t know what to do. I wish
I could search for other jobs. These
wages won’t do if my daughters
want to study further. My
generation was quite content with
working on estates. None of us has
gone to college. But now every
child in this settlement wants to
move away from working on an
estate,” Muthukumar said ruefully.
Apart from their ‘generation gap,
’
I don’t know what to do. I wish I
could search for other jobs. These
wages won’t do if my daughters want to
study further. My generation was quite content with working on estates. None of us has
gone to college. But now every child in this
settlement wants to move away
from working on an estate
’the settlement had enough
problems to worry over, especially
the looming presence of wild
elephants that could damage
property. A few youth from the
settlement have found work with
the Forest Department to help it in
curbing man-animal conflict in
Valparai.
“My son studied in a college in
Chennai and is now working there
at Mambalam. He has found
happiness there and I hope he is
better off than us,” said
Mangalasamy, another estate
worker. “He comes here once in a
while and I have never asked him
for money.”
The occasional visits will also
cease after a point in time,
something most other families here
can’t deal with or understand. For,
they are as close-knit as one can
find, noted Mangalasamy.
Mangalasamy and his son had a
long talk about working in Chennai
which seemed to have a profound
effect on the man.
“I wish I had this knowledge
earlier. Now I too want to work in
the town. I would happily work as
a watchman in all those big
buildings. I’ll get much more
Instead, plastic is collected from houses and
mainly establishments and is recycled. The
recycled plastic mixed with tar is used to lay
roads,” he said.
As for the garbage dump in the town, it is
divided into two sections and the waste is
dumped in each section alternately for five
years.
Locals claim that tea estates used to buy
compost from there for their use. But there is no
separate segregation of the plastic that finds its
way into the dump.
Despite the recycling process, the dump has a
lot of plastic waste too.
The sanitary inspector attributes this to fewer
number of workers. “There are only 43 workers
covering 217.8 sq. km.” He also said that they
need at least 90 workers to keep plastic use in
check,” he said.
KARTHIK R
Valparai: On January 3, 2014, a
report in a Tamil daily said a water
tank at Kakkan Colony here had
been unclean and could not be used
for many years. It was also
reported that despite many
complaints from residents, no
action was taken yet.
However, residents say with one
voice that the tank has been cleaned
regularly and the water is clean and
usable. We also saw for ourselves
that there is nothing amiss with the
tank or water.
S. Singapparaju, 63, a tourist car
driver and resident of the colony for
43 years, said: “That is the water
tank we have been using for a long
time. It gets cleaned at regular
intervals, so there are no
problems.”
“Sometimes there could be
sediments since the water is
channelled from the hills, but that
is not a big issue”, says P.
Manimeghalai, another resident
who has been there for 20 years.
However, “We always boil the
water and use it”.
Asked whether the tank is dirty,
she said, “We have been using this
tank for many years, and since it
has been cleaned regularly, we have
no problems with the water.”
When her attention was drawn to
the newspaper report, Monisha
Kanagaraj, who has been in the
colony for 25 years, said, “Neither
did reporters come to investigate
the tank, nor did they talk to us
about it.”
Manimeghalai also said no
reporter had come there. “The tank
supervisor had come to meet us
yesterday and reprimanded us for
giving false facts to the newspaper.
We told him that we never spoke to
any reporter”.
Valparai Municipal Corporation
Chairperson Sathiyavani Muthu
was unavailable for comment.
Dazzling to the eye, damaging to environment
KARTHIK R
Valparai: The Valparai landscape
is dominated by tea and coffee
plantations. As far as you can see,
the green of tea plantations will
dazzle your sight.
While tea plants are short and
need a lot of sunlight, coffee
plantations resemble forests in the
manner that plants prefer shade to
grow well. In the recent past,
labour-intensive coffee plantations
have increasingly been replaced
with the more profitable tea.
But what is more worrisome is
that tea “pollutes the atmosphere,”
says Dr. P. Jeganathan, scientist at
The yearning for change
Students at their school science exhibition. Photo: Ajish George
children have to travel for hours to
reach school and return home.
Only Tamil Nadu State Transport
Corporation buses ply on the Valparai
route. There are 20 buses operating
within Valparai and 17 between Pollachi
and Valparai.
According
to
Transport
department officials, the number
of buses has remained stagnant
over the years because the
population of Valparai is
declining.The census report shows
that between 2001 and 2011
around 30,000 people have left
Valparai and the declining trend is
continuing.
“The buses are running on loss,
there is hardly any collection.
Only on Saturday and Sunday, the
service generates some revenue,”
the officials say, adding students,
who account for most of the
commuters, either do not have to
pay or do have bus passes.
The report does
not hold water
money there but they won’t be
ready to take in somebody like me
who has spent his full life here near
the
hills
of
Valparai,”
Mangalasamy said with a knowing
smile without disclosing why
townies would not employ him.
“These new technology on
television and mobiles have helped
our children in finding and trying
out newer things which we could
not. It’s a good thing and a bad
thing. Our bonds might be
weakened with the passage of time
but I think our future generations
would be able to lead a better life.
Our children will find other places
to settle. They will have better
wages. Isn’t that the way “change”
is supposed to be?” he asks himself,
rather as an afterthought.
‘Generation gap’, a new problem in tribal settlements. Photo: Ajish George
the
Nature
Conservation
Foundation. He says coffee
plantations have been converted
into tea plantations as tea is more
profitable. This indirectly affects
the rainforest terrain which is
destroyed to bring about more tea
plantations.
There are many fragmented
forests created in the Valparai
region because of these cash crops.
This causes the blunting of forest
terrain.
Not only that, tea plantations
hurt the environment. Coffee
plantations, in comparison, do not
emit harmful gases into the
atmosphere, he says.
Plantations everywhere, not ecofriendly. Photo: Kirubhakar P
Kadars have come a long way
AJISH GEORGE
Nedukundram: Radha walks
through the forest as if it is her
kitchen garden. With ease, she
covers around two km through
tough terrain to reach her house in
the Nedukundram settlement in the
Anamalai hills.
The mother of four children,
who was returning home after
dropping her youngest daughter in
Coimbatore for higher studies, is
not afraid of the elephants roaming
the nearest hill. In fact, the Kadars,
her community, believe that the
elephants will listen to them if they
speak in their native tongue.
For this reason, the Forest
department has employed her two
older sons, along with others from
her tribe, to chase elephants away,
says Radha. But the government
which “gives protection to
elephants, bears, tigers and
leopards, has given us nothing,”
laments the widow.
After her husband’s death,
Radha’s two older sons finished
their studies staying in an
orphanage in Palakkad, Kerala. The
two younger children stayed back
with their grandmother, while
Radha worked on an estate to feed
the family.
The kitchen in her house is close
to her heart because she herself laid
each stone and custom-designed it.
Among Kadars, only the front
part of the houses is a stone
structure. The side and rear
portions, built with wood and mud,
have to be rebuilt every year
because they get damaged in rains
that lash the region for almost six
months a year.
Radha, a determined mother. Photo: Ajish George
Though Radha went to school
as a kid, she dropped out within a
month as her father asked her to
take care of household chores.
Both her parents had been going to
work.
But this is no longer the case
here; every parent wants his/her
kids to go out and study and is
willing to make the extra effort to
provide for their education.
The children including girls
attend residential schools for tribal
children funded by the Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan. There is also a
government primary school within
their settlement where there are
two teachers and some 15 pupils
going to classes up to class 5.
Those
studying
in
the
residential schools but not willing
to stay away from home have to
travel to Valparai. They return by
the 7.30 p.m. bus and are guided
back to the colony with a fire
torch.
The Kadars, the earliest known
inhabitants of the region, are no
longer dependent on forest
produce alone. Most of them work
on tea plantations. They have to
travel for hours to reach Valparai
town to buy essentials like sugar,
rice and vegetables.
K. Ratnasamy, tribal leader of
Nedukundram, says: “There are
only 588 of us (Kadars) in the
whole of India.” Kadars who
settled in Kerala got Rs. 3 lakh each
for building their own houses and
are being given free rice, chickpea,
etc,
he says, expressing his
disappointment
that
his
community here does not enjoy any
such freebies.
Even schoolchildren do not get
scholarship, nor do Kadars have
access to health facilities.
VALPARAI I 27
Caesarean? Not here, go to Pollachi
PRATIBHA RAWAL
MAYA NANDHINI
Valparai: It has been years since a
was
gynaecologist/obstetrician
posted in the Valparai government
hospital and pregnant women are
compelled to go to Pollachi, which
is a three-hour drive, for Caesarean
section.
Medical Officer M. Anandan
said two gynaecologists had been
appointed for the hospital but they
worked only for a few months and
moved to Pollachi.
“Doctors don’t want to work
here as they get Rs 100 per person
as consultation fee in Coimbatore
and here they get half of it. As there
isn’t any specialist, we don’t take
risk and recommend Caesarean
cases to Pollachi or Coimbatore,”
says Dr. Anandan.
Of 100 delivery cases received
in the hospital every month, 40 per
cent are Caesarean. Most of the
women are tea plantation workers,
says the medical officer.
Karpaga Valli (24), who had
undergone
two
Caesarean
deliveries in Pollachi, said It is
very difficult for us tea plantation
workers to manage money and time
for the procedure.” Though it was
free in the government hospital, she
had to spend Rs.3,000 for transport
from Valparai.
“Here, it’s all free but in
Pollachi, they have to pay some
amount for travelling and
accommodation,”
says
Dr.
Anandan.
Mahalaxmi (26), who was
delivered with a boy, now eight
months old, spent Rs 50,000 for a
Caesarean in Pollachi.
“Doctors recommended me to go
to Pollachi as they found that my
case was serious. I did not feel like
undergoing Caesarean section in
the government hospital as I had
heard of some cases of miscarriage
there.”
The Government Hospital in Valparai. Photo: Akanksha Ramagopal
Tea plantation workers also
suffer from uterine prolapse. “As
they are carrying heavy bags of tea
leaves of 45-50 kg every day,
around 30 per cent of women have
uterine prolapse and they have to
undergo uterectomy,” says Dr.
Anandan.
For
lack
of
gynaecologists, these patients are
referred to the Pollachi or
AJISH GEORGE
Valparai: Doctors in the government hospital here
are conspicuous by their absence.
“One doctor is perpetually on leave, two have been
absconding and there are three vacancies to be filled,”
says Medical Officer M. Anandan. The hospital is
supposed to have 11 doctors, but there are only three
doctors and one medical officer.
Hospital officials say doctors do not prefer to stay
here because they can earn more in other places. The
government pays them only Rs. 50 per consultation
here and should incentivize doctors working in
remote areas, say the officials.
Another problem for doctors is lack of
accommodation in this tourist town. Now it is
difficult to rent a house because all houses have been
.converted into homestays, points out Dr. Anandan.
Let alone doctors’ absence, the hospital has no
basic facilities and patients are sent to Pollachi or
Coimbatore, says school teacher Shalini.
The Medical Officer confirmed that a woman with
high blood pressure who suffered seizures died en
route to Pollachi recently.
Specialist doctors and facilities like ultrasound and
X-ray are available only at Pollachi. Dr. Anandan
says ultrasound facility is available in the hospital
but it could not be put to good use for lack of
technicians.
And there is the ubiquitous woe of patients having
to tip the staff, though services in the GH are meant
to be free. Lakshmi, a plantation labourer, says “It’s
Animals drove
them to estates
From steering
lorry to elephants
On a mission. D. Anandakumar, a proud forest ranger. Photo: Karthik R
Nedunkundram: As lorry
driver, the young man kept
awake at night behind the
wheel. Now also he keeps vigil
but on a mission. A resident of
the Nedunkundram settlement
deep within Valparai forests, D.
Anandakumar (25) has been
part of the Anti-Depredation
Squad, which focusses on
treating hurt animals and
returning them to suitable
environments in good health.
The squad, operating in the
Valparai range, is called into
action if elephants or leopards
roam on estate lands. His job is
to guide the animals back into
the forests.
Anandakumar was driving
lorries in the Valparai region
until he joined the Nature
Conservation
Foundation
(NCF) when he was aged 20.
For four years, he was a guide
to researchers.
“NCF came to our settlement
in search of rangers and guides.
That
interested
me,”
Anandakumar says.
During the time he joined
NCF, there were not many
researchers and so his work
timings were flexible. Then as
more of them started coming to
NCF to study the Valparai
range, his job extended to most
of the days.
“We inform them of their due date
when they come in for a regular
check-up,” said Dr. Kumar.
However, in case of sudden
contractions, women have the
babies delivered at home. “The
hospitals are at least 2 km away and
we could not reach there on time,”
Radha
(45)
from
says
Nedunkundram.
The Udumalaipaarai settlement
had a similar story, except that
many more women said they did
not utilise hospital facilities during
pregnancies. “The route is very
difficult. It takes two hours on foot
to reach the nearest tea estate. It
isn’t possible for the pregnant
women to keep travelling
continuously,” said Dhanalakshmi,
a resident.
As for other health problems,
tribals who work in tea estates
complained of arthritis and pain in
the wrists and fingers. “It is due to
the shears we use. My fingers keep
burning and the skin peels off
sometimes,” said Vellathayi, who is
also from Udumalaipaarai. These
are common problems faced by all
people who work in tea estates.
“Anaemia is one problem that is
prevalent among the tribals. The
cause has still not been
ascertained,” said Dr. Kumar. Iron
fortified tablets are given to the
tribals and other people as well.
Under the Weekly Iron and Folic
Acid Supplementation scheme,
every schoolgoing child must be
given a tablet a day by teachers, he
said.
The tribals are prevented from
using herbs from forests for their
home remedies by the Forest
Department.
“We have been taught to heal
the sick using herbs by our
forefathers. Even if the new
medicines are better, we feel
comfortable with our remedies,”
said
Aruldas
(50)
from
Nedunkundram.
Still, they felt that regular
medical camps and visits from
doctors would benefit them greatly.
Where doctors make themselves scarce
KARTHIK R
KARTHIK R
Coimbatore government hospital.
As for health facilities at
Nedunkundram
and
Udumalaipaarai,
two
tribal
settlements deep within the forests
of Valparai, people visit hospitals
mainly during pregnancies.
“Pregnancies were usually taken
care of at home by the elders here,
but of late many people have
started visiting hospitals too,” said
Mallika, a young mother of three at
Nedunkundram. Primary Health
Centres (PHCs) offer various
facilities for pregnant women. The
Dr.
Muthulakshmi
Reddy
Maternity Benefit Scheme is the
most useful, with women getting
Rs. 12,000 in three instalments.
“A lot of tribal women have
utilised the scheme. It also provides
for antenatal and childcare till the
child is one and a half years old,”
said Praveen Kumar, Medical
Officer of a PHC at Valparai. Apart
from that, the PHCs arrange for a
vehicle to transport the women
from their places to the facility.
“We are asked to report to the
hospital a week in advance,” said
Mallika. The doctors at the PHCs
confirmed this, stating a birth
waiting room is provided for them.
He
joined
the
AntiDepredation Squad when it was
established in 2013, along with
nine others from his settlement.
All ten of them operate as
rangers in the Valparai range.
“As a child, I was afraid of
elephants. But we have always
lived among forests and soon
enough, we began to get used to
elephant movements”, says
Anandakumar, adding the
pachyderms are becoming
cleverer by the day.
“Earlier, electric fencing
around estate lands would
prevent them from trespassing.
But with time, they have learnt
to break past the fences”, he
says, explaining that the
elephants target the central
parts to break them.
Talking about how they guide
animals back into the forests,
Anandakumar says, “We simply
talk to them in low, calming
voices. That is enough most of
the times. We warn the public to
clear the roads and sometimes
the roads are closed briefly.”
More often than not, the
squad stays up through the
night, scouting through fog for
anybody in need of help.
At the Anti-Depredation
Squad headquarters, they go
through routines to keep
themselves physically fit and
also train to keep the response
time to the bare minimum.
Udumalaipaarai: Nestled in thick
green cover and surrounded by
hills lies the Udumalaipaarai
settlement, 14 km from here. But
it takes residents, most of them
plantation workers, a steep fourkm trek twice every day to and
from work.
The only reason we are
plantation workers now is we have
no land for farming,” says R.
Jagadeeshkumar (34), who has
been one for five years now.
Till a few years ago, their
primary livelihood was farming.
Crops and pulses used to be grown
on fields until animals began to
ravage crops.
“Leopards, elephants and bisons
are regular visitors here. Earlier,
the number of animals spotted
here here used to be few, but in
recent times more animals have
been coming and thus farming is
no longer profitable” says
Jagadeeshkumar.
However, the residents, earning
Rs. 212 a day, manage to send their
children to school.
“All the children in our
settlement go to schools at
Valparai. They stay in hostels there
humiliating to go to the hospital because for
everything, they ask for money.”
The hospital claims to have three ambulance vans
to cater for the 108 service. But Merchants
Association President Sounderapandyan says none of
them is in working condition when required by
people.
The Association runs its own ambulance service to
meet the needs of the town. Most of the estates also
have their own ambulance service.
However, settlements in Pannimedu, Sinkona,
Velloni and High forest areas cannot be reached by
ambulance because of lack of maintenance of
roads.
On the health problems faced by plantation
labourers, Dr. Maya Philip, a retired doctor who was
A dreaded, desolate park
because travelling such far
distances would be tough on
them,” says Jagadeeshkumar,
whose two children are also
studying at Valparai.
Better option
P. Nagaraj (64), a retired
plantation labourer, has been a
resident of the Udumalpaarai
settlement for as long as he can
remember. He says that while
residents were more comfortable
with farming, plantation work
seems to be the better option now
for the 100 families here.
Women have got used to the
long and tedious route from the
settlement to the checkpost, about
10 km from Valparai, where
residents take the bus, says
Vellathai (46). “But when someone
is pregnant, the trek is extremely
tough. Hospitals at Valparai are the
only accessible facilities.
Asked whether nurses visit the
settlement
sometimes,
Dhanalakshmi (40) said, “They do
not come here. Every time, we
have to travel to the hospitals.”
Regular health camps are not
organized in the settlement,
complain residents.
The swings don’t attract kids. Parents won’t send them to the park for fear of leopards. Photo: Ajish George
KUSHEL M
Valparai: The Valparai Municipal
Park, one km away from the town
circle, cuts a lonesome picture in
the evenings. The facility, with 2
swings, 2 see-saws and a slide,
does not seem to present an option
for children of Valparai to spend
their time after school.
The fact that the park,
Valparai’s only claim to a public
space environment is situated in
the middle of nowhere and
surrounded by forest patches on
three sides is enough to make
parents wary of sending their kids
there.
Moreover, a nearby garbage
dump has proved to be a happy
hunting ground for leopards, say
residents. The only attacks by
leopards reported in the town have
been on children aged around 10
years, the age group for whom the
park is meant.
Says Mohammed, a retired
estate worker: “The tourists have
a lot of places to visit when in
Valparai but it’s for people like us
Powerless, well and truly
PRATIBHA RAWAL
working in one of the plantation hospitals, says that in
the last 10 years they have been suffering from
hypertension, diabetes and high blood pressure,
which she attributes to lifestyle changes or stress over
a long period.
Cases of arthritis and muscular pain have also
increased because of the use of heavy machinery.
Dr. Philip said two workers died in the past due to
accidents caused by faulty machines.
The workers do not use any protective gear like
masks and gloves while spraying pesticides and
weedicides. Dr. Philip says some companies provide
workers protective gear but fail to supervise if they
are actually using it.
