Conversation with Siddamma
June 26th, 2002

The Irulas have undertaken a hunger strike in protest
against being banned from fishing in Pazhaverkadu.
This 'ban' has been imposed on them by fishermen
belonging to the majority community since May 1. The
Irulas went on the strike yesterday (25th) in near the
Kamaraj statue in Tiruvellore.

The police had been watching them, but did not take
any action to break up the hunger strike because they
did not want the affair to become a major issue. So,
in the night, a temporary government order was issued
by the PAC of the area (just below the rank of the
District Collector), allowing them to fish again in
the lake. The strike was called off. But today morning
when the Irula fishermen went to the lake to fish,
they were not allowed to. Siddamma told me that the
Sarpam Irular Thozhilalargal Sangam was planning a
more affirmative action, in the form of 'Road Roko'.
No one even touched a drop of water during the strike.
They were ready to court arrest if need be, but they
wanted their demands met. The situation has been bad,
since it is nearly 2 months since the ban. One
fisherman, Arumugam, has even died of starvation. The
Bharathi Trust along with the Irula people plan to
take
this up as a human rights issue and demand
compensation from the government for the loss of
livelihood of these people for the past 2 months, as
well as an ex-gratia compensation of Rs. 2 Lakh for
Arumugam's family. They are taking up the issue with
the National SC/ST Commission to get some speedy
resolution to the problem.

With the help of the funds they collected, including
from Asha, they were able to procure some rice and
distruibute it, but since there are 200 families, each
with some 6-8 people, this measure was hardly
anything. The local youth have also been frustrated
because of lack of avenues to utilise their education
(several of them are educated till the 12th Std.).
There have been proposals of setting up mechanic sheds
(since the village is near the Pune-Hyderabad Highway
and there aren't too many mechanic shops on the way),
but lack of resources have been the obstacle in this
regard. Even though some people have offered to give
them technical guidance, to set up a workshop would
require some funds, which they currently dont have.

The fish population of the lake has been dwindling
because of several factors, not the least being the
releasing of hot water and effluents from the Ennore
Thermal Power Plant (ETPP) nearby. Also, the
"mugadwaram" ( I dont know what it is, but I presume
that it is some connection to the sea) has been going
down, and because of this, the water has not been
replenished, and consequently the fish have started
dwindling. ( I am not too sure about this bit). When
the ETPP was proposed to be built nearby,
the fishermen fought against the releassing of
efluents into the lake. But the Government offered
them compensation in the form of jobs if they let the
plant be built. But once the plant was built, they
were not compensated as promised. The local fishermen
have been fighting over this issue wiht the
government. Instead of trying to solve the root cause
of the depletion of the fish, the government has tried
to divert the attention of the fisherpeople by
pointing out that the Fishing nets of the Irulas have
been the cause of the problem since they have been
destroying the young fish before they are able to
reproduce.

But Siddmma tells me that that is not true since the
Irula nets are not small enough to trap smaller fish.
Another main cause of the pollution has been the
effluents released by the shrimp farms near the lake
which produce on a massive scale. Not surprisingly,
many of these farms are owned by politicians
themselves. Hence their eagerness to divert the
attention from the main problem.

Another problem that this particular group of Irulas
face is that they have been dependent on fishing for
so long for their survival that they do not know any
other occupation. Also, because they have
traditionally been known as rat-hunters and snake
hunters, the other fishermen from the majority
community ask "You are Irulas, why do you want to
fish? Why dont you go and catch rats and snakes?" She
was particularly aggrieved that this same casteist
line was taken by a representative of an NGO (The
Human Rights Federation)working with the local
fishermen community.