Dr. Philip says she herself owns a small plantation
where, she adds, tea leaves are hand-plucked.
Valparai: The Nedunkundram tribal
settlement near the Anamalai hills has a
long list of woes but her deprivation is
singular. Out of 65 houses there, her’s is the
only with no electricity.
“I was not in my house when
government officials came here to set up
electricity polls and wires in our village last
year,” rues Elsy, belonging to the Kadar
tribe.
No one was there to speak to them on
her behalf. As her house is a little up the
hill, they didn’t bother to come there; nor
did they ever make another visit once the
job was over, she says.
“It seems I have to spend my entire life Elsy in front of her house, before darkness descended on it.
in darkness. l used to think that god cheated Photo: Ajish George
me but I felt cheated by the government
also,” laments the tea plantation worker, who
Elsy has to settle for an oil lamp and finish
lost her husband and sons to an illness.
household chores before sunset. Perforce, she
goes to bed early
“I cannot afford a solar panel,” says
Elsy, though one of the houses has the
facility. “Moreover, I have to reconstruct
my house every year.”
Most of the houses have television sets
with cable connection. “Sometimes, I go
there to watch teleserials”, she says.
During her free time, Elsy weaves
baskets which she sells for Rs 50 each. She
starts her day with wood collection. Then
she leaves for her work at 7.30 a.m. She
comes back around 4.30 p.m. and prepares
food.
“People used to come here to purchase
basket(s) but now I have to go and sell it,”
says Elsy, whose language is a bit difficult
to follow.
“I don’t know what my language is
called.” However, “as most of my
neighbors are Tamil, I learnt the language
from them.”
who find it hard to spend our free
time. I don’t know of any single
place within Valparai where I can
take my grandchildren to or where
I can spend some quality time with
my family.”
Venkataraman, a retired teacher
at the Government School here,
said a cinema screen would have
been a good option as
entertainment but then, people are
content with buying a DVD from
Valparai’s lone CD store and
watching films from the comfort
of their homes.
No hope for the
downtrodden
FAISAL ZAIDI
Greater Chennai: Open sewers
and delayed medical attention have
contributed to the death of several
women and children in the
Kalkuttai slum. Though the local
Church advocate Peter Arusural
hires ambulances in emergencies,
the 350-acre slum remains difficult
to access. The dearth of medicine
and the inaccessibility of the region
has caused an increase diseases,
such as malaria and dengue, with
even the occasional snake-bite
proving deadly. The latter was the
cause of the deaths of 8 people
recently in the Kalkuttai slum.
Negligence aside, it seems that
basic facilities such as medical
treatment, education, financial
assistance and clean water have not
yet made it to the slums of Chennai.
FACT FILE
SATHYAMANGALAM
A sweeping effort for tribal livelihood
Almost all households within the forest region are engaged in collection or processing of eecham
NIRUPAMA V
Total Area: 2186 sq. km.
Location:
Sathyamangalam is a taluk
in Erode district in Tamil
Nadu. It lies on the banks of
river Bhavani near the
Western Ghats.
POPULATION
Total Population : 37,816
Households
: 11,148
1006 Females per 1000
Males
OCCUPATION
Main Occupation: Agriculture
and as farm labourers.
Additional: Sale of NTFPs and
as anti-poaching watchers
•
•
•
PROBLEMS
Man-animal conflict
Limited transportation
No regular source of
income
Sathyamangalam: Women
carrying
bundles of dried grass on their heads and
walking on the edge of forests are a
common sight in the villages of Talamalai
and Hassanur. Phoenix loureiri grass, or
eecham, as it is commonly known in Tamil
Nadu, is used to make brooms that sweep
the floors. The sight brings back a faint
memory of the city street hawker hailing,
“Eechamaaru… Seemaaru.”
Such Non-Timber Forest Products
(NTFPs) complement agriculture-based
livelihoods. They are not only a source of
income but part of subsistence for tribal
forest dwellers.
Villagers depend on this NTFP income
for everyday expenses during times when
they aren’t cultivating crops. The Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the
United Nations estimates that 275 million
people in India are dependent on forest
resources for their livelihood.
Eecham is available throughout the year
except during the rainy season. People
(mostly women) go into the forest, cut
these leaves and lay them out for drying.
After 2-3 days, they go back to the same
place and collect the leaves.
When they don’t have to work on fields,
women prepare thick broomsticks at home
with eecham. They then sell their product
through the Village Forest Committee
Collection
of
NTFPs used to be
unchecked.
Divisional
Forest
Officer K. Rajkumar
said: “Earlier, it used
to be bona fide.
There weren’t any
issues because the
villagers used it for
themselves. Now, we
have to make sure
that outsiders don’t
exploit them.”
While
these
products are low risk
and do not cause any
environmental
damage, “there are
some products that
Bundles of ‘Seemaru’ being readied for sale. This, along with honey and gooseberry, is a major source of
we have denied
additional income for tribal households that are largely dependent on agriculture. Photo: Aishwarya Iyer
access to such as
kadukkai (Terminalia
chebula), some barks of trees and others,
to Rs. 500.”
(VFC).
The Forest Rights Act, 2006 gives the the removal of which might damage the
Buyers from the foothills, after
negotiating with the councils of various Scheduled Tribe and other traditional forest forest flora,” added Rajkumar.
Kosan said the tribals used to collect
villages, bring a truck up to the villages and dwellers the right of ownership, access to
collect; use and dispose of minor forest gooseberries during specific seasons. But
collect the brooms.
Kosan of Itarrai said even as he was produce which has been traditionally they don’t do anymore. “People downhill
arranging brooms to be loaded: “The collected within or outside village are cultivating a hybrid variety, using
standard price is Rs. 17 per kg. They are boundaries. Thus, even though the region fertilizers. These are bigger and shinier and
sold in bundles of 20-25 kg. One person is a reserve forest, tribal residents are therefore more in demand than the natural
can earn up to Rs.300 at one time by doing allowed to collect eecham, gooseberries forest variety. The prices for our
gooseberries have fallen too low.”
this. If they are good at it, they can earn up and honey, the most common NTFPs.
Hairpin bends throw
traffic out of gear
VINAYAKK M
Sathyamangalam: “Anna, traffic
block in 15. Axle damage. Looks
like it’ll be afternoon before the
jam is cleared”, said Ravi, a cab
driver, even as he was waiting for
his colleague outside the Bannari
Amman Temple at the foot of the
Dhimbam ghat road. He was
informing his employer on the
phone that a lorry had stopped at
the 15th hairpin bend out of the 27
curves that snake around this 15km section of National Highway
209 between Bannari and
Dhimbam. Ravi explained that all
vehicles could be stuck there for
another 4-5 hours as help was being
sent for repairing the damaged axle.
Such traffic delays due to
blockages at hairpin bends are a
perennial problem for commuters
and other travellers going from
Sathyamangalam town to villages
at the hilltop and beyond to
Mysuru.
Shanmugham, who has been
driving a tempo traveller on this
route for 16 years, blamed it on
overloaded
lorries,
carrying
vegetables and flowers between
Erode and Mysuru, which break
down or get stuck with a vehicle
going in the opposite direction
while negotiating a hairpin bend.
“My worst experience was when
we had to wait at the 18th bend
from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. one day,” he
said, explaining that these blocks
are more common after sunset. He
said even minor accidents caused
by tourist cars could back up traffic
for hours.
A fully loaded lorry negotiating a hairpin bend on its way to Dhimbam. Will
this one make it? Photo: Shambhavi Prakash
Selvam, another cabby with 15
years of experience of driving in
these hills, says the volume of
traffic is high in this section of
NH209 as entering Karnataka
through Hosur entails payment of
tolls up to Rs. 2,500.
The traffic delays often result in
damage to tomatoes and other
perishable produce transported by
lorries, says Selvam. “Sometimes
ambulances have also got stuck
because there is no option but to
wait for the traffic to ease.”
K. Rajkumar, Divisional Forest
Officer, says an increase in the
number of multiaxle vehicles is the
main reason for the blockages due
to a high probability of axle
damage. The Forest department
check post has restricted transport
of multiaxle lorries from 8 p.m. to 6
a.m. as completely curbing their
entry is not practical, he says.
Speaking about managing this
traffic, Rajkumar said a weighing
bridge was necessary at the
foothills before letting vehicles take
the ghat road. “The lorries are not
supposed to weigh more than 16.2
tonnes as per the road design, but
they usually weigh up to 25-30
tonnes.”
Any new proposal to widen the
road had to be approved by Tamil
Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka since
it was an inter-State highway,
making the process cumbersome,
he said.
A well-placed source in the
Hassanur Panchayat Union said a
proposal was indeed made by a
private construction firm to expand
the roads around the hills into
multiple lanes but the Forest
department refused to comment.
Disparity knows no
boundaries
ANANDI MISHRA
Sathyamangalam: The air is filled with the distinctive scent of
Sendigai Poo in the quiet village of Gulithuraipatti. Equally pervasive
is wage disparity, to which women in the settlement seem to have
become immune. They get Rs. 150 a day, Rs. 100 less than men.
In justification, Sivaraj, an anti-poaching watcher from here, says
men do more physical work than women. Not only here, wage disparity
on gender basis is widely prevalent in other areas of Sathyamangalam
also.
At Puduthotti, men
working on the fields of
Udaya Shankaran are
paid Rs. 250 a day,
whereas women get only
Rs. 120, say the workers.
However, both men and
women get an increment
of Rs. 10 every six
months.
The landowner says
men are paid more
because
they
do
strenuous jobs like tilling
soil and ploughing,
whereas women do the
“delicate work” of
A woman slugging it out on the field in
merely sowing seeds and
Ittarai. Photo: Aishwarya Iyer
plucking flowers.
B. Krishnakumar, a
landowner from Hassanur, says, “There are more female labourers than
men, which could be a reason for the prevalent disparity.” Moreover,
working in sugarcane trenches and ploughing fields involve tough
labour for which only men are employed, leading to extra pay for them,
he adds.
S. Anandhi, Associate Professor at the Madras Institute of
Development Studies (MIDS), identifies two reasons behind this
passive immunity on the part of women to the disparity. “The area
suffers seclusion on the whole because of the residents being a
Scheduled Tribe, resulting in the isolation of women labourers as well.”
This, in turn, also results in less pay for rural labourers compared to
urban labourers. Due to these layers of seclusion, women workers are
affected more severely than men.
Dr. Anandhi explains that wage disparity is prevalent more
specifically in the Sathyamangalam area because it is dominated by the
police, military and paramilitary forces. These state forces “tend to
dominate the females considering them to be the weaker gender. In the
name of looking for men to be employed as anti-poaching watchers,
the police tend to isolate the tribal women.”
A village with a view but nothing much else
VINAYAKK M
Sathyamangalam: Sujilkuttai is situated
right on the banks of the Bhavanisagar
Reservoir. The 120 families in the village
wake up every day to the pleasing view of the
vast expanse of water with the Nilgiri Hills
in the backdrop. But for the scenic beauty on
offer, the villagers teeter on the brink as any
increase in water level above 60 feet makes it
near to impossible for them to cultivate their
regular crops, banana and cowpea pods.
There is also talk of the villagers being
evacuated as Sujilkuttai is deemed an
encroachment on forest land.
Karuppusamy, a resident of this settlement
for 43 years, said 5000-odd banana plants on
3.5 acres of land were completely submerged
as the water level rose close to 100 ft in
November last year due to heavier rains than
usual, and the growers were left with nothing
to sell or consume.
after elephants
“This
and boars have
happens
had their share,”
almost every
Karuppusamy
year.
There
said, pointing
were times in
out that the
the past when
village is located
we had had no
right at the
banana
entrance of a
cultivation for
part of the
five years in a
Sathymangalam
row,”
said
Tiger Reserve
Karuppusamy,
with a high
explaining that Scenic but sufferings are aplenty. Photo: Vinayakk M
density of these
planting took
place in September every year, which is very animals.
With agricultural earnings uncertain, the
close to the monsoon season.
Pointing out that the current level in the villagers till last year used to collect Turkey
reservoir is around 85 ft; he said farmers Berry (Sundakkai) from the forests, dry the
would wait until after it fell to 60 ft before produce and sell it for a small profit, said
Muthukaruppu, another resident. However,
sowing cowpea pods.
“Even when we manage to harvest a few since the area was declared a tiger reserve,
sacks of banana now and then, it comes only entry to the forests has been restricted.
Now the villagers have taken to fishing
from the reservoir for their daily earnings.
“The fishing lease is held by four private
parties who buy the fish we catch,” said
Muthukaruppu. He said the villagers could
get profits of up to Rs 1000 each a week but
there were also chances of their returning
empty-handed.
An initial capital of Rs 20,000 is needed to
buy fishing equipment and the nationalized
Corporation Bank provides them a short-term
loan, he says.
Explaining the difficulty in providing
relief to the residents, Divisional Forest
Officer K. Rajkumar said the village is
located on forest land under the
Bhavanisagar project. It was decided recently
that this village be evacuated in the near
future. “Sujilkuttai is considered an
encroachment on forest land and notices will
be sent to the residents soon ordering them to
relocate,” he said.
These products are all sold only through
the VFCs, which fix the prices, making
sure individuals aren’t exploited by lower
prices in the open market. The Forest
Department plays a facilitator. “We make
sure things are sold at a good price and
ensure that no illegal dealing takes place,”
the DFO said.
The NTFPs from 28 villages in and
around the Hassanur region are processed,
packed and sent for sale from a production
centre, ‘Thumbidakadu’ (Bountiful forest),
which was set up in 2005 by the Thalavadi
Adivasi Munnetra Sangam, the Keystone
Foundation and the Minor Forest Produce
Collectors’ Association.
The centre employs women from the
villages to process and pack the raw
produce sent by the VFCs and then sends
it for sale. Thumbidakadu has a retail outlet
at Bannari. Durgadevi, who has been
managing this outlet for seven years, said:
“It has only been a few years and the going
is good. Thumbidakadu has already
reached a company-like status. It will grow
bigger.”
The Forest Department has made efforts
to train tribals in procuring and making
some products suitable for sale. “We taught
them how to remove an invasive species of
plant called Lantana camara and use it to
make mats and baskets,” Rajkumar said.
However, the effort failed as the residents
showed no interest in it.
Their life
blooms with
the flower
Contract farming of marigold comes in handy for beleaguered farmers in
the remote hamlet of Gulithuraipatti. Photo: Vinayakk M
NIRUPAMA V
Sathyamangalam: A two-hour
drive into the reserve forest, amidst
dense thorny vegetation of the
Bhavanisagar range, and a dozen
fields under marigold cultivation
greet you.
The livelihoods of the 18
families in the tribal village of
Gulithuraipatti are dependent on
this garden flower. Having lost
their agricultural crops to ravaging
wild boars and elephants, they now
practise contract farming of
marigold and make a good living.
Gone are fears of animal rampage,
and they are also free of the
problem of transportation of the
flower, which has been taken care
of by purchasers themselves.
“If we grow corn, the animals
will eat everything. We will have
nothing to sell,” says a farmer.
The farmers grow the flowers for
companies like AVT Natural
Products Ltd. They receive seeds
and fertilizer inputs on loan from
the firm.
The company inspects their land
and makes sure it is good enough
before giving the farmers seeds.
The land has to be irrigated but that
is not a problem. Gulithuraipatti is
one of the very few villages with
irrigation facility provided by the
Forest department.
Sivaraj, who is one of the
cultivators, said “marigold flowers
once a week, for four months.
People from the company come to
collect the flowers every week. The
flowers are bought at Rs. 5.5 per
kg. But they deduct a certain
amount for the seeds and fertilizers
‘
and pay what’s remaining.”
For almost 10 years now,
contract farming has been
undertaken at Gulithuraipatti,
Thengumarahada, Alli Moyar and
Kallampalayam, all remote hamlets
with poor access. Individual
farming would entail very high
transportation costs. “In this case,
the company comes and collects
the produce. They even provide
seeds or fertilizers. There is no
cost,” says Sivaraj.
’
If we grow corn,
the animals will
eat everything.
So, we grow
flowers.
The farmers only need
to put in labour and maintain the
field properly. “It is a highly
profitable venture,” says K.V.
Pradeepkumar, who works for
SNEHA, an NGO that is involved
in community development in the
region.
“Now, we have got offers from
two or three companies. We choose
whichever comes first.”
Of course, it is not flower
cultivation round the year. Once the
flowers wilt, the farmers will grow
some crops and the yield, whatever
is left after damage by animals, will
be used for their consumption and
sale.
SATHYAMANGALAM I 29
Indoor loos have no use for the villagers
Parents indifferent,
children drop out
SUNDAR S
ERUM KHALED
Sathyamangalam: Headmaster
Chandrasekhar P. is greeted with a
chorus of the popular nursery
rhyme
‘a..bee..cee..dee’ as he
enters the Bejalatti primary school
in the Sathyamangalam forest
reserve. It’s a small school with
classes up to Standard VIII and two
teachers, one each for the primary
and secondary divisions.
It has a total strength of 75
pupils, 38 of them girls, says
Chandrasekhar, who has been a
teacher for 15 years and heading
the school since last year.
“Some of the students here are
first-generation learners. Their
parents don’t understand the
importance of education. They feel
it is a waste,” he says.
Another reason why parents do
not send their children to school is
distance, says Sundari, a mother of
two, both studying in a school in
Hassanur. “They make their
children drop out of schools and
work in the village instead.”
The dropout in the Government
Tribal
Residential
Higher
Secondary School at Hassanur is
between five and ten per cent, says
assistant principal Manorama.
“Parents are uncomfortable
about sending their children to
school because they feel that it is a
waste of money. Even if they do
send them to school, it is only up to
Standard X. The option of high
school and college does not exist
for them,” she said.
This in spite of the fact that the
HSS has a hostel, which is not fully
occupied. However, the school,
with classes from 6 to 12, has the
largest student strength, 360, in the
area. Students come from nearby
villages
of
Hassanur,
Ariyapalayam,
Hongalwadi,
Kottadai, Mavallam, Devarnatham,
Ossati, Geddesal and Talavadi.
It offers subjects including
maths, science, social science,
English and Tamil but provides no
vocational training course. “Our
school has very few teachers. The
student-teacher ratio is 1: 30. Due
to this, we cannot offer any
additional subjects even if we want
to,” says Manorama.
At the Muthurasanagar middle
Keen students. But will parents encourage them? Photo: Aishwarya Iyer
school at Sujilkuttai, construction
of a new building was taken up in
2011 to accommodate more
students but the work has not been
completed.
“Work has stalled for the last
three months due to lack of funds
so we cannot shift to the new
building. This is creating a problem
for taking regular classes also,”
says headmistress Vimala. She
added that Round Table India had
recently agreed to fund the
remaining construction costs and
the building should soon be ready
to use.
A HM’s fond hope
SUNDAR S
Sathyamangalam: “I dream of
the day when all my students will
come
to
class,”
said
Chandrasekhar, headmaster of the
Bejalatti School.
For, lack of teachers and
amenities forces students to move
out. Of the 75 students on the
rolls, on average, 20 students are
absent every day.
“My granddaughter frequently
bunked off when she was
studying here, so we had to shift
her to the residential school at
Hassanur, said Madhavi of nearby
Thadasalahatti.
The school had a lone teacher,
the HM himself, since 2010
before another was appointed last
month. But, he says, it needs two
teachers for the primary section
(classes 1 to 5) and two for upper
primary (classes 5 to 8).
“I couldn’t give attention to all
my students since I was the only
teacher. As HM, I had to
discharge administrative duties as
well. I had to hire a teacher
temporarily [the third] and pay
him Rs. 4,000 from my pocket,”
says Chandrasekhar, adding, “I
will be blamed if something goes
wrong. I had no choice but to take
this step though I am under
financial strain.”
Students skip classes also due
to inadequate transport. There are
two buses operating to Bejalatti,
one in-coming at 7.30 a.m. and
the other outbound at 6.30 p.m.
A full meal scheme is available
and there is also a hostel but no
student is put up there. “I’m
scared of allowing students to
stay in the hostel. This area is
prone to man-animal conflict.
Two months ago a forest official
was mauled by a leopard at
Dhimbam. Elephants roam in this
village after 5 p.m.”
In the absence of a toilet,
students have to ease themselves
in the open and, especially at
night, they can get attacked by the
animals because the hostel does
not have a compound wall, said
the HM.
Teachers are also hit by lack of
transportation. The HM stays at
Sathyamangalam though the
school has staff quarters. “I have
to be in school till 6.30 p.m. till
the kids leave. I stay overnight
with the cook, leave for Sathy
early next morning and come
back for work,” he said.
Have the villagers hit a dead end?
ANANDI MISHRA
Sathyamangalam: Lying still on
the road outside his house at
Puduthotti, 80-year-old Bomman,
wrapped in a blanket, could scare
the life out of any bystander. His
daughter
and
son-in-law
Ramaswamy say the old man was
diagnosed with tuberculosis and
was running high temperature but
the nearest hospital is 6-7 km away
and the only way to go there is on
foot.
The condition of roads and
transport availability in other
villages around Sathyamangalam
are no better. Villagers of
Thengumarahada complain that
there are only three bus trips for
them. To take the 2 p.m. trip,
towards Coimbatore, they have to
wade through the Moyar river or
ride a boat. For the villagers, the
nearest place to reach by bus is
Bhavanisagar, a 25-km rocky trail
which takes 3 hours.
About travel in the rainy season,
the less said the better. Residents
will have no stocks of rations and
get locked up in the village, with
the swollen Moyar posing a threat.
However, for schoolchildren, the
government, under the Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan, has arranged
jeeps to pick them up within a 10km radius of their schools.
Explaining the procedure for
road
construction,
Block
Development Officer A. Sundaram
said the request for the facility
would be made by villagers before
a committee, which would inform
the panchayat of it. The panchayat
would forward the request to the
Forest Department. “The main
roads connecting villages are built
by panchayats but within the forest
settlements roads cannot be built
without its permission.”
But there is another side to the
story. Divisional Forest Officer, K.
Rajkumar said, “Road construction
has not been undertaken in the
Moyar River valley, a junction of
the Eastern and Western Ghats, for
two reasons. Firstly, to avoid
disturbing
biodiversity
and
secondly, the road being an interState road, connecting Tamil Nadu
to Karnataka and Kerala, it would
require a high level, inter-State
discussion.”
Sathyamangalam: Toilets at
Thadasalahatti are anything but
that. Though all 35 houses in the
village have the facility, no one
uses it.
“We have never used indoor
toilets. We prefer to relieve
ourselves in the forest,” said
resident Chithra, pointing to the
toilet area in her house which she
now uses as a kitchen after
removing the sink.
Some of the reasons for open
defecation in this area are lack of
awareness, shortage of water and
poor maintenance of toilets.
A report released by the World
Health Organisation (WHO) on
November 19, 2014, said a
staggering 597 million people, who
account for 47 % of the population
in India, practised open defecation.
According to the 2011 census,
around 46% of Tamil Nadu’s
population relieves itself in the
open.
“Unlike urban areas, we do not
have attached taps in our toilets.
Fetching water from the public tap
every time to use the toilet becomes
a task,” says Balan, a resident of
Bejalatti.
K.V. Pradeepkumar, Project
Manager of SNEHA, an NGO
here, says: “Bad odour emanates
from toilets due to lack of proper
maintenance. The stench will be
unbearable as most of the tribals
live in 10X16-foot houses.”
Open defecation results in
tuberculosis and diarrhoea as the
villagers, walking barefoot, step on
faeces, and there is also spread of
air-borne diseases says Lakshmi, a
staff nurse at the Hassanur Primary
Health Centre.
Another hazard is animal attack.
“Four months ago a driver was
mauled by leopard as he was
relieving himself in the open at
night,” Pradeepkumar said.
As per the Central government’s
drive to eliminate open defecation
by 2019, the Hassanur Panchayat
has been directed to build a toilet in
every house under the rural
infrastructure scheme. A sum of Rs.
10,000 will be allotted for
construction of each toilet and of
that, Rs. 2,500 will be credited to
the MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme) account of the
house-owner who has to work
Sathyamangalam: Walk down the rugged
roads of Puduthotti, you will see locked
houses on a stretch. Once a vibrant village, it
has almost become a ghost settlement. The
scene is no different in other villages dotting
the hillsides of the Sathyamangalam tiger
reserve.
“At present, there are only ten families
staying in this village. Most of the men go to
work in the factories and women choose to
become flower sellers at Sathyamangalam
town,” says Sridevi, a resident of Puduthotti.
“There are no proper hospitals or
healthcare centres. The nearest hospital is at
Hassanur which is nearly six kilometers
away. There is not even a school here,” she
complains.
Pointing out that job opportunities were
also poor in the village, Divisional Forest
Officer K. Rajkumar indicated that mostly
youth tended to migrate.
“They get better job offers in the nearby
districts of Erode, Salem and Coimbatore.
There are several factories in these places
that provide a lot of job opportunities. These
jobs do not demand many skills and also
provide a handsome pay,” he said.
“Children will have to move to other cities
if they want to pursue graduation. Youngsters
prefer to work in cities and do not show
much interest in rural occupations,” said
Tumbi, who resides at Geddesal. In fact, his
son, Kalamandan, has shifted to Erode to
during the construction. The
remainder will be given to him by
cheque once the work is completed.
However, Hassanur Panchayat
Union Secretary K. Gopal says
construction cost is a concern.
“Due to transportation problems
people end up spending double the
actual cost of materials,” he said.
“But costs can be brought down
with some adjustments like using
hollow bricks instead of the usual
ones.”
Activists
criticise
the
government’s move as flawed.
“Why can’t the government build
toilets for free?”asks Karuppusamy,
Director of READ, an NGO based
in Erode. “Even if they build the
toilet, what’s the guarantee that
people will use it? You can’t
eradicate an age-old practice at one
stroke,” he argues.
“The government should hire
dedicated staff to go from door to
door and convince people about the
benefits of using toilets. It should
also take punitive action against
those who continue to defecate in
the open,” Karuppusamy insisted.
Funds crunch, vacant medical posts ail PHCs
SHAMBHAVI PRAKASH
Sathyamangalam: Apart from staff nurse
Lakshmi, who is on deputation, and the Medical
Officer, there is no staff posted to the Primary
Health Centre (PHC) at Hassanur. Though the
facility was upgraded from a health sub-centre
and declared a PHC on June 25 last year,
authorization of funds has been delayed.
Block Medical Officer (BMO) Dr. Dharshan
said, “Refusal to release sufficient funds for
healthcare in vulnerable tribal areas has been the
reason for several infant deaths in the region.”
“Releasing funds will help such units buy
essential medicines which are currently being
bought by diverting development funds,” he
remarked.
With no residence provided nearby, the
medical officer of the Hassanur PHC has to
travel all the way from Erode every day. It is
open till 4 p.m. and provides only out-patient
service, and thereafter the doctor is available
only on call. In any emergency, a patient has to
go to the nearest health centre at Talavadi, 24 km
away.
Access to quality medical care is still highly
limited or unavailable in most of the other
villages. No emergency or high risk cases could
be dealt with in the PHCs and only general
The PHC at Hasanur is still being run from the
old HSC building. Photo: Shambhavi Prakash
physicians are available there, villagers
complain. Travelling long distances is a problem
especially for inhabitants of remote villages.
An Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA)
in Erode district said: “Well equipped child
delivery facilities for women are available only
in hospitals far away at Talavadi and
Sathyamangalam.” This is a problem for
pregnant women “due to labour-induced risks.”
Their working on fields over long hours in a
standing position involves a higher degree of
risk, she says.
Sathyamangalam Block Development Officer
A N U P H I L L TA S K
Maramma (73) from Sathyamangalam, makes a gruelling two-hour bus
journey everyday to Geddesal, a village atop the hills. There, she sells
brinjals, tomatoes, dried fish, onions and bananas. The doctors say she is
physically unfit for such strenuous travel. “I live alone and this is the only
way I can manage to earn a living. One just can’t quit like that!” she quips
as she goes back to work. Photo: Anandi Mishra
work in a textile factory.
Lakshmi of Itarrai said her son preferred
to work anywhere outside the village. He is
an auto driver at Sathyamangalam town and
earns Rs. 8,000 a month.
Interestingly, people who preferred to
A house, not a home anymore. One of the many abandoned at Puduthotti. Photo: Anandi Mishra
leave the village chose to leave their families
behind. As for women, they marry men from
other villages.
“The villagers do not migrate as a whole
community since it requires a minimum of
30 years to resettle,” said Block
Development Officer A. Sundaram.
Refuting the villagers’ claim that they were
compelled
to
relocate
after
the
Sathyamangalam Forest Reserve was
transformed into a wildlife sanctuary in 2008,
the DFO said that as part of a ‘Golden
Handshake’, relocation was voluntary and
the residents were given the option of
accepting either Rs. 10 lakh in cash or
receiving housing, land and bank deposits.
“We prefer to receive monetary
compensation. Long procedures and
formalities make it difficult for us to procure
land. We choose to avoid unnecessary
hassles,”
said
Maduraiveeran
of
Thengumarahada, an isolated village in the
middle of the forest.
Another villager, Mani, said that despite
the rich plantations of Thengumarahada, the
region was not witnessing much growth.
“The plantations are no longer a source of
income,” he said explaining why people are
looking for pastures new.
A. Sundaram said, “Village Health Nurses
(VHNs) have been appointed by medical
officers at Dhimbam and Kottadai and they will
soon will be appointed in other villages too.”
The VHNs ensure that polio vaccination reaches
every inhabitant, anganwadis function
efficiently, and immunization is carried out, he
said.
Nurse Lakshmi says there is an ASHA
attached to each PHC who helps to bring
villagers from nearby tribal settlements for antenatal checkups on Tuesdays and for vaccination
on Wednesdays.
ASHAs also play a role in building
confidence in allopathic medicine among
reclusive tribals who even today are hesitant to
approach health centers.
“Tribals are healthier than the urban
population,” says K. V. Pradeepkumar, who
works for SNEHA, a NGO. They, however,
would not reveal the names of medicinal plants
and methods of treatment to outsiders, he says.
“But in recent years, it is has been noticed that
the practice of traditional medication is dying.
One of the reasons is migration of the younger
generation to cities.”
For its part, the Tamil Nadu Forest
Department has taken measures to conserve and
develop medicinal plants.
A veteran wakes
farmers up to
organic farming
ANANDI MISHRA
Exodus in search of jobs, amenities
ERUM KHALED
A toilet remodelled as a store house in Thadasalahatti. Photo: Sundar S
Sathyamangalam: Sathyamangalam has a pioneer and teacher in organic
farming who learnt his lesson after using chemical inputs in agriculture
for two decades.
Belonging to a traditional agricultural family, S.R. Sundararaman, now
in his 70s, had to sell parts of his ancestral land due to drought and “poor
decisions” like sinking borewells and using chemical fertilizers. However,
he has now become a successful and respected practitioner of organic
farming, thanks to his study of natural systems, crop cycles, pests, diseases
and weed cycles, besides experimenting with possible solutions.
He helps farmers in and around Sathyamangalam achieve bumper
yields, suggesting irrigation techniques and solving their problems in soil
management, and pest and weed management.
Sundararaman has worked with other farmers to create microorganismenriched mixtures (MEM). He makes all his recipes freely available to
them. While he practises multicropping, growing grain and vegetables,
Sundararaman has expertise in sugarcane, paddy, turmeric and banana
cultivation also.
It was in 1985 that he converted
Having learnt his
to organic farming, following the
lesson the hard way,
principles of Shripad Dabholkar.
Sundararaman stresses using the
Sundararaman is now
facilities available on the farm itself
helping villagers
and doing away with “funds,
understand
the merits
finances, and chemicals like
fertilizers and pesticides.”
of organic farming
He says, “Multiseed variety
plants prevent growth of weed and
the plucked plants turn into biomass, thus enriching the soil’s carbon
content.”
It is vital for farmers to cultivate self-reliance, he says. “Rearing cows,
buffaloes, goats and using their urine, dung and milk as manure; following
crop rotation; and making ideal use of inputs like farm waste and
vermicompost will do just that.”
Another votary of organic farming is Raman, from Ittarai, associated
with a non-governmental organisation, PALM 2 (Participatory Action and
Learning Methodologies).
He says fertilizers like urea, Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP), Complex
Fertilizers, sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid and aluminium fluoride “cause
the soil to lose its fertility and compel us to use these again in the next
agricultural year.” On the contrary, use of dung, compost and vegetable
fertilizers “will never go waste; even if they don’t work this year, they will
nourish the soil for the next year.”
On the harmful effects of chemical fertilizers on the human body,
Raman says, “The next generation will be weaker than ours, having
consumed so much more chemicals. Farmers are realising this and are
slowly waking up to the need to shift to organic farming.”
30 I SATHYAMANGALAM
They raise crops, for wild animals to feast on
VINAYAKK M
Sathyamangalam: Apart from
being a sanctuary for tigers and
leopards, the Sathyamangalam
Tiger Reserve is home to wild
boars, elephants, hyenas, deers and
bears. While outsiders can admire
the rich diversity in wildlife,
farmers in nearby hamlets are at the
mercy of the beasts which ravage
their crops.
a
resident
of
Prakash,
Thadasalahatti, says farmers here
raise maize, ragi and beans every
year knowing fully well that
elephants and boars would feed on
these crops.
“Whatever the animals leave us,
we use for our consumption and
sell the rest. We are accustomed to
this now.” To make matters worse,
he said, maize harvest on his land
this time was down by almost 100
kg compared to last year, while ragi
was barely enough to be re-used as
seeds for the next season.
Lakshmanan, another farmer in
the hamlet, said he had lost about
15 sacks of maize and five sacks of
ragi as wild boars went on the
rampage on his lands. “We put up
fences around one section of our
hamlet from our own savings, but
they do not help in keeping off wild
boars”, he said explaining that the
Forest Department provided help
only with the construction of fences
but no funding was provided.
Neelagiri, head of the village
committee, said farmers in his
hamlet had not received any
compensation from the department
for crop damage.
“We
were
promised
a
compensation of half the price of
damaged produce by forest
officials, but nothing has been done
for months now,” he said. Nor was
any action taken on putting up new
fencing and digging trenches
surrounding the hamlet according
to Neelagiri.
K. Gopal, Hassanur Panchayat
Union Secretary, says some
farmers now get Rs 2000-3000 an
acre from the Revenue Department
under drought relief for the crop
damage caused by wild animals but
that is not enough.
This harvest of maize, says farmer Prakash of Thadasalahatti, is much less than last year’s yield. But he is lucky
that he can save it from elephants and wild boars. Photo: Vinayakk M
K. Rajkumar, Divisional Forest
Officer, said that close to Rs 42
lakhs was allotted to the Forest
Department this year just for
providing compensation to farmers
and tribal forest dwellers. “For loss
of crops, the compensation will be
Rs. 25,000 per acre of land
damaged,” he said, adding the
department was aware of the
hardship faced by landowners in
getting timely monetary help.
On measures to stop animal
attacks, Rajkumar said electrical
fencing was provided in regions
identified as high priority zones but
the fences were poorly maintained
by the villagers and hence did not
last long.
“We have also done trenching
around some villages, but these are
even more expensive and the
animals have found ways to close
the trenches with sand and enter the
villages,” he added.
Farmers at Gulithuraipatti, a
village at the foothills, have taken
a few practical measures on their
own to reduce the impact of animal
attacks. This is possible as their
hamlet is one of the few places to
have a planned irrigation system.
They raise brinjal, onion, tomato
and green chillies, which are less
prone to elephant attacks, when
their land is not being used for
contract farming of flowers.
“At the end of the day, while the
elephants don’t have a taste for
these, they are still eaten up by wild
boars,” said Chellaiah, a farmer
there, admitting that human beings
are guests living in a forest which,
first and foremost, is home to wild
animals.
‘Our cattle is not safe either’ Bird of prey falling prey
to poisoning in hills
ERUM KHALED
Sathyamangalam: The tiger
reserve in Sathyamangalam is
home to a large variety of flora and
fauna including leopard, black
buck, tiger, elephants, deer and
bison. The latest to join the wildlife
brigade is the vulture.
Vultures were first sighted in the
hills in 2008, as was reported in an
article in The Hindu
Since then their population in the
area had seen a steady rise, which
naturalists believe was due to easy
availability of food. Nephron
vultures, believed to have been
extinct in Tamil Nadu, were one of
Cattle venture into forests for grazing only at their own peril. Photo: Aishwarya Iyer
SHAMBHAVI PRAKASH
Sathyamangalam: It is a double
whammy for farmers here. For,
wild animals are not only ravaging
crops but also fatally attacking
cattle, an important source of their
income.
“No modern farming technique
or machinery can replace cattle’s
role in our livelihoods,” said Mani,
an agricultural worker.
However, farmers say the
problem is so grave that they are
left with no choice other than
disposing of their cows for a decent
price as chances of their escaping
tiger or leopard attacks are slim.
Udaya Shankar, a landowner at
Puduthotti, has lost six cows in the
past year to animal attacks. “As
recently as 10 years ago, I owned
120 cows and 80 goats. Now all I
have left are 6 cows,” he said
explaining that owning cattle is not
an attractive proposition anymore
as he cannot take the animals into
the forest for grazing.
Prakash,
a
farmer
at
Thadasalahatti, says there used to
be a time when he would let the
cattle loose inside the forest land
and they would return by
themselves in the evening. “Now
my parents go with the cattle to
make sure they don’t venture deep
into the forests,” he said.
If they get killed while grazing,
getting a photograph of the carcass
is very difficult too. This
complicates the procedure for
obtaining compensation, rues
Prakash.
K. Rajkumar, Divisional Forest
Officer (DFO), said: “Grazing
cattle is legally not allowed but it is
an important part of farmers’
livelihood therefore we don’t
restrict their movement in the
forest. But the farmers themselves
understand the danger of animal
attacks.”
B. Krishnakumar, a wildlife
conservation activist, has been
personally compensating villagers
for their cattle loss. He blames the
government for not providing
adequate compensation to farmers
who, he says, are hesitant to
approach forest officials because of
a procedure that could take 3-4
months.
However, Rajkumar says, “No
lengthy procedure such as post
mortem is involved. An amount of
Rs. 10,000 is given as
compensation on the farmer
showing a document of ownership
of the dead animal and a photo.”
the three species spotted there, the
others being white-backedand King
vultures.
However, recently an increase in
the number of vulture deaths has
been reported in the hills, due to
cattle poisoning. Farmers use the
drug diclofenac as a painkiller for
cattle. When vultures feed on cattle
carcass, they succumb to the
poisoning, says Divisional Forest
Officer K. Rajkumar.
“Vultures are an endangered
species that is especially found in
this region. It has become our main
concern to save them,” the DFO
said.
He added that tigers, mongooses
and wild dogs were also falling
victim to cattle poisoning.
It is a risky existence for vultures in
the Tiger reserve. Photo courtesy:
conservationindia.org
Kids keep
wild pigs at
bay
VINAYAKK M
Sathyamangalam: Four charming
little kids in Ittarai, a remote hamlet
in the hills of Sathyamangalam
were seen playing with their dog
inside a small hut that overlooks
two acres of land belonging to their
tribal parents. Priyadarshini, an 8year old studying in 2nd standard,
said with a proud smile: “We have
named him Dog because that’s
what our English book says.”
Speaking about the purpose of
this hut that is closed at the back
and open at the front, Sanjay, a
class I kid, said: “Our fathers built
this hut to chase away wild pigs at
night.” The villagers take turns to
stay in here during nights with a
small fire lit-lamp to keep watch
over the crops and scare away wild
beasts.
Vasundhara , a class 3 student,
said: “My father got us the two
balloons, yellow and green. We put
them up here because they are
bright and our mothers said this
will keep the pigs away.”
The four children — the other
being Hariharasudhan (class 1) —
study in the government school at
Hassanur and spend most of their
day together, right from taking the
morning bus, which Vasundhara
says is a “rocky but fun-filled 30
minute ride”.
“Our dream is to study up to
12th standard and then help our
parents with farming,” says
Priyadarshini.
Her
mother,
Nagamma, said she would not the
repeat the mistake her parents
committed and would make sure
that Priyadarshini and her friends
did not drop out. She said the
parents of all 8 kids in the village
are particular about providing their
children with basic education.
As we walked away from the
village, Vasundhara lifted Dog in
her hands and told him, “Say ‘Tata’
to Anna and Akka” and went back
to the hut with her friends, to do her
bit to help her parents out.
The vanishing honey hunters of the Irula tribe
NIRUPAMA V
Sathyamangalam: Under the dark sky, when
villagers have withdrawn into their shelters
and creatures of the wild are out on the prowl,
Jadayan leaves home with a fire torch, his
body wrapped in a jute sack and face covered
with a cloth. He is accompanied by a small
group of other Irula men as he ventures into
the forest, in search of beehives.
Jadayan, in his forties, is one of the few men
Irulas who still practice the traditional art of
honey hunting. His family has been involved
in extraction of honey from trees and rocks for
many generations.
During one month a year, he goes out at
night to collect honey. In one beehive, there is
about five litres of honey. He sells it through
the Village Forest Committee (VFC), at Rs.150
per Kg.
“It needs skill. Not anybody can do it. There
are about ten of us who do this at Geddesal,”
says the man who lives there with his wife and
three daughters.
“We get bitten by bees. Not one or two, but
hundreds,” he says, and shows his hands,
which have faded marks of sting. But Jadayan
does not treat his injury. “It just goes away.
We’re used to it,” he says proudly.
Most villages are unable to tap this potential
source of income because they have lost the
knowledge of honey extraction with the
previous generation.
At nearby Bejalatti, the village chief,
pointing to shining dark patches on rocks in the
hills, said they were all honeycombs. “The
only two people who knew how to extract
honey from these rocks passed away last year.”
He listed the different types of honey as
malaithen, adukkuthen, kombuthen and
kosuthen. “They have a very high medicinal
value.”
Sivaraj, a resident of the tribal settlement of
Gulithuraipatti, said: “Ten years ago, our
village had people who used to venture into
honey extraction, but now that they’re dead,
it’s gone with them. Nobody wants to learn it
because it is very risky.”
The honey hunters carry long leaves and
twigs that they burn to emit smoke and scatter
the bees. They use rope ladders made by their
own hands, to hang from cliffs and scrape off
honey from the crevices.
Though collecting honey from trees still
continues, extraction from rocks is as good as
dead. With the youngsters of tribal villages
being educated, the tendency is to move away
from their traditional occupation, towards
cities, in search of new occupations.
There have been some efforts by the Forest
department and some NGOs, to train the
people in safer alternate methods of collecting
honey.
Divisional Forest Officer K. Rajkumar said
that his Department made an effort to train the
tribals in beekeeping, providing artificial
beehives. But, maintaining them was too much
effort for the people and the department’s
effort went waste.
A man on a mission to compensate farmers and save tigers
SHAMBHAVI PRAKASH
In the last decade, compensating villagers for
cattle loss due to tiger attacks has been taken up
by a conservation activist, B. Krishnakumar, a resident of Hassanur. He runs a small holiday resort,
a roadside restaurant and also owns a plantation at
Hassanur, all of which help him raise funds.
His father was a licensed hunter, he’s now a
passionate wildlife conservationist. Here are
excerpts from an interview.
Your policy of monetary compensation to
farmers whose cattle are preyed on is a project
as much in favour of the tiller as the tiger. How
did you get involved with tiger conservation?
It was my passion for conserving tigers that led
me to settle here permanently after selling my
textile business in Coimbatore. My father was a
licensed game hunter. In 1972, the government
issued him a game license and in the process he
bought an agricultural farm at Dhimbam which
today brings me some money and helps raise funds.
What made you realize the need to
compensate villagers? Did you receive any aid
from any agency or individuals? On what basis
did you fix compensation?
It was only 6 months after my arrival that
farmers approached me for compensation. For a
long time, I used funds from my pocket. Recently,
however, ACME Round Table, an organization
months for which the villager cannot afford to wait.
I think the government is providing inadequate or
no compensation to villagers for loss of cattle or
crops in attacks by wild animals, its excuse being
they encroached on forests which is illegal.
based in Coimbatore, started helping me to a
certain extent after learning about my initiatives.
Even WWF expressed its willingness to support
me during a financial crunch last month. Sunita, an
activist, is also a working partner who started
compensating farmers for cattle killings in
Bandipur five years ago and has given funds for
more than 600 killings so far. In the past 9 months
I have compensated farmers for more than 480
killings. For a country cow I give Rs.3,000-3,500
and in case of valuable cattle like ox or buffalo, I
give a maximum of Rs.6,000.
How do you document this process of
compensation?
I just maintain a record, with a photograph, of
the villager’s name, the place where the killing
happened and the amount paid. To ensure that the
carcass is not poisoned by the villager after he has
been compensated, a camera is placed at the site of
killing to capture subsequent events. One person
was arrested recently for poisoning the carcass
after the death of an animal, the whole event
having been recorded on camera. What he did is
illegal.
What is your opinion about the government’s
role in this matter? Is the government properly
fulfilling its responsibility to compensate
farmers?
The government does not yet compensate
farmers despite promises, not due to a lack of
A compassionate conservationist. Krishnakumar
has been compensating farmers for the loss of
their cattle for about 10 years. Photo: Nirupama V
funds, but because of the long and complex
procedure involved. For example, when a villager
complains about his cow being killed by a tiger,
leopard or wild dog, then he has to prove that the
slain animal belonged to him and the village
administrator has to endorse his claim. Then
follows post mortem wherein a doctor has to
examine the carcass in a dense forest in order to
complete the report. This procedure takes 3-6
As emphasized by the government, don’t you
think poaching also needs stringent laws to be
tackled?
Poisoning of cats by farmers not only goes
unaccounted for and unnoticed but also disturbs the
ecological balance as the scavengers feed upon the
poisoned carcass. Vultures, mongooses and hyenas
die due to this. But no immediate steps are taken by
the Forest Department even after I present them
evidence. The government’s notion of an increase
in poaching cases is completely wrong. To avenge
the death of their cattle, farmers often poison the
carcass so that the tigers will also die when they
return to feed on it. Timely compensation is one of
the major ways of dissuading farmers and tribal
people from poisoning tigers.
How cooperative has the Forest Department
been in facilitating compensation?
Without looking at the slain cow, I do not
compensate, but Talamalai forest officers restrict
me from doing the inspection. Otherwise, in recent
times the department has cooperated well and
recognized my work. I have received one letter of
appreciation from them saying I have been
responsible for saving the lives of 20 tigers. I think
they should let me do my work.
Could you shed some light on the nature and
gravity of man-animal conflict in the region?
It has existed since independence and is not a
new problem. Around 30 years ago, the conflict
was not as serious as it has now become. During
those days everyone carried a licensed shot-gun in
order to protect crops. They also had equipment for
firing rubber bullets at wild pigs and elephants
which without causing harm, prevented them from
going closer to human habitations or destroying the
harvest. Later, these licenses were withdrawn.
These animals have also got used to human smell
and are no more scared of us.
Apart from compensation, are there
alternative ways of stopping poisoning of cats?
Grazing in the forest has to be stopped but the
2006 Tribal Act gives tribals permission to graze
their cattle. The government does not stop them as
the tribals might resist this move and it will lose
their vote.
Has there been a rise or fall in the population
of wild animals over the years?
This is interesting because the cat population in
the Sathyamgalam area increased only during the
14-year period of Veerappan (forest bandit). His
focus was only on elephants and sandalwood but,
fearing him, no other poacher went inside the
forests.
SATHYAMANGALAM I 31
‘
RESERVATIONS ABOUT THE RESERVE
2008:
2013:
2011:
Declared a
wildlife
sanctuary
Declared
a Tiger
Reserve
Sanctuary
area
expanded
’
“It is alright for humans and animals to co-exist as long
as the human population does not increase. And ideally,
there shouldn’t be any fresh encroachment on the tiger
territory by people. Proper compensation to villagers will
surely help attain a balance, and find a midway.”
The Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary, since converted into a Tiger
Reserve, is a significant wildlife corridor situated along the Western Ghats.
In 2008, Sathyamangalam was declared a wildlife sanctuary and in 2013,
- B. Krishna Kumar, conservation activist
a Tiger Reserve. For the longest time, the area was only a reserve forest
and this meant roads, revenue villages, agricultural fields and a lot of
human activity. Local tribes were allowed to collect non-timber forest produce like firewood, certain types of foods, medicinal plants and honey
from the forest. However, after it was declared a Tiger Reserve, the rules have changed. The Forest Department hopes to minimise human activity in
the forest area. This means controlling traffic, restricting movement into the forest for villagers and their cattle. On the other hand, it will bring
increased revenue to the department to conserve the rich wildlife and provide for the villagers as well.
How has this impacted the area? There are different opinions.
‘
This has done us more harm than good. We can’t take
our cattle grazing anymore. Forest guards stop us from
freely moving in the forests. This prevents us from getting
firewood, eecham, gooseberry, honey, all of which provide
for our livelihood. We have no intention of stealing from the
forests. If we wanted to, we’d be paying the forest officials’
salaries by now.
’
- M Balan, tribal activist, Bejalatti
‘
“It is just the mindset of the people to assume there are
more restrictions after it was declared a tiger reserve.
Nothing much has changed. In fact, for the first time, we have
done a complete stretch survey and provided land holdings.
We just insist on a few things like immunisation of cattle and
reporting animal attacks. Even grazing cattle inside forests,
being considered their traditional right, has been allowed,
though it’s not legally permissible.”
- K Rajkumar, Divisional Forest Officer
Thengumarahada: Fortune no longer smiles
on
Thengumarahada.
After
the
Sathyamangalam forest was recently declared
as a protected tiger reserve, all tourism activity
has stopped. G. Sundari, who once had a
flourishing tea stall, now earns just Rs 1000 –
Rs 2000 a month, her customers restricted to
the villagers.
“I have reduced the price of tea to Rs 5 as
villagers will not spend anything more than
that,” she says, whereas if she goes to
Bhavanisagar, the closest town, she herself
will have to pay Rs.10. The other shops in the
village, about 10, have met with the same fate.
Thengumarahada, being located in the
middle of the forest, does not even see people
from any other village come in. “People don’t
even want their daughters to get married
here,” says Krishna, a resident.
Sundari says, “The next generation has
Forest officials,
NGOs cross swords
SUNDAR S
Sathyamangalam:
The
Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve is
known for man-animal conflict.
Also at loggerheads are the Forest
Department
and
nongovernmental organisations, both
of whom claim to work for
villagers there.
Divisional Forest Officer K.
Rajkumar says the Department
plays a crucial role in the lives of
residents of 54 villages in the
reserve, regulating their access to
forest resources, providing them
employment and protection from
wildlife.
Over the years, the Department
has reached out to people with
various initiatives including
training in processing forest
produce, training in soft skills and
driving.
Says Rajkumar: “The Forest
Department is usually seen in a
negative light. People think that
we harass the tribals. But, in truth,
we do our best to maintain
harmony with them. We can’t
function without the cooperation
of the residents in the forest. They
need to trust us.”
He accuses NGOs, working at
“two extremes,” of creating
tensions among villagers.
“The Nilgiri-SathyamangalamCoimbatore belt is an epicenter of
NGOs flush with foreign funds;
these guys have to make some
noise to please their foreign
donors,” he alleged.
Claiming that there are two
groups of NGOs, one with a
conservation agenda and the other
which
is
people-oriented,
Rajkumar said. “If we build a
small road, the pro-conservation
NGOs will be up in arms, accusing
us of harming the environment.
Whereas the pro-people NGOs
will take up the issue of lack of
proper roads in some remote
village where we can’t do
anything,” he alleges. The
“reckless activism” of these
organisations often creates a rift
between residents and the
Department, says Rajkumar.
However, the NGOs dismiss the
allegations. “We are just fighting
for the genuine rights of the tribals
guaranteed under the law. We
practise responsible activism, not
reckless activism as it is made out
to be,” said Karuppusamy,
Director of the Rights Education
and Development (READ), an
NGO working in two tribal
villages in Sathyamangalam.
Kalidasan, President of Osai,
working
for
environmental
protection, says the NGOs just
want forest officials to follow the
law in letter and in spirit. “We are
not against any development in the
reserve, we just want to ensure that
Wildlife and Forest Protection
laws are properly enforced.”
ANANDI MISHRA
Sathyamangalam:
The
Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve is
a crucial wildlife corridor for
animals moving between the
Western and Eastern Ghats in the
Nilgiri Biosphere. However,
tourism infrastructure is nonexistent in the Sathyamangalam
Reserve
and
the
Forest
Department here is working on it
as a priority.
People still come in from
Coimbatore and drive through the
forest. But this is not the way the
department wants it to be, says
Divisional
Forest
Officer,
K. Rajkumar.
The department has plans for
introducing controlled tourism.
“We need to identify tourist
zones. A proposal to spend Rs.10
crore on the uplift of the tourism
industry in the area has been sent
to the government.
It includes plans for organized
trekking, vehicle safari and
staying facilities,” says Rajkumar.
Popular
reserves
like
Uttarakhand’s Jim Corbett
National Park and Assam’s
Kaziranga Wildlife Reserve set a
model for the Sathyamangalam
Tiger Reserve to follow.
Though the main focus of these
parks is protection of wildlife, the
management has encouraged ecotourism.
Irulas in the front line of defence
No man’s land: Thengumarahada
ERUM KHALED
’
Controlled
tourism
NIRUPAMA V
Photo: Aishwarya Iyer
nothing to look to in the village.” Her three
sons now work in various cities in Tamil
Nadu.
This, along with animal attacks threatening
their crops, cattle and their own lives, has
made the village almost inhabitable.
Residents, having lost hopes for a better
future, have opted to vacate the village.
Divisional Forest Officer K. Rajkumar said
that each family would be paid Rs.10 lakhs as
compensation.
Sathyamangalam: A skinny man clad in an old, dusty
uniform and with a cotton towel around the neck stands
alone on a treacherous trail within the Bhavanisagar
Range, which is home to the chital, black buck,
elephants and wild boars.
A resident of Gulithuraipatti, a small hamlet where
18 families of the Irula tribe live, Sivaraj (37) has been
working for the Forest Department as an Anti-Poaching
Watcher (APW) for the last nine years. He gets paid
Rs. 6,000 per month.
His duty is to patrol forests and inform the Forest
Department of suspicious outsider activity, stop
poaching attempts and report to it about other wildlife
movement, animal sickness and death. Four other men
from his village also work as APWs.
Forest officials hire young men from tribal
communities who have a good knowledge of the forest
and surviving skills, to assist them in the protection of
wildlife, and recently, in the protection of humans from
animal attacks. They are the frontline staff of the
Department.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) K. Rajkumar said,
“The lowest dimension of a forest area is a beat, which
is usually 2000 to 3000 hectares and there are one
forest guard and one forest watcher to look after this
area. This is insufficient.”
To overcome this, the Department now has 25 antipoaching camps in the region, with six watchers per
camp. They have designated trekking routes and their
job includes GPS-tracking of animal movements and
outsider movements.
“We check the functioning of the tracking cameras
installed by the department and download the footage
from them on a timely basis,” said a group of APWs
near the Dhimbam Ghat Forest Division, which has
seen a high number of leopard attacks recently.
Of the 150 watchers, 85 are tribals. “We give
preference to tribal youth because they have a good
knowledge of the terrain and animal behavior,” the
DFO said.
Until recently, the APWs were paid meager wages.
The State Forest Minister enhanced the monthly salary
to the present amount in April 2013.
They were all “casually” employed and could be
sent out anytime. But after the April 2014 Madras High
Court direction, the government regularized the
services of APWs who have put in more than 10 years.
Though they occasionally undergo training, the
watchers still lack proper protective gear or weapons to
defend themselves in danger. Nor do they get insurance
cover.
However, for tribal men who have no scope for
income other than agriculture, these jobs are a godsend
as they get to use their traditional knowledge and skills
to earn a monthly salary.
“I like this job. I feel that I am doing a good thing,
protecting wildlife and being of help to others,” said a
smiling Sivaraj.
G R E A T E R C H E N N A I
From the heart, to the fringes of the city
LAKSHMI C
Kanchipuram: The Perumbakkam
housing project in Kanchipuram
district of Tamil Nadu has pushed
over 95000 slum dwellers to the
outskirts of the city. The tenements
constructed by the Tamil Nadu
Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB)
and funded by the Basic Services
for the Urban Poor (BSUP)
component of Jawaharlal Nehru
National Urban Renewal Mission
(JNNURM), has 23,864 units in
the eight storied building, which is
30 kms away from Chennai city.
The project’s beneficiaries are
the former residents of the
Perumbakkam slum, who made a
living through daily wage and
contract work in the city.
“It has been almost six years
since we moved into these flats. It
is difficult to send our kids to
schools in the city. There are no
good hospitals, in case of
emergency,” said Rahmat, a
resident from the Semenchery
tenement. According to her, most of
the women don’t go for work as it
is not safe to travel alone for such
long distances every day. They pay
around Rs 1000 per month on daily
transportation and close to Rs 500
for the private vans to reach
schools.
“Three months back, a three day
old infant died in the nearby
Government hospital. The nurse
had given an overdose of
vaccination but the infant’s mother
was blamed for its death. The
doctor offered her 60,000 rupees to
take the blame. This is the kind of
medical facilities available here,”
said Ruhi, an activist in the NGO
‘Thozhamai’ and a beneficiary of
the Perumbakkam project, who
now stays in the Semenchery
tenement.
According to her, diarrhoea,
malaria and viral fevers are
common among the residents. The
government hospital, which is
expected to function day and night,
has only two nurses are on duty at
night In place of four nurses and
four doctors.
The residents are not allowed to
use the land adjacent to the
Perumbakkam
tenements.
“According to the revenue report
2009, this land is considered dry
land (Tharissu Nilam), but in the
Chennai
Metropolitan
Developmental Authority (CMDA)
report 2010, the same land is noted
as Agricultural land when it is
actually a marsh...the land use
classification has been changed
according to the Government’s
convenience,” said Venessa Peter,
an independent policy researcher
who was also a member of the
Citizen’s Report team, which
addressed
the
flaws
and
irregularities in the Perumbakkam
housing project.
The Citizen’s report 2014 points
out how 77% of the Special
Component Plan (SCP) under the
JNNURM meant for improving
the living conditions, health,
education and development of the
marginalised, are used for the
ghettoization of the urban poor,
consisting of the scheduled castes
from the slums. Relocating them in
apartments of 300 square fee each
far from the city deprives them of
their livelihood and their children’s
educational opportunities.
The land on which the
Perumbakkam construction stands
belongs to the Government. The
residents will not have ownership
or ‘patta’ on the land.
“All the middle class people
who own apartments are given
UDC, which is the ownership of
the land where they live. But, the
residents of these tenements do not
have any ownership over their
land.”
This should be challenged as
they were evicted from their own
land to build these apartments” said
Venessa Peter. According to her,
there is no public consultation or
communication
with
the
beneficiaries of the housing policy.
Tenements in Perumbakka. Photo: Lakshmi C
Social Impact Assessment (SIA),
which according to the National
Rehabilitation and Resettlement
Policy (NRRP) 2007 is mandatory
for involuntary displacement of
four hundred or more people, was
not made for this project.
“They evicted us from our own
land, and now we have to pay Rs.
30,000 as advance, which is not
refundable, for the houses in
Perumbakkam. We have to pay an
additional monthly rent of Rs 750
for the next 20 years, to own a
house. Where do they expect us to
earn so much from, when we don’t
even have proper access to the city”
said M.Saravanan, a beneficiary of
the Perumbakkam project.
“Tamil Nadu doesn’t have a
proper housing policy yet. We
approached the media last year and
did a presentation to the slum
board. The promises then made by
the board were not kept. More
media advocacy is needed to
address these issues” said Venessa
Peter.
TIRUVALLUR
Forced into jobless seclusion
FACT FILE
SRUTHIN LAL
Total Area : 3,424 km2
Tiruvallur is located in
northern Tamil Nadu, with
Kanchipuram district to the
south, Vellore district to the
west, the Bay of Bengal to the
east and Andhra Pradesh to the
north.
POPULATION
Population: 3,725,697 (2011
census)
Population density: 1,098
per km2
OCCUPATION
Occupation: Agriculture paddy, groundnut, sugarcane
(engaged in by 47% of workforce); Heavy industries
PROBLEMS
Water shortage, sand mining,
bonded labour, unemployment, reduction of agriculture
Tiruvallur: A small, prison-like
room on the terrace of a four-storeyed building at Hariram Nagar
here is one of the “workplaces” of
the Special Service Team (SST) of
Comstar Automotive Technologies.
The members of this ‘specially devised’ team are secluded in such
rooms to do just one job: sit idle.
“It is mentally very disturbing,”
says P.T. Antony, an SST member.
“We come here every morning at
7:15 and leave at 4:45 in the evening, travelling at least 50-60 kms
to do nothing.. They watch us with
those cameras so that we are not
moving around,” he says.
Antony and his fellow SST
members have been targetted by
the management because they were
at the forefront of a labour stike
four years ago.
“We are given no water or any
other facilities. They have grouped
us in such a way that we have to
travel the farthest to reach these
places,” adds Antony.
Apart from Hariram Nagar, SST
members are sent to Maraimalai
Nagar, Thiruvanmaiyur and Manali
Putu Nagar.
Members claim that they were
told to either take voluntary retirement or to quit their jobs after suf-
Left: ’Jobless’ employees of an automotive unit outside their room at Hariram nagar where they are being secluded
on the terrace of building (Right). Photo: Sruthin Lal
fering constant harrassment.
The SST men have 10 to 15
years of experience in making
spare parts for cars on the production line. They earn around Rs.
20,000-25,000 a month.
The employees of the Comstar unit
at Chengalpattu in Kanchipuram
district actively participated in a
56-day-long strike in September
2011 demanding recognition of their
union and negotiations over a threeyear wage accord.
The compromise reached after
the strike, involving the labour department, labour union and the management, made it clear that no
disciplinary action would be taken
against the workers. However, the
company handpicked the active
members of the labour union and
deputed them to the SST. Those
who resisted were suspended and
were taken back only when they
agreed to be a part of the group.
Initially, SST members were
made to handle the maintenance of
the machines, as the management
replaced them in the production
line with contract labourers. Soon
after, they were ‘benched’ outside
the factory, where an employee was
bitten by a snake. When they demanded a safer workplace after the
incident, the management responded by sending them back to their
homes. They sat there, idle for
about two years.
“We were there as skilled and
experienced labourers. But the
company deliberately hired contract labourers and made them do
Paddy farmer Damodaran operates a combined harvester on Poondi road.
Photo: Sruthin Lal
T. Venugopal from Othappai vil- vernment, and people don’t want to
lage, who quit farming three years work for less.”
G.Subramaniam, a 60-year old
ago and opened a cement shop,
says, “I have leased out my lands to farmer from the village of Poondi,
other farmers as it is a huge pro- says, “Groundnut farming, once wiblem to get workers. I cannot dely practised here, is now declining
match the wages given by the go- as it requires intensive care and large
amount of manual labour.”
Eight-hour powercuts during the
day limit the scope for using machines in farming. Only machines that
run on diesel or batteries can be used.
The water table in Tiruvallur has
gone down from 20 to 150 ft. Sandmining and diversion of water to
Chennai add to the problems. Deep
borewells increase irrigation costs as
it takes more electricity to pump water
up from them.
Various alternatives like dairy
farming are preferred to paddy cultivation. They are seen as safer options for earning a living.
“I earn enough money to lead a
happy life by selling milk to various cooperatives, and it has provided me with an alternative to
toiling in the fields being unsure if
I could make profits every season”,
says V.Panchachalam, a cattle herder from Poondi village.
Real estate business, which has
invaded the district, is encouraging
farmers to turn to speculators who
who would pay huge amounts for
the in-land. “The land value in Tiruvallur has increased dramatically
over the last decade as it is close to
Chennai,” says S. Gopalakrishnan,
President of the Rotary Club of Tiruvallur. Many builders are constructing apartments due to potential
for huge profits,” he says.
He adds that people who have
worked hard for so long are reaping
benefits by selling their land and
retiring with the money they get.
our jobs,” says K.R. Manoharan,
who has 13 years of experience in
the company’s production-line.
In January 2014, the management called the members back.
They were instructed to come to
the factory and sign attendance
every day. This continued until November.
“Soon, they started demanding
that we opt for VRS,” says P. Dinesh,
another SST employee. “The HR
manager started threatening us,
saying he will force us out in any
manner,” he adds. When the members did not quit, the management
devised a new strategy, one of “jobless seclusion”.
“Most of us are older than 35
years,” says K. Manoharan. “No
company would hire us at this age.
We also think that the HR manager
would try to ensure that we don’t get
jobs anywhere else. Companies might
consider our participation in the strike
as a black mark,” he says.
Most of these employees are
from different parts of Tamil Nadu
and Kerala. They are married and
have children.
“I get a monthly salary of Rs.
25,000. I have loans of more than Rs.
15,000. I have children and parents to
take care of. If I lose this job, we will
all be in trouble,” Manoharan says.
According to the workers, the
management has given them very
few holidays. These too are given
without prior announcement. They
are also not allowed casual leaves.
Any leave leads to loss of pay.
Being late even for five minutes is
considered being absent, which
also leads to loss of pay.
A strict dress-code is enforced
through surprise inspections. A security camera ensures that they do
not leave the room. Violations are
dealt with suspension and pay loss.
The employees also complain that they
have not been given their salaries
in the last two months.
“Benching is prevalent in many
firms for efficiency purposes,” says
Nikhil Lohitakshan, an experienced
HR executive. “But this is a cruel
act which should be condemned,”
he says.
“It is a violation of the basic
human rights of these employees.
This might also violate various provisions of the law, including Factories Act and Industrial Disputes
Act,” says Suhrith Parthasarathy, a
lawyer in Chennai.
The SST employees challenged
their deputation before the Joint
Commissioner of Labour in December. They have also decided to
organise a general body of all the
workers to decide the future course
of action.
Farmers quit as occupational risks escalate Discrepancies
S.VISHNHU SAAYE
‘
Worrying trend of Eris drying up
SRUTHIN LAL
- N. Ravi,
Fisherman
POONDI
(3231)
In Tiruvallur, about 70 per cent of
the expenditure on the Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Programme this
year is on the renovation of traditional water bodies. The activities
undertaken include the desiltation
and cleaning of water bodies and
restoration of channels to the tanks.
An analysis of data on four
major Eris (bigger water tanks) in
the district shows that the water levels in these tanks have been declining over the last four years.
These tanks are a major source of
water supply to Chennai city, catering to demands from adjacent
areas in the district as well.
Data from the Chennai Metrowater Board shows an alarming
pattern of declining water levels,
both in the rainy seasons (OctDec), and the non-rainy seasons
between 2010-2014.
On the other hand, the Indian
Meteorological Department’s data
on rainfall in the district for this period shows that, though there have
been variations in rainfall over
Full storage capacity of each tank in million cubic feets is shown in brackets | SOURCE: Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board
(http://www.chennaimetrowater.tn.nic.in/reserve.asp)
sometimes even children in the
other households of Narayanapuram spend at least three to four
hours cooking on the aduppu (chullah) on a daily basis.
Most of them were even aware
that the fumes were not good for
their health. Yet, owing to financial
constraints, resistance to change
or even indifference, they have
stuck to the traditional aduppu.
“The smoke does not bother me
anymore. I have been using an
aduppu since I was eight years
old,” said Chellama, a 60-year-old
agricultural coolie who also works
under the National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (NREGA).
But this routine of exposing oneself to toxic fumes is concerning
because in India alone, 500,000
people die annually as a result of
Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) as reported by the ‘Enviro Fit Cook Stoves Organisation.’ The majority of
these victims are women and
young children and IAP-related diseases such as bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma are the culprits.
This applies for all the women
not just in Narayanapuram but the
neighbouring Ellappanaidu Pettai
as well. Twenty-one-year-old S.
Bharathi is among the few who has
studied until class 10. Currently an
agricultural coolie, she spoke of
coughs being a common ailment
among women. “They are so common that we do not take it seriously
anymore,” she said.
A. Rajamma, who could not figure out her age after trying various
calculations, did not agree with
Bharathi. “I’m an old woman. The
smoke affects me and I get a persistent cough very often. It takes a
toll on me,” she explained.
Dr. A Sharmila Devi, who works
’
I used to
catch four
times the
number of fish I
get today. Now
that the water
level has gone
down in the eris,
not enough fish is
there.
4000
these four years, rainfall in the district has not been lower than the annual average of 1,152.8 mm. This
reveals that the decline in the storage in these tanks cannot entirely
be attributed to variations in the
district’s rainfall.
A study conducted in 2010-11 on
the district by the Foundation for
Rural Recovery and Development,
New Delhi, showed that “the storage capacity of the Eris in the area
is vastly reduced due to siltation
and growth of weeds. Poor maintenance of irrigation channels has
also considerably reduced their efficiency.”
It also said that 67% of the households in the district depended on
these Eris for agriculture, while
53% depended on them for their livestock requirements.
This district is known for having
the most number of Eris in the
state. Constructed mainly during
the colonial period, they have served the area with water for irrigation, human consumption and
industrial purposes for centuries.
The Eris store rainwater, as the district receives the highest amount of
3000
Storage (mcft)
Poondi: Traditionally an agricultural district, Tiruvallur is fast
transforming into a swathe of barren lands and construction sites.
Farming is no longer held in high
regard due to the various problems farmers face in making it a
sustainable venture.
A major problem is the shortage
of labour. The younger generation
of workers seems to prefer jobs in
industries and factories as the
wages there are higher. The implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has
also increased the cost of labour,
say the local farmers.
2000
CHOLAVARAM
(881)
CHEMBARAMBAKKAM
(3645)
REDHILLS
(3300)
1000
0
20
10
20
11
rainfall in Tamil Nadu, and supply
water to Chennai during the nonrainy seasons. They also recharge
the district’s groundwater sources.
Development of infrastructure in the
district due to urbanisation, on the other
hand, is leading to encroachment into
these tanks. Many of them are being filled up for use as land. Even the headquarters of the Collectorate’s
Masterplan Complex in the district
was built after filling an Eri.
20
12
20
13
20
14
The government invokes the
Tamil Nadu Protection of Tanks
and Eviction of Encroachments
Act to evict encroachers in these
areas. However, K Rajendran,
District Secretary of CITU, said its
implementation was weak.
“Water is a big issue in the district, like anywhere in Tamil Nadu.
[But] the district does not have a
proper conservation plan,” said a
high ranked district official.
in MNREGA
SWATHY R IYER
‘’
Poondi: Many residents of Narayanapuram and Gandhigram villages here, have not received their
MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) job cards and some
complain of delay in payment of
wages.
Both villages are habitats of the
Irula tribe in Tamil Nadu. While
Narayanapuram has around six villagers who have not received their job
cards in spite of having registered,
Gandhigramam has around 40.
Poongavanam (65), a resident of
Narayanapuram said, “For those of
us who registered nearly five years
ago, the registration, issue of cards
and other processes went smoothly.
I work for six hours a day and the
money is deposited in my account,”
she said.
Her daughter-in-law, R.Geetha,
however, is among the seven people in the village who have not received their MNREGA cards. “It
has been four months since we registered but we are yet to receive
our MNREGA cards. The village
president, upon enquiry, tells us
that our applications are still being
processed.”
The villagers of Narayanapuram
here complain of the constant absence of Panchayat secretaries in
spite of having informed them.
Most villagers deal directly with
the Village President and not the
block level offices. Even after registration, the villagers do not get
any receipt which they could use to
demand job cards. Many of them
said that they have been waiting for
their MNREGA cards for months.
According to the category-wise
workers statistics published by the
Ministry of Rural Development,
while there are nearly five lakh registered workers, the number of active workers adds up to less than
four lakhs.
Another notable failure in the
implementation of the scheme lies
in the delay in the payment of
wages.
Uthamma (43), a resident of Narayanapuram village, has been working under the scheme for more
than three years. She said that she
had not received her wages for the
past year and keeps going to work
in fear of her previous work going
unacknowledged.
Even after
registration,
the villagers
do not get any
receipt which they
could use to
demand the job
cards.
“There are around 33,000 active
workers registered in the district.
There are some irregularities which
might occur at the Panchayat level.
These are sorted at the State Employment Guarantee Council (SEGC) meetings which are held twice a year,”
said Kumar Rangarajan, Block Development Officer (BDO).
Demand-driven in its approach,
the programme has given an average of 60 days of work for the registered households in the district
in the current year.
However, many farmers said that
the programme led to shortage of
labour and rise in wages, leading to
higher expenditure in farming.
“Those people go there and just
pretend to work for few hours and
get money,” complained Damodaran K, a farmer from Pulllarambakkam village .
MNREGA activities are being
converged with horticulture and pisciculture to revive farming here.
Smoky kitchens affect women’s health
Photo: Prabha Raghavan
DIA REKHI
The aroma of freshly cooked rice
filled the air in Narayanapuram
hamlet in Pattarai Perumbudur at
noon when all the households got
ready for lunch. But stronger than
the aroma of rice was the smell of
smoke that lingered in the air.
According to the World Health
Organization (WHO), three billion
people – or half of the world’s population – cook their meals indoors
over biomass-fueled open fires. Except for one home with a gas connection, all the women and
The traditional ‘aduppu’ used by
women in Irular villages. Photo: Dia
Rekhi
at the Pattarai Perumbudur Primary
Health Centre (PHC) elaborated on
the health hazards of using the
aduppu. “The soot from the aduppu
is a health hazard. Most of these
houses do not have proper ventilation, so women end up inhaling a
lot of the smoke. This leads to respiratory problems,” she said.
Further, she added that cases of
cough, wheezing, asthma and bronchitis were common among
women. M. Mohanavalli, a nurse
who has worked at the Tiruvallur
General Hospital for two-and-ahalf years, confirmed that cases of
women with respiratory problems
in the district have been increasing.
The health factor, though major,
is just one of the dimensions. There
is also the aspect of culture and tradition.
M. Rekha, a 27-year-old housewife
is one of the only gas stove owners
in Ellappanaidu Pettai. Yet, her
aduppu sits outside her house,
completely unperturbed by the new
entrant.
“I do use the gas but many times
I crave for the taste of food made
on the aduppu. I use it at these
times and also when relatives come
because they only like the taste of
aduppu-made food,” she said.
“Better to die than live like this”
Everyday water struggles leave Bangarampettai frustrated
PRABHA RAGHAVAN
The village’s water tank is not regularly filled up. Photo: Prabha Raghavan
explains Valli. “Water came yesterday, but we did not get any today.”
Bangarampettai village is located
in Tiruvallur’s Poondi Block. Situated after many snaky twists and
turns past the Poondi Reservoir,
nearly hidden by a glamorous, large
sign of the “Beracah Camp Site,”
the village sometimes seems like it
does not exist.
The villagers often complain of
many things – the lack of a proper
healthcare system, the bad roads
that have cost them their rides to
their company jobs and, more importantly, poor water supply.
According to the Thiruperu Village Panchayat governing them, the
people should not be facing any
water problems because there is
enough for everyone. “How can the
people say this when they have
three borewells?” Thiruperu Panchayat Vice President A. Tulasi
asks, eyes widening in astonishment. “Their soil is better than
ours for trapping water. We are the
ones facing more problems than
them.”
According to Tulasi, of the three
borewells, one was dug to a depth
of 300 ft before any signs of
groundwater was found. This borewell is deeper than the government
recommended 150 ft. Despite this,
many in Bangarampettai complain
of poor water supply. They believe
that the borewells take very long to
replenish the water that they extract. So the giant white-and-green
tank overlooking the village stores
a week’s worth of water while the
concerned authorities wait for
more. “They generally release
water from a 40-foot well close to
the tank twice a week during the
PRABHA RAGHAVAN
SWATHY R IYER
Poondi: It was a morning like any
other at the Reddy Mani household
in Bangarampettai. The rays of the
sun filtered in through the quiet
trees facing a barren front yard as
two kids hopped about, bleating for
the mother goat. Kaniappa Reddy
Mani’s 28-year-old daughter, Valli,
burst through the front doors as
usual, balancing two steel pots in
her arms and hurrying to the metal
pipe that jutted awkwardly out of
the earthen ground. She had to be
there no later than 6 a.m. Else, her
family would spend the day in
thirst. Setting the first pot down,
she turned the tap and waited
eagerly.
Nothing.
Her heart sinking, she closed the
tap and opened it a second time.
Still nothing.
Valli sighed dejectedly, picked up
the pots and ambled back inside.
There would be no water today.
“It has always been this way here,”
Low water level disrupts
income from fishing
Poondi: The reduction in the water
level of Poondi Reservoir has affected the livelihood of the block’s
fishermen.
“Around 2,000 families depend
on the reservoir,” said N. Ravi (40),
a fisherman from Poondi village.
“Before, I used to earn around Rs.
600-800 a day. Now, I only earn
about Rs. 200. Sometimes I get
nothing at all,” he said.
Most fishermen say they have
not been able to catch as many fish
as before. “A few years ago, I
would be able to catch around 8-10
kgs compared to the paltry three
that I caught last night,” said Bangarampettai village resident, Kaniappa Reddy Mani (48).
The fishermen blame the Chennai Metro Water Supply Project.
“Marine life reduces with the water
levels; the fish had nothing to feed
on and have died out,” said Mani.
According to A.M. Asokan, Exe-
cutive Engineer, Tamil Nadu Public Works Department (PWD),
Poondi, the reservoir has received
only around one-third of the Krishna water agreed upon under a
treaty between Tamil Nadu and
Andhra Pradesh. Besides, what
was available was always earmarked for Chennai.
“If we received 241 cubic ft (cft)
of water today, we would be asked
to discharge around 286 cft to
Chennai,” said S. Elumalai, Work
Inspector, PWD Office, Poondi
Block.
The Chennai Metropolitan Water
Supply and Sewerage Board website recorded the reservoir’s full
tank level to be 140 ft with a storage of 3,231 million cubic feet
(mcft) on 14 January, 2011. The reservoir’s tank level dropped to 126
ft with a storage capacity of 347
mcft on the same day this year.
“Most of us have had to fish in
smaller lakes to sustain ourselves
now,” said Ravi.
Making Ends Meet
Dairy farming,
a solace in
difficult times
S.VISHNHU SAAYE
Mani uses a makeshift bathroom. His village does not have enough water
for a functional common sanitary complex . Photo: Prabha Raghavan
monsoon.
During the dry seasons, the tank
gets water only once a week.” explains Mani. “At home, we try to
take precautions to keep the water
clean and usable for this time so
that we do not fall sick.”
Yet the problem in the village is
not just one of extracting clean
water, it is also one of its timely delivery. “We preserve as much water
as possible, since we know that
there may be a day where we will
not get any at all,” says Valli. “Without electricity, the village elder
cannot release the water to us,”
adds Mani. “Water coming to the
pipes near our home nowadays is a
big deal,” he says.
According to the family, there
have been times when they have
not received water for a whole
week. “Whenever this happens, I
usually get the water straight from
the well,” says Valli, as she sits timidly on her empty porch. When
there is not enough water in the
well, she says that she travels a distance of 1.5 km to neighbouring
villages like Thirupakkam, pots
strapped to her cycle.
“The situation this year is still
better,” assures Valli. “We have
faced far worse in the past.” Yet,
even now, the current state of the
village’s water supply will only
continue as is for a short while.
“Give it two more months. It will
become really bad then,” says Valli.
As most of Poondi’s villages use
groundwater to sustain themselves,
their existence is heavily dependent
on a good amount of rainfall. According to the Tiruvallur Sub-Collector, A.R. Rahul Nadh, the district
has recorded a failed monsoon for
the past six years.
On mornings where Valli turns
the tap in her yard to no avail, she
says that she wonders why her family lives in this village. “It is better to die than live like this.”
“This part of the district can be
categorized as ‘rocky area’ and this
makes it difficult for the villagers
to access water due to a lack of adequate fresh water sources. Overhead tanks have however been
installed to satisfy the drinking
water requirements of the people,”
said Kumar Rangarajan, Block Development Officer (BDO) at
Poondi.
A road, riddled with potholes
and bordered by thatched as well as
pucca houses, runs through the village. Most thatched houses are
built in front of or as an extention
of a house that is visibly not fully
constructed or one whose walls
have collapsed.
Many villagers complained
about the non-completion and poor
quality of the houses constructed
Poondi: Irregular supply of water,
drastic power cuts and lack of labour have forced farmers to look
beyond agriculture for additional
income and they seem to have
found the answer in dairy farming.
Even as a stand-alone profession, dairy farming is sustainable
and yields good profits reveals
V.Panchachalam, a 69-year old
buffalo herder who had given up
farming after his son’s death and
concentrated on buffalo-herding to
provide for his family.
“I always had buffalos even
when I used to farm, but the milk
did not bring us much profit. Now,
tankers from Hotel Saravana Bhavan come twice daily and collect
all the milk I can give them by
paying Rs. 35 per litre of buffalo
milk,” he says. Earlier, the cost of
milk was very cheap and sold at
about Rs. 3 per litre a decade ago,
he adds.
Gautam, a resident of Narayanapuram village and also a student
of Bachelors in Business Administration (BBA) from Sriram College in Tiruvallur town says that
his family was able to educate him
from the money made by selling
buffalo milk. “We have 23 buffalos that produce 6-8 litres of milk
per day. We sell it to Tirumala
dairy company at Rs. 30 per litre
and this has enhanced our lifestyle
also,” he says.
Sale of milk to various hotels
and dairy companies, mostly from
Chennai, is proving to be extremely profitable in the short term
for dairy farmers in Tiruvallur district.
“Farming is on a downtrend for
the last three years. I am able to
produce 35 heaps of rice generally,
but only around 20 over the last
few years. I have bought seven
cows in this period that have helped me break-even financially,”
says R.Venugopal, a farmer from
Poondi Village, situated 10 kms
from the district headquarters at
Tiruvallur.
Recent expose by local media
revealed the lack of quality control
in milk production, notably in the
case of Aavin milk, which was
found to be adulterated. However,
with the focus now shifting to quality of milk produced, companies
are ready to pay higher amounts to
ensure good quality.
This new boom in the sector of
dairy farming however is not without its pitfalls as the cost of buffalos and cows have skyrocketed.
“Earlier, we could buy cows for
Rs. 2000 to Rs. 4000 but now one
animal costs around Rs. 60,000,”
says V. Panchachalam.
However, various daily wage labourers and coolies are optimistic
of obtaining loans from the government to buy cows and buffalos, as they can make profits
immediately.
Sensu Khan, a security guard
and labourer from Ellapanaidu
Pettai village says, “I have asked
our ward member to help me obtain a loan to buy a cow as this will
help me cut the cost of mik procurement and also hopefully make
profit.”
under the State and Central Government social welfare schemes:
Chief Minister’s Solar Powered
Green
House
Scheme
(CMSPGHS) and Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY). Many homes lay incomplete and many others require
the beneficiary to suffer a heavy
cost of maintenance.
Kanimma (65), a resident of
Poondi village, said, “The ceiling
had to be replaced six years after
the house was constructed. The
construction of houses under government schemes are undertaken
on a contract basis. The contractors
are simply anxious to finish their
work and move on to the next project.”
Rajeshwari Selvam (39), another
resident of the village, lives in a
thatched house adjoining her incomplete one, with no back wall.
"The workers under the contractor
just packed up and left one day and
never returned. My house has been
lying incomplete since 2008. We
informed the village head and visited him many times, but after a
while, we had no choice but to
move on and make do with what
we had," she said.
“Incompletion of houses rests
with the beneficiaries, not the officials. Some beneficiaries do not
render the masonry work required of them as per scheme norms.
It is our duty to complete the
construction work of the houses.
But the population in Poondi
village can be termed ‘slender.’
We are presently concentrating
on the areas with a ‘mass population’”, said Kumar Rangarajan.
As per government records, 70
percent of the total allotment of Indira Awaaz Yojana has been completed and less than 40 percent
Scheduled Caste people have been
benefited under the Chief Minister’s Solar Powered Green House
Scheme (CMSPGHS).
Poondi’s ‘slender’ population ignored
Poondi: Poondi village which borders the Poondi reservoir, Chennai's major drinking water supply
source, is facing an acute shortage
of water.
The drinking water to this village is supplied by overhead tanks
and brought from Pullarambakkam, which is nearly 7 kms away.
Many villagers have made the shift
from agriculture due to shortage of
water for irrigation. They said that
they were dependent on rainfall and
discharge of surplus water from the
Poondi reservoir.
Nearly 700 acres of agricultural
land is owned by the residents of
this village. The main crop cultivated in the area is paddy, which requires abundant water supply. The
cultivation of groundnut proved expensive after many of the crop
fields were destroyed by pigs that
wandered in.
Water level in decline at the Poondi reservoir. Photo: Sruthin Lal
DISLOCATED TRIBALS
DENIED PATTAS
S.VISHNHU SAAYE
J. Bhavani, a student of Class 10 sells puja material outside Veeraraghava temple. Photo: Dia Rekhi
TIRUVALLUR I 33
Pallipattu: A tribal jumps up and
charges at the boars, beating his
stick, to chase them away from destroying the groundnut farm. It is
one in the morning, but sleeping on
a broken cot in the farm to protect
and nurture the crop has become a
part of his routine for the last 15
years.
A member of the Irular tribe, A.
Kesavan and his brother A. Kuppan, farm on an unused government land which lies by the
highway near the village of Narayanapuram in Tiruvallur district.
This tradition was started by their
great-grandfather over 70 years ago
on being relocated from the forest
to the settlement and governmentalloted land in Narayanapuram village.
“The government has forced and
is still forcing us tribals to move
away from the forests, but are not
providing us with any alternative
means of subsistence,” says M. Gunasekaran, leader of the Adivasi
Irular Munetra Sangam.
The government, in many cases,
has bribed the tribals to move away
from the forests by giving them
money but without promise of employment or any future guarantees,
claim the inhabitants of Narayanapuram village.
Kesavan’s family, including his
parents R. Ayalakon and A. Poongavanam and brother Kuppan, have
A.Kesavan. Photo: Sruthin Lal
put their heart and soul into farming of the land. They are able to
sustain their families only by selling the produce to dealers from
Pandur village. However, they are
very apprehensive as the government authorities are not
ready to register the land in their
name or give them a patta, without exorbitant bribes.
“The municipality and the Village Administrative Officer are demanding a bribe of Rs.5 lakh. How
would I be able to pay so much,
when I have never seen so much
money in my life,” laments Poongavanam.
Other farmers, who own lands
nearby are already looking to extend their farm and take control of
this unregistered land, says Kuppan. “They have paid the government officials and have their
support, while they are garnering
local support saying they want to
build a temple in that land,” says
Kuppan. Poongavanam remarks on
the irony of the situation saying
God was going to come, but take
away their living. Also, this land
can be taken away at any time and
sold to a builder or some industry,
though we have been farming for
so many years, she adds.
Ayalakon, who is unable to work
because of old age, cries out to
anyone who will listen for help in
getting the land registered. “There
is no meaning to my life if the land
we have treated as holy gets taken
away from us. Without the land, we
are nothing,” he sobs.
Farmers not given
subsidies for 10 years
PRABHA RAGHAVAN
Poondi: For the last 10 years, farmers in the Poondi block have not
received the subsidies promised by
the district Department of Agriculture.
According to the Office of the
Joint Director of Agriculture, farmers in most villages are, among
other resources, entitled to subsidies on paddy seeds, oilseeds and
fertilizers. Yet many farmers in the
area claim that these subsidies
have not reached them.
“We have a godown to store subsidised fertilizers, but it has been
empty for almost 10 years now,"
said A.Tulasi, Thiruperu Panchayat
Vice President,which oversees the
nine other villages in the block.
Many farmers in the block also
seem unaware and unclear about
the schemes and subsidies that
they can avail of.
"If they want to know about the
schemes, they will find out themselves," said N. Natarajan, Agricultural Officer, Agriculture
Extension Center, Poondi Block.
The Office of the Assistant Director of Agriculture says that it
advertises in the papers, sends out
leaflets and conducts daily Panchayat and revenue village-wise
visits to raise awareness about subsidy-related agricultural schemes.
"I visit the villages twice a week,"
said Natarajan. According to the
Tiruperu village Panchayat, this is
not the case. Tulasi said that the
Agricultural Officer rarely visits
his village. "Government officials
do come some times but they only
observe our lands from afar," he
said. "They do not even talk to
us."While farmers have been
aware of these problems, most of
them said that they do not approach the concerned officials because of the treatment they receive
when they go to them. "Only if we
got a proper response from them
would it make sense to even complain in the first place," said Tulasi.
"If we go to the Poondi agriculture
office, they ask us to go to the Kadalur office, to get to which we
have to take three buses."
This financial year, the government of Tamil Nadu has allocated
a total of Rs. 323 crores to various
sub-projects under the National
Agricultural Development Program (NADP).
34 I TIRUVALLUR
Schooling despite odds
SWATHY R IYER
Tiruvallur: Nearly 8,000 children
of migrant labourers in brick kilns
in the district were brought into the
regular schooling system in the last
two years under the Integrated
Child Protection Scheme (ICPS).
Introduced in May 2013, a project under ICPS is being executed
by the labour department.
Tiruvallur, with nearly 400 brick
kilns out of more than 3,000 in the
state, was targetted as the migrant
labourers in this industry come
from Tiruvannamalai and Salem
and various districts of Orissa, and
Andhra Pradesh.
Most children of migrant labourers are out of school as they move
when their families move for work.
These workers migrate to work for
a six or seven-month period, between January and July/September.
They stay with their parents within
the premises of the brick chamber
and often help them in their work.
The dust leads to respiratory problems, especially among children.
“We have tied up with Self Help
Groups and NGOs to ensure the enrollment of the children of migrant
brick kiln labourers in the schools
nearest to them. Children between
the age of two and five are also sent
to the nearest Anganwadi centres”
said Sayed Rawoof, District Child
Protection Officer (DCPO).
“The first step is a detailed survey of the brick chambers in the
district. We identify the number of
families, the number of family
members, and the number of children in the school-going age and
till what grade they have studied in
their hometowns. We then provide
provisions for them to continue
from exactly where they left off,”
said Y. Velankanni, a community
educator working with IRCDS.
A Special Educator, trained to
instruct the children in the medium
of their choice, is also appointed
under the government’s flagship
programme Sarva Shiksha Ab-
Above: A Panchayat Union school at Thottikalai | Below: A brick kiln in
Tiruvallur where the migrants work. Photo: Swathy R Iyer
different or no institutional arrangements in their
villages. The teachers of
the Panchayat Union
schools said that these
children were usually
unwilling to study at first
and sometimes ran away
back to their chambers
and did not complete
their homework assignments citing their involhiyan. The number of volunteers vement in the brick making at
applying for this post has gone up night.
They pointed out that a majority
since the monthly salary was raised
to Rs. 5,500. A separate test, is also of the children from brick kiln
prepared for the children after six chambers said that the only reason
months and a transfer certificate is their parents let them go to school
was the free books, bags and uniissued.
The social workers faced hosti- forms that are provided under State
lity in the beginning as many brick government schemes.
Sano Shyam (35), a brick kiln lakiln owners refused to co-operate
as the children of the migrants were bourer from Baragad, Orissa,
whose children attend the school,
not their responsibility.
Umapathy, Manager of C.Jaya- disagreed. “We want our children
durga brick industries, however, as- to be educated and lead better lives
serted that although he was than us. We hope to be able to send
skeptical at first, he was supportive them to school even after we return
of the NGO's efforts later. He said to our home in the village” he said.
A survey of the children who
that he also provided the children
went back to their hometowns retransportation.
The children often find it diffi- vealed that 63% continued to study.
cult to blend in with the regular stu- A fresh survey will be conducted
dents as they might have had here in February.
No ban, have a glass of toddy!
ADARSH R
Thiruvalangadu: It is not common to see three wine shops and
a TASMAC lined next to each
other on the same road. Kannairajendrapuram, on the border of
Tamil Nadu and Telengana, however has a mixed identity. Once
a part of Andhra Pradesh, the village has been in Tamil Nadu for
decades. But the officials here
don't mind people from the other
side of the border owning local
wine shops.
Every wine shop has a tiny shack
by the side of it where the traditional toddy (known in Tamil as
Kallu) is being sold. Toddy is
banned from being produced in
Tamil Nadu, but this village is
among the few little places in the
State where one could get toddy
with no fear of being hassled by
the police.
K.Ramanathan, a retired physical training teacher from Erode,
owns about eight acres of land in
Kannairajendrapuram with small
patches of coconut groves for
producing toddy. A single bark in
a tree could be used for roughly
about three months for toddy extraction before it gets exhausted
and is completely chopped off.
When asked about the ban on
toddy in Tamil Nadu, Ramanathan says, “Kallu is a natural drink
that's been part of our culture for
a very long time. It is ridiculous
that the government would ban
something that has zero alcohol
in it.”
Freed from bonded labour
SHALINI RAJVANSHI
Thiru Muthu, in his native village Narayanapuram, is a free man at last.
Photo: Sruthin Lal
hospital sometimes and the doctors
give some medicines for him.
While talking about his children,
he suddenly remembers that he and
his wife have had seven children,
not three. Four of them passed
away in early age, he says, probably because of poor post-natal care
or lack of nutrition.
The forefingers of his toes are
missing, while some fingers in his
hands are missing their tips. This,
he said, was a result of sunburn and
smoke from the furnaces.
Muthu’s house is a one-room hut
made of thatched roof and mud
walls. The belongings are simple
and few, and the family sleeps on
the floor. “The living conditions
were bad there”, he says, “We just
had one small room for the four of
us.”
There is a cooking stove made of
mud with a few vessels kept on it.
“We used to get Rs. 50 a day there.
They gave us a sack of rice every
month. Whatever else was needed,
we had to manage in those 50 rupees.”
“The owners were never caught
but the rice mill did not shut down.
I do not know who managed it after
them but at that time, there were no
arrests,” says Muthu. The Thiru family did not press any charges as
they felt helpless in the face of
money and power that the owners
had. They were just happy to return safely to their village, back to
their people.
Poondi: The residents of Tiruvallur’s Gandhigram tribal community
complain that the conrete houses
the district administration built for
them under the Group Housing
Project are now falling apart due to
lack of maintenance. Some houses
are missing bricks while some are
in immediate danger of collapse.
B. Ramesh, a system operator
who commutes to Chennai for
work everyday, said: “The government built some 35 houses about
15 years back under the Group
Housing Scheme but has not maintained them. Once the houses are
built, nobody comes from the collectorate to keep any kind of check
on them,” he said.
The walls of some of the houses
have developed cracks but villagers
claim that there has not been even
one visit from the officials post
completion.
District officials, however, are of
the opinion that the villagers need
they are completed,
we hand over the
houses to the residents, after which,
they are the property of the villagers.”
The Group Housing Project, which
comes under the Indira Awaas Yojana,
entitles each household in the villages
of the district Rs.
A house in shambles at a tribal village. Photo: Sruthin 1,20,000 for the
Lal
construction of a cemented house.
Kumar said that technical staff
to work on the maintenance of
go to villages to map the area. The
these houses themselves.
S. S. Kumar, Project Director, mininum area required for this
District Rural Development scheme to be implemented is 210
Agency, said: “There is no provi- square feet. “Every place is measusion in these schemes to maintain red. Based on that, decisions are
the houses. The tribals have to do taken. The money is given in insthat themselves. Overseers and en- tallments. We give cement at subgineers go to the construction sites sidised rates. Market price for
to keep a regular check on things cement is Rs. 350-380, while we
while they are being built. Once give it at a subsidised rate of Rs.
250,” he said.
“As per the Central government
norms, there is no provision for
roofing in the scheme but under the
Tamil Nadu scheme, the State government provides for concrete
roofing,” Kumar added.
Funds are earmarked separately
for the construction of toilets called
the End subsidy. The sum was Rs.
11,200 till October 2014 but has
now been increased to Rs. 12,000.
“Earlier, this sum was distributed under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan. Now, it is called the
Swachch Bharat Abhiyan. The department constructs one toilet per
house. [And] If there is lack of
space then we construct a common
toilet for the village,” said the Director.
Ramesh, however, claims, “The
government built toilets a while
ago but most of them are locked
and nobody has the key. In addition
to that, there is hardly any water
supply, which is why nobody uses
them.”
her infected ear. Salomi’s husband
passed away 12 years ago. She has
two children, Ramarajan, now
named Joseph, and Balasubramaniam, now named Isaak.
“This is a part of the Ekkadu
Pentecostal mission,”said Jaya
(20), a daily wage laborer. Her husband, who works as a daily wage
labourer cutting wood and engaging in construction work, and her
two children also converted with
her 10 years ago. “It was our decision to convert. Nobody forced us
into it,” she added.
Many villagers said that nearly
15 years ago, they were approached
by Pentecostal missionaries who
“called” them to “join” them by explaining the benefits of doing so.
Many poor tribals and people
from other backward castes have
recently begun converting to Christianity in the area in hopes of better
medical facilities and educational
opportunities for their children.
Tiruvallur District Collectorate obliquely denies any such incident having happened. She maintains that
the records of funds distributed to
married couples are confidential
until published in the yearly report.
The practice of providing funds
in installments, the Director admits, is not part of the scheme but
something the officials have taken
to in the last couple of years. As
she says, “married couples have a
proclivity to spend the entire
amount in a matter of weeks if
given at once.”
R.K. Pet: Thiru Muthu stands outside his hut, his release papers in
hand. His hands are calloused and
his face looks beaten by exhaustion. He points to the documents
written in English, a language he
can neither speak nor read, which
state the date of his release from the
rice mill where he worked with his
family as bonded labourers.
Muthu, along with his wife and
three children, worked as bonded
labourers at Usha Modern Rice
Mill for almost two decades. Their
ordeal started when he borrowed
Rs. 20,000 from his employers. He
was not able to return the money on
time, which resulted in him ending
up working as a bonded labourer in
order to pay off the debt.
“I needed the money for my
daughter’s wedding. We got her
married in the rice mill itself, after
which we were immediately taken
in as bonded labourers,” he said.
He was released in 2004, after
which he returned to his native village of Narayanapuram with his family. He has been engaging in
fishery, the local occupation, for
survival. Along with him, there
were 20 Irular families working as
bonded labourers in the rice mill.
“When we were there, government officials came and met us sometimes and said that you should
not be here, you should go back,
but there was nothing we could do
on our own. One day the officials,
along with the police, came to the
rice mill but as soon as they arrived, the owners absconded,” he
says.
The District Collectorate alone
has dealt with 300 bonded labour
cases. District Sub Collector A. R.
Rahul Nadh, whose department
handles these cases, said, “February is the season when raids are
usually conducted and labourers
are freed. They generally work in
brick-kilns and rice mills.”
“Last year, our wing got the
award for the best performance for
the past five years. In 2013-2014,
300 people were rescued,” he
Government-built houses falling apart
SHALINI RAJVANSHI
Tribes converted on missionary’s ‘call’
SWATHY R IYER
Poondi: As poor Hindu families
converting to Christianity are being
welcomed back by Hindutva
groups in different parts of the
country, there is a thriving community of converted Christians in
Gandhigram village in Poondi
Taluk.
The village is one of the many
settlements of the Irular tribes in
Tamil Nadu, with more than 300
families.
There are 12 families and about
50 believers in the village. The
priest, Raviraj (49) said that they
faced nearly 12 years of protest before the church was set up in 2006.
Prior to this, they gathered under
trees or inside people’s huts.
Ramesh.B (32) who works as a
system operator in T. Nagar, Chennai is the only person in the village
who is not a daily wage worker.
“They yell ‘Hallelujah’ at the top
of their voices every Sunday and
they keep books of Christianity in
their homes and do not wear any
ornaments of gold or any jewellery
at all, which must be easy as most
women in the village don’t own
any,” he said mockingly. “But everybody knows that the real reason
they converted is for the benefits”.
“We got our certificates clearly
stating that we’re Scheduled Tribes
belonging to Hindu religion. The
villagers, who have converted,
must have done so to improve their
economic plight. They’ve even
changed their names to make them
sound Christian,” said M.Gunasekaran,a resident of the neighbouring Narayanapuram village and
General Secretary of the Tamil
Nadu Adivasi Amaippukkalin Kootamaippu (TAAK).
Masilamani, the first in the village to convert to Christianity, said
that he did so following a health
miracle. His wife, who was detected with cancer in the gullet, heard
about the Ekkadu Pentecostal missionary through public meetings.
“Her condition, which was worsening over time, saw a major improvement after the whole family
started going to the church to pray”.
Masilamani’s wife died four years
later, by which time, everyone in
the family, including their four
children, had converted.
Salomi (41), earlier named Subalakshmi, who converted to Chistianity nearly 10 years ago, said
that she made the decision to convert after an ear infection which left
her bedridden. She said that the medicines prescribed by the doctors at
the Primary Health Centre were
ineffective and she recovered only
after the priest visited her and put a
few drops of the prayer water into
of them being college graduates.
“We went to the Collectorate
with our marriage certificates and
all other documents, but the officer
in charge wouldn't even have a look
at them. She just dismissed us
saying that unless I produced my
community certificate nothing was
possible”, says Prabhu.
According to Francis Inba, the
priest at the Zion CSI Church,
Poondi, of the 20 Christian families
in the village, almost no one has a
community certificate. “The consequences of not possessing one is
felt only in the recent years as an increasing number of children applying
to colleges have been denied reservations of any sort,” says Inba.
Selvam and Parimala of Othappai village, who got married about
a year back, did get a four-gram
gold coin, but the Rs. 25,000 they
were eligible for was only given in
installments over a period of 12
months.
“The officials have started imposing certain rules of their own that
was not prevalent until a few years
back,” says Rajendran, an agricul-
tural labourer in Othappai. Rajendran's niece, M. Sathya, who has
been an orphan since she was 12,
and who was raised by him was not
eligible for the provisions the government provides for an orphan
girl getting married as she was still
receiving her father's pension every
month.
The 'Orphan Girl Marriage' and
'Widow's Daughter's Marriage'
schemes however do not qualify
pension as a source of income or as
social security. A. Kanaga, the Director of Social Works Office at the
The priest from the Ekkadu pentacostal mission surrounded by a few of the
converts. Photo: Swathy R Iyer
Officials bend the rules of marriage schemes
ADARSH R
Poondi: When Anthony Prabhu
married Geetha, it was the first time
a Christian man married a Hindu
woman in Poondi village. There
was no communal outrage and the
couple are happy about that, but
one of their minor complaints is
that they did not qualify for the government’s provisions for intercaste marriages. Also, they did not
qualify for the four grams of gold
and Rs. 50,000 that the Tamil Nadu
government promises, despite both
added.
Within Tiruvallur district, it is
the Sub-Divisional Magistrate who
is in charge of freeing them. When
the labourers are freed, they are
given Rs. 19,000, out of which, Rs.
1,000 is handed over immediately
while the rest of the money is given
later.
Two of Muthu’s daughters are
married while his only son is mentally challenged and lives with
them. His son walks around the
small courtyard twirling his moustache and looking at everything
suspiciously. Muthu cannot point
out what exactly is wrong with him
but he says that they take him to the
High SC student
drop outs
ADARSH R
Poondi: Although the Poondi
block comprises over 80 villages,
the 1000 odd students at the Government Higher Secondary
School, Poondi, mostly belong to
the Scheduled Castes. The school
serves classes from standard six to
twelve, with exactly twelve classrooms for every class. All students
but those of class eleven and twelve
do not have desks to sit on, nor do
the classes have fans or lights.
A.Narasimhan, Assistant Head
Master (AHM) of the school, says
that while he doesn't have a clue as
to who to approach for basic provisions, the lack of benches and
chairs has not got in the way of
educating students and helping
them finish school.
A large number of students drop
out after class 10, one of the reasons being that the mid-day meals
are not provided in the school for
students of class 11 and 12. “Generally the drop out rate of boys is
more than that of girls, because
girls tend to fare well in the class
10 examinations, while most boys
do not clear the exams”, says Gnanaprakasam, a Physics faculty in
the school. Almost all students
being children of agricultural labourers, the students are more inclined to go to work as soon as they
can. D.Ragul of class 11 is not all
that thrilled about finishing school
and going to college. “It was a huge
mistake that I cleared the class 10
examinations. Now my parents
force me to go to school every day
and I couldn't care less about finis-
Government Higher Secondary
School, Poondi. Photo: Adarsh R
hing school,” says Ragul.
The dismal proportion of students disposed to going to college
after class 12 is quite alarming. The
only motivation for most of them to
go to school is that they become eligible for certain provisions in government schemes such as the
'Vazhndhu Kattuvom Thittam' if
they finish school. For the past two
years students passing the 12th
board examinations have also been
given free laptops.
However, the school has been
producing top district rank holders
in the last couple of years. Tamilselvan of the 2012 batch secured
the fifth highest rank in the district
and now goes to the Government
Law College in Coimbatore.
The district has the highest
school drop out rate in the State.
A.Karpagam, Assistant to the Chief
Educational Officer, said that the
2013 report came as a shock and
that the education department has
already taken steps to curtail the
drop out rate by way of forming a
separate committee to find displaced migrant workers and provide
education to their children.
Menstrual myths prevail
in modern times
SHALINI RAJVANSHI
Tiruvallur: R. Selvi stitches blouses in North Tamil Nadu’s Narayanapuram village. Twenty three
years old, she is married and has
two small children. Her one-room
house has a cloth screen dividing
the room. She points to the partition
and says that, while her husband
and children sleep in the bigger
portion of the house, she sleeps in
the smaller portion behind the curtain during “those days.” She neither cooks then, nor does she go
near her kitchen. When menstruating, she lives like an outcast.
This is true for almost all the
women in the villages of the district. Menstruation is seen as something which is ‘unclean’ and
‘unholy’. If a woman is having her
period, she does not visit any other
house in the village, nor does any
woman come to hers. She does not
go to the temple or eat with her family.
She learnt about sanitary napkins
only last year. Selvi says, “Some
women from the local hospital in
the district came to visit us and told
us about sanitary napkins. Before
this, we used cloth pieces. They
come once every three months and
Women in the district may have transitioned to sanitary napkins, but they
are clueless on how to dispose of them correctly. Photo: Shalini Rajvanshi
give us individual stock for three
cycles free of cost.” If the women
from the villages nearby ever fall
short mid-cycle, they go to medical
shops in the district town to buy
more. When they come, they teach
girls over 15 years of age how to
use a napkin,” she adds.
A few houses away, 14-year-old
Nandini, who attained puberty last
year, says that it was her teacher in
the local school who taught her
how to use a sanitary napkin.
She is shy when talking about it,
almost embarrassed. She looks
around frequently, and lowers her
register if a man passes by. Comb
in hand, she answers questions in
monosyllables. She says, “When it
happens, my food is served in a separate plate and the leftovers, otherwise finished by my parents, are
given to the dog. I sit away from
my family and sleep alone slightly
away from everybody else in the
house.”
It has only been a year since she
started menstruating and has not
experienced any stomach cramps,
but Selvi states that for muscular
cramps or stomach pain, the
women mostly consume crushed
neem leaves, instead of allopathic
medicines. “If the need arises, we
go to Peramburpet, which is five
kilometres away and get medicines,” Selvi says.
Disposal is a problem as they do
not know what to do with used napkins. They believe that if it is
thrown intact, it will attract rats and
snakes. “Since our religious scriptures deem this monthly process
unholy, we wrap the pad back in its
plastic cover and either throw it in
the river nearby or burn it,” adds
Selvi.
P. Gunasundari, a middle-aged
housewife in Tiruper village who
has three daughters aged 19, 21,
and 22. Two of her elder daughters
are married, while her youngest
daughter works in a shop in Tiruvallur. While her daughters have always used sanitary napkins, when
Gunasundari was younger, she only
had cloth to make do with.
Government health staff distribute sanitary napkins in Thiruperu
as well, free of cost, “although they
have not shown up for the past couple of months,” adds Gunasundari.
The method of disposal is different in this village. “We wash the
used pads with water and Surf and
after three days, we throw them
District administration not disabled-friendly
SHALINI RAJVANSHI
photographs were taken. The
wheel-chair was taken away as
soon as the day ended.
On Mondays, the district collectorate fills up with differently
abled people who want help
from the government but have
not received much.
“All the freebies that these
handicapped people get is for
show and media only,” she said.
Mahalakshmi complains of
corruption, saying, “They don’t
even do simple work. They take
Petition day at the Tiruvallur District
money from the people who
Collectorate. Photo: Shraddha Jandial have some money. People with
no money don’t get a solution to
Tiruvallur: Mahalakshmi, a singer their problems.”
“Things are fine from the Colliving in Tiruvallur town, cannot
walk without a cane. She came to lector’s side but problems come
the District Collector’s office to file when the Tehsildars are involved,”
a petition for a new wheel chair for she added.
Differently abled persons in the
herself. When she met the Collector and handed him her petition, district have a hard time navigating
she was a given a wheel-chair and through buildings with multiple
floors. Neither are there any ramps
built for them, nor does the department have any engineers for the
job. The collectorate building itself
does not have any ramps. There is
an elevator in the building but one
has to climb about 6-7 steps to get
there.
Jayachandran, Junior Rehabilitation Officer, District Differently
Abled Welfare Office, Tiruvallur
District, said, “We just have mobility schemes for differently abled
persons, we can’t do anything
else.”
“We have a mobile scheme for
these people which the Chief Minister is supposed to announce. The
vans are ready; we are just waiting
for orders,” he added.
Differently abled persons in the
district need medical certificates
proving their disability, without
which they would not be eligible
for any scheme or help from the go-
vernment. Doctors are arranged
every Monday and Thursday to
sign these certificates. For a person
to be eligible for this certificate, the
disability percentage has to be
above 40%.
The department comprises only
11 people which looks at the entire
district. Jayachandran said that the
department has not conducted any
census due to lack of staff.
“There are no computer systems
for maintenance of data and hence
no proper records. There are agents
in between who keep thousand rupees for themselves. At times, duplication occurs hence we have
made it compulsory for handicapped people to come themselves and
take the money,” the official said.
Jayachandran points out that it is
the government’s responsibility to
create awareness about various
schemes and ways in which it can
help, which it is not doing.
away,” says the mother of three.
Rekha, a 20-year-old woman living in the isolated hamlet of Bangarampettai, learnt about sanitary
napkins two years ago from television advertisements. No government bodies have come to this
village to educate the women about
menstruation and sanitary napkins.
“At that time, we stay inside our
houses only and do not go out. We
do not cook for the family and cannot go to the room where the gods
are kept,” says Rekha. The method
of disposal in their village is slightly different, though. “We keep the
used pads with us and after three
days, we burn them,” says Rekha.
The women in the villages of the
district have few disposal options
for used sanitary napkins. Local
health services only teach them
how to use sanitary napkins but do
not teach disposal.
The women have been fed on
myths and tales about the monthly
period for countless generations,
and continue to act within those
constraints. While local health services may strive to make a change,
it is still a long way to go for the
women in the interior areas to be
free of health risks related to unsanitary menstruation practises.
‘
DIA REKHI
Pattarai Perumbudur: Ellapanaidu Pettai’s Irulars, A. Palani
(63), K.Krishnan (55), and the
Mohan brothers – aged 20 and 25
when they died - suffered a serious
stroke. All of them had diabetes,
hypertension and a serious drinking
problem.
S. Murali, a 43-year-old agricultural coolie, said, “All the men here
drink. They get alcohol from nearby
Kanakammachatram because it is
cheap and gives a good feeling.”
This cheap alcohol that gives a
‘good feeling’ contributed in a large
measure to L. Mohan and J. Mohan’s deaths, left Krishnan speechless and Palani with severely
swollen feet.
Dr. A. Sharmila Devi who works
at the Pattarai Perumbudur Primary
Health Centre (PHC) explained that
there were grave consequences
when the recommended alcohol intake is exceeded on a daily basis.
“I was drinking heavily and it
was affecting my life so I decided
to give it up. The doctor said I got a
stroke because I stopped drinking
all of a sudden. He said I would
have been fine if I had given it up
little by little,” says Palani who has
not worked for the last five years
owing to his ailment.
Dr. Devi confirmed this saying,
“Alcohol withdrawal can cause tre-
’
‘
- A.M. Padmavathy, Headmistress,
Government Primary School
The Lives of Others
Photo: Prabha Raghavan
Tiruvallur’s unused sanitary complexes
Why open defecation continues in the district despite the provision of common toilets
M. Guneswaran, the General Secretary of Tamil Nadu Adivasi Amaipugalin Kootamaippu (TAAK), an organization
dealing with tribal welfare issues, the only sanitation-related
Poondi: Ten years ago, the District Rural Development
awareness that Narayanapuram residents receive is from the
Agency (DRDA) of Tiruvallur constructed an ‘Integrated
local church.
Sanitary Complex' in the village of Thiruperu. Comprising
Tiruvallur Assistant District Project Officer M. Selvaaround 10 toilets and two bathrooms, the complex was
paraman claims that each village has a “Water and Sanisupposed to provide them with a better alternative to
tation Committee” to educate residents about the
open defecation.
management of solid and liquid wastes. But no such body
Today, the entrance to Thiruperu’s sanitary complex
seems to exist in most of the villages that have commuis blocked by the garbage of an open drain that could be
nity toilets. According to Selvaparaman, a 'Swachch
likened to a moat protecting a fortress. The complex itDooth' conducts regular door-to-door visits as part of the
self is deserted, with layers of dust blanketing the broken
Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan to raise awareness about satoilets and a plant growing out of one of them.
nitation. The villagers in the district do not recall any
Most of the community sanitary complexes construcsuch messenger’s visit. Even radio jingles, which Selvated in Tiruvallur’s villages have been abandoned after
paraman said are used extensively, are not effective anylittle or no use. “No one really uses the toilets here,” says
more. People in Bangarampettai stopped listening to the
M.A. Nandakumar, a Panchayat drinking water supply
radio after the DMK government provided them with teoperator from Narayanapuram village. “Everyone moslevision sets.
tly goes to the open fields a little further ahead,” he said.
According to Selvaparaman, the government has alWith the abundance of flies in these villages, open delotted Rs. 12,000 per head under the Swachch Bharat Abfecation also makes people vulnerable to various ailhiyaan for the construction of toilets in the villages.
ments. According to the United Nations Children’s
However, he says that this amount would only be given
Emergency Fund (UNICEF), it “largely contributes to
to the residents once they begin the construction. Most
the fact that a child dies every two and a half minutes
of the villagers are either farmers or daily-wage workers
from preventable diarrheal diseases”.
who, with the 250-500 rupees that they earn, would not
The absence of streetlights in these villages makes it
difficult to search for a spot to defecate after dark. Peo- Villagers blame the disuse of common toilets on the poor condition of even be able to afford the raw materials to begin the
construction.
ple here travel on unpaved roads, dodging thorns, sna- toilets and lack of water. Photo: Prabha Raghavan
“We are supposed to get around Rs. 20,000 a year for
kes and broken glass on the way. Travelling to lonely
places to defecate also leaves women and children vulnera- visions for water in the complex,” says Thiruperu Panchayat the maintenance of the common toilets, but since nobody
ble to sexual harassment. “When we need to go, we have to Vice President A. Tulasi. “Officials come every year and uses it, the government does not give us the money,” says
keep ourselves safe,” says G. Lakshmi (50), a resident of promise us that they will give us this facility, but nothing Tulasi. Selvaparaman, on the other hand, explains: “The
complex is built on their land, so it is their responsibility to
the Rotary Club-constructed “Happy Village” in the Poondi has happened till now,” he says.
Residents of Narayanapuram have other grievances. maintain it. We do not provide any monetary assistance.”
Block. “We have no other choice.”
Inaccessibilty of the sanitation facilities seems to be a While their complex has a water tank, it is not regularly fil- Villagers are confused about who is responsible for the
major cause for open defecation. Community toilets are still led or properly cleaned. The water is a potential breeding maintenance of their community sanitary complex. This
nonexistent in many villages like Bangarampettai and ground for mosquitoes – stagnant, with algae growing in it. leads to neglect of its condition.
Despite problems with open defecation, not much effort
Happy Village. In villages that have toilets, the facilities are Such irregular water supply prevents villagers from using
often locked up by a village authority. Around 20 children the common toilets provided to them, driving them towards has been made to change the situation. The haphazard construction of community complexes alone will not be able to
between the ages of two to five in an Anganwadi center in open defecation.
One of the objectives of the district’s Total Sanitation change the mindset of those living in these villages. FuncTandalam do not have toilets. The nearest facility is located
in a Panchayat Union School within the compound, but the Campaign is creating awareness about the importance of sa- tional sanitary complexes need to be provided to villagers
school does not allow outsiders to use its toilets. The An- nitation facilities. Yet, most villagers claim that they have along with a conclusive and timely awareness programme to
received little education on sanitation, if any. According to help them make an easy transition from open defecation.
ganwadi children defecate in the open.
Those who wish to use indoor plumbing are hindered by
the poor implementation of the Total Sanitation Campaign
in the district. Villagers in the district often complain that
the facilities have not been constructed properly. “The government came and gave us toilets, but did not give us pro-
Waiting for a
stroke of luck
mors. Hypertension and diabetes,
only increase the chances of getting
a stroke.” Further, M. Mohanavalli,
a nurse at the Tiruvallur General
Hospital, said that there are at least
2-3 cases of stroke being treated at
the hospital at any point.
Palani’s wife and Krishnan’s
wife are both agricultural coolies
and the breadwinners. “These four
years have been very hard. Now, I
only pray for the day when he can
talk again,” said Krishnan’s wife,
K. Vasanthi, her eyes glimmering
with hope. These women take care
of the family, finances, the emotional burden of being caretakers and
the stress of meeting medical expenses. “Without these medicines,
my condition worsens,” said Palani. Murali said that everyone in
the village now feared drinking too
much and have cut down their intake. But they continue to drink alcohol from Kanakammachatram
because it is affordable.
“This cheap alcohol is very
harmful. A crackdown on these places is needed but when the Government itself runs TASMAC
because it generates revenue, my
job gets harder,” said Dr. Devi.
But for Krishnan, his life changed overnight. At noon, he gestured
to Murali to get some water for his
three tablets hoping that some day
he will be able to ask for water rather than gesture for it.
Irular children leave school to get
married or to work. In December, after
a 14-year-old’s wedding, I made the residents of Ellapanaidu Pettai guarantee
that they would not get their children married before the legal age.
ANALYSIS
PRABHA RAGHAVAN
TIRUVALLUR I 35
Photo: Dia Rekhi
’
I love learning. My friend
Saraswati doesn’t go to school,
but I walk 4-5 kms everyday to the
government school in Uyarilaipalli.
Someday, I hope to be a teacher
and teach in the same school.
- S. Divya, Student,
Ellapanaidu Pettai
A silent superhero
DIA REKHI
Tiruvallur: He does not roam
around with a mask, does not wear
a cape, and does not possess any
superpowers. Yet, A.K. Sadhi is a
superhero. He saves lives. Not in
Gotham city but in Tiruvallur.
The 42-year-old, mild mannered
man was a driver for a travel company. Being an ambulance driver
for the government’s 108 helpline
was a tough change. Working for
12 hours, witnessing at least seven
emergency cases daily was no joke.
His red eyes reveal his lack of
sleep and reflect a person hardened
by what he has seen. From accident
cases to drunken driving cases,
from assault cases to burn cases,
A.K. Sadhi, an ambulance driver for
the government’s 108 service.
Photo: Shalaka Shinde
from suicidal deaths to failed attempts, from injured patients to
grieving attendants - he has seen it
all over the last three years.
Accompanied by a helper and a
nurse, Sadhi drives to the spot of
the emergency within half an
hour or so, owing to cooperative
drivers on roads and his loyal companion – the Global Positioning
System (GPS).
Initially it was emotionally draining but later he got accustomed to
dealing with adverse situations.
“Death does not scare me anymore,” he says. He admits that the
suicide cases are the hardest to deal
with.
He not only has to see poisoned
people on floors and others hanging
from ceilings, but carries the bodies
to the vehicle. “There are a lot of
suicide cases, especially in the 2530 age group. These are mainly due
to family problems or love issues.”
His wife is a home-maker and
his sons study in classes 7 and 8.
He gets four days off a month and
enjoys spending time with his family. Generally he falls asleep due
to the exhaustion but being “off
duty” is comforting, he says. While
on the job, he parks his ambulance
under a tree at the Tiruvallur General Hospital and listens to the latest
Tamil songs on the radio. He keeps
his phone by his side always, fully
charged and on loud, ready to zoom
off when he gets a call.
Sadhi gets a monthly salary of
Rs. 10,000, from G.V.K. Emergency Management And Research
Institute in Hyderabad. Every superhero has a price and the 108
Ambulance Workers Union thought
this amount was not adequate.
In October last year they went on
strike, after which they were all
given a Diwali bonus of Rs. 2,400,
but their salaries were not hiked.
Hence, they are planning to have
another strike soon.
Sadhi does not think his salary is
enough to live comfortably, but he
is satisfied with his job. “It makes
me happy to know that I am serving
the public.” Spoken like a real hero.
He hopes his sons, too, will save
lives - not as ambulance drivers,
but as doctors.
VIGNETTES
Pushed to the periphery
LAKSHMI C
‘
Chennai: “My parents did not
study anything, and were more
interested in finding a groom for
me. That’s why I pick garbage
now” said Muthamma, carefully
choosing a few wires from a
muddle of old tools which she had
collected over the week.
Muthamma (22) who lives in a
slum near Lattice Bridge Road
belongs to the Narikuravar tribe.
The name Nari- jackal - and
Kuravar- men - came from this
community’s skill as indigenous
hunters. This ‘gypsy’ community is
spread
across
Chennai,
Mahabalipuram and other parts of
Tamil Nadu due to their nomadic
nature. They speak Vagraboli, a
language similar to Gujarati, and
are recognized as scheduled tribes
by the Government.
“I have been in Chennai for 80
years. We neither own houses nor
’
Photo: Lakshmi C
My parents did not study anything,
and were more interested in
finding a groom for me.
That’s why I pick garbage now.
and by taking loans,” he added.
Monsoons hit this area hard,
making
it
impossible
for
inhabitants to sleep inside. There
are
over
three
hundred
Narikuravars residing in 64 houses.
A few houses are cemented and
have pukka roofs, but most of them
have a single room where they
live.The cooking is mostly done
outside and they share toilets.
Children attend schools, but tend
to join their parents in rag picking
or other petty business soon after
seventh grade. “Now we have
around 40 school-going kids, but
there are over 15 to 20 who do not,
mainly because they cannot afford
it. And the people of our
community
don’t
consider
education important. Also, parents
feel that by educating their kids
they are losing a source of income”
said Lilly Mary, a teacher who has
been tutoring the children in this
slum for 10 years.
According to Ashwini (19), girls
are forced to leave schools mostly
after eighth standard and are taught
to make and sell ornaments. “I
could not finish my seventh
standard education since I had to
help my mother in her business. In
my free time, I help my sister in
sorting out the garbage and selling
them. My cousin is the only one
attending college” she added.
Malaria and skin diseases are
very common amongst this
community, which somehow
continues to survive amidst poor
hygiene and sanitation. They
survive in the poorest of poor
living conditions and are
unrepresented in politics and
professions, on the margins of an
India committed to sab ka vikas
(the development of all).
Annual thanksgiving to the godess
SWATHI MOORTY
have land. Our demand for patta
falls on deaf ears. Half of us don’t
even have ration cards” said
Kodakarai: Amidst the cloud of trees
beyond Sami yeri nestled between the
mountains is the picturesque hamlet of
Kodakarai in Thally block.
This quaint Krishnagiri village of 3,000
Irula tribals becomes cacophonic in April
when around 20,000 members of the tribe
from 48 nearby villages gather in
Mariamman temple to celebrate the annual
festival called parisi; a tribute to the goddess
for all the boons they have received.
Gowri Malla, who is in her late 70s, said
that this is the only festival that is celebrated
across the entire area, with relatives coming
Jagganathan, the Moopan of their
settlement. “We built these houses
with whatever money we collect
from as far as Denkanikotta, Manji and
Muzhisetti. On the day of Ugadi the temple
priest takes out an idol, personified as man,
from water ceremoniously by breaking a
coconut and sprinkling perfumed water and
flowers while uttering mantras. The myth that
man is created from water has been passed
down to and celebrated by the tribes for
centuries. The statue is kept in the temple
until the first Monday of the Tamil month
Chithirai when the festival begins.
The four-day fiesta starts with the pulling
of the temple car at 1 a.m. and goes on till 7
a.m. after which the ritual ends with a
deeparadhana performed by the pujari.
There is a siesta period until the next morning
to store enough energy for the sport kabaddi,
where men try to woo women ..
Raja Rudran (22), a resident, said that they
sacrifice goats and hens in the ceremony as a
prayer to the goddess for better health,
especially from fever and measles which they
are susceptible to. “We pray for good rain
that will enrich the soil and give them a good
harvest”, he added.
Karakkattam, an ancient folk dance
performed to rain goddess Mariamman by
balancing pots on their heads, starts at dawn
on Tuesday. Dancers carries the idol on their
head and dances around the mountain Durgan
that was once the tribe’s home. In the
meantime after a day’s rest the village gathers
to witness the drama go on from 9 p.m. on
Wednesday to 3 a.m. the next day. Madhan
M, 24, said that last year’s drama was the
epic Ramayana which went on until 3 in the
morning and whole village was up to witness
the pattabhishekam. “This is the case every
year no matter what the play is”, he laughed.
The karakattam troop that left on Tuesday
comes for the pompous welcome Thursday
evening by the tribes along with the priest.
The person carrying the figurine comes
forward and puts it down. The ritual is
repeated before lowering the idol into the
river.
At the end of it the man, as they call, is
returned to the water, from whence he came.
Grooms for sale!
BHAGIRATH REDDY
SUHAIL BHAT
Thullur: Land is not the only
commodity whose price has
skyrocketed and is in demand
when Thullur village of Guntur
district was declared as the State
Capital Region after the
bifurcation of the state of
Andhra Pradesh. Just like private
realtors are waiting like vultures
to buy land wherever possible,
all the fathers of eligible brides
across the state are looking for a
prince charming for their
daughters from around Thullur.
The marriage market is
buzzing. Married people of the
village now regret having tied
the knot too soon as they would
have had a more ‘beautiful
woman’ at the altar; the boys
from
Thullur
and
its
neighbourhood are much in
demand after the land price hike
as a result of the decision to
build the new capital there.
Cupid has changed the rules
of the game. In this part of the
world baldness, colour, height
and breadth are no longer
criteria, as long as they have
patta land in Thullur which
could fetch a huge sum.
The pundits around the state
are banging their head against
temple walls, and some might
soon betray their profession out
of frustration and their inability
to reach the supply against the
demand for grooms from
Thullur. Some pundits have
started snooping and networking
around in hope of finding
eligible bachelors in the village.
The marriage bureaus in cities
like Vijayawada and Guntur
unofficially estimate that the
girls’ families are ready to give
a dowry as high as Rs. 1 crore to
an uneducated but land owning
groom from Thullur.
The parents believe that if
their girl is married to a groom
from Thullur, it will ensure a
secure life for their daughters.
Even the people of Telangana
(which separated from AP after
years of public hue and cry) who
vehemently describe all Andhra
people as their arch rivals have
relaxed their norms and are
ready to send their daughters to
Andhra as long as their future
son-in-law has some piece of
land in or around this village.
Thullur is now a hip brand in
the marriage market in addition
to all the other existing popular
brands like IIT, NRI and MBBS.
A
renowned
marriage
astrologer and adviser in
Hyderabad, who has more
“Shri’s” in front of his name
than the number of zeroes for the
price of an acre of land in
Thullur explained the situation
in pure economical terms.
“The demand is not being met
by the supply. Hence the reason
for the shortage. There is a huge
dearth of grooms from Thullur
and the bride and her parents are
ready to relax all the norms of
caste, age and even religion
depending on the stature of the
groom in Thullur. One in every
third
brides’ family
is
specifically asking for a match
from anywhere in Guntur” he
said.
Married people are saddened
that they missed out their chance
while bachelors are rejoicing
that they are in demand and have
ample choice.
“Systematic abuse” of labourers in brick kilns
SIDDHARTH TIWARI
Gangiwada: The brick-kiln workers here
say they work in unsafe conditions without
any form of social security.
The absence of unions and a registered
work-force has exacerbated their situation,
they say..
The small village in Chhindwara reeks of
fly-ash from the numerous kilns that dot it.
With no official record of number of brick
kilns in the area, workers are believed to
produce around 2500 to 4000 bricks per
day.
They work through the entire week with
irregular hours, which are dependent on the
orders each kiln receives. Labour legislation
is not followed, and they are subjected to
numerous malpractices.
“Every day we work here the rest of the
family has to go without food,” said
Shivprasad (18) who migrated here with his
family a decade ago.
Working in the most deplorable
conditions, these modern slaves receive no
assistance from the government or their
contractors.
They are paid per brick produced; usually
around Rs 500 for 1000 bricks. As these
brick-kilns and these contractors are not
registered workers, their wages are subject
to a great deal of abuse.
Brick-kilns do not guarantee year-long
employment, especially during monsoons.
During these months the workers migrate
for other work, mainly in the construction
industry.
“When these labourers go out in search
for other jobs during this period, they find
they lack the skills for higher-wage work”
commented Madan Pal Singh, a social
worker.
Most of these workers develop lung
diseases. Unlike coal mine workers in
Parsiya village, which is less than 10 km
away, brick-kilns rarely receive medical
treatment.
Though the workers admit that their
employers provide money for medicine,
they are in the form of loans.
“We don’t want to take loans from seths
during emergencies but there are no other
options,” said 45-year old Shivpal who took
a Rs. 35,000 loan from his employer last
year. His son and wife have both been
working without pay since then to pay back
the debt.
By registering these workers under
Labour act and Building and other
Construction Workers Welfare their futures
can be guaranteed. Under them, workers are
provided financial assistance for education,
medicine, pensions and regulated wages.
The labour department of Chhindwara
which is currently registering coal mine
workers has done little for the brickmakers.
Legislation like The Minimum Wages Act
1948, Contract Labour (Regulation and
Abolition) Act 1970, and The Building and
Other Construction Workers (Regulation of
Employment and Conditions of Service)
Act, 1996 have little impact here.
“We are currently involved with
registration of coal workers. However we
are understaffed and it is difficult to cover
every casual labour,” said J.S. Yadav, the
local Labour Officer.
No ceremonies for SCs
DIA REKHI
Tiruvallur: Caste manifests itself
in obvious and subtle ways, but its
existence is undeniable. The
Draupadi Amman temple in
Tiruvallur is one of the main sites
for the annual Thimithi festival that
occurs for 18 days between July
and August.
In cities, temples are meeting
places for all Hindu communities
but in Tiruvallur many devotees
refuse to perform the sacrifice with
members of other castes. D. Rekha,
a 27-year-old housewife, recounted
how her father-in-law performed
the sacrifice religiously.
“He started performing the
sacrifice when he was 20. When he
heard that the temple was starting
the sacrifice again he was ecstatic
but refused to attend when he
realised other castes would be
there,” she said.
N. Arumugam, a temple priest
said that, “Nearly 900 devotees
performed the sacrifice but now
there are only about 300.”
T. Mano, a 54-year-old maid, has
lived opposite the temple all her
life and has fond memories of the
festivities. “People would come
here from far off villages, balconies
would be full of people hoping to
get a better view, some sat on the
The Draupadi Amman Temple in Uthukottai. Photo: Dia Rekhi
temple wall while others climbed
trees to see the ceremony,” she said.
Around 1990, the Scheduled
Castes (SC) wanted to participate
as well. There was stiff opposition,
however, from the Mudaliar, Naidu
and Chettiar communities.
Without any resolution, the
temple stopped the festival for 20
years. In 2011, the government
used
the
Temple
Entry
Authorisation and Indemnity Act
1939 and the Scheduled Castes and
Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities)
Act 1989, to provide SCs the right
to participate in the festivities. This,
however, has done little to prevent
the return of caste tensions.
B.Selvam,
Councillor
of
Pudukuppam , said that “This is a
village for the Vaniyar caste and no
one else,” while J. Kanchi (65), an
Irula coolie, said he knew no one
from the nearby village of Puddure
as it was dominated by Naidus.
Legal actions alone cannot
eradicate caste, especially given its
political weight. K. Murugan, an
ice cream vendor near the
Veeraghavan temple said, “As long
as politicians gain from caste, we
will not be able to remove it.”
Bucking the cricket craze
A wonan working at the brick kiln. Photo: Angikaar Choudhury
KUSHEL MADHUSOODANAN
Valparai: Amid a practice session on a lush
green ground located in the backdrop of
Valparai’s tea plantations, two people work
on the field, one, levelling the ground and
trimming grass and the other drawing lines.
They are Raman and Arul Raj, two of
Valparai’s best football players, who, despite
their daily chores, help the Bharathiar
University Arts and Science College in
conducting its intra-college tournament .
Raman (45), a porter and fan of Argentine
footballer Lionel Messi, says, “I have not
missed a single tournament ever since I
started playing. Now that I am old and cannot
play, I help organising matches in Valparai.
My heart has always been on the pitch. ”
Arul Raj, driver of the college principal,
who helps in trimming grass,says “It rains
for 6 months here and since football can be
played in rain, it obviously becomes the
automatic choice over cricket, volleyball and
kabaddi.”
According to Physical Education Instructor
Raja Perumal, the sport has been Valparai’s
oldest ever since the British settled here.
“They would conduct tournaments for their
estate workers and that tradition was handed
down through generations. Our college offers to
buy the kit for the entire team including shoes
and shin pads. It helps these students, many of
them sons of estate labourers , pursue the game
that they cherish.”
Valparai’s passion for football is in stark
contrast to the country’s addiction to cricket. It
is evident from kids of plantation workers
sporting the latest hairstyles of the game’s
premier icons like Ronaldo or Beckham.
Almost everyone is a fan of FC Barcelona
or Real Madrid with students pledging their
loyalties to either Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel
Messi. The “beautiful game” has been woven
into the cultural fabric of Valparai and can be
described as its single unifying factor. The
packed sidelines of the college ground during
a practice session would tell you so. A group
of college girls can be seen helping to clear
the ground of irksome pebbles and waste.
The performances of both school and
college teams have only enhanced the interest
in the game. For two years in a row, the
Valparai Government Higher Secondary
School team has been the runner-up in the
State Divisional Tournament conducted in
Coimbatore, in which schools
from
Udhagamandalam, Coimbatore, Munnar,
Tiruchi, Salem and Coonoor take part.
“I take my football seriously. It’s more
important than studies for me and I am sure
my teammates will agree,” said Anish
Kumar, captain of the school team. It’s that
pursuit that drives them to make their mark in
a sport that is considered second-rung in
India. “I have grown up watching my father and
brothers play the game with their friends in
tournaments conducted by the estate
management. The love for the game has been
passed on.” he said.