Dear Asha, This report below is based on a visit in December '99 to the Irula villages in Thiruvallur district. The visit was made by four Asha Chennai volunteers: Anand, Chitra, Shanmuga and Vidya. It is presented here as an evaluation visit for the project proposal submitted by Bharathi Trust to Asha. Chapter Coordinators are requested to discuss the proposal at their project meetings and get back to me if interested in supporting the project. For now I'll be the Asha India contact person for this project. Warm Regards, Shanmuga
Thiruvallur District is the northernmost district of Tamil Nadu (to the north and north-west of Chennai and bordering Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh). It was part of Chengalpattu district, which was divided into Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts. Thiruvallur district has eight taluks namely Ambattur, Gummidipundi,Uttukkottai, Pallipattu, Poonamallee, Ponneri, Tiruttani and Thiruvallur. The district headquarters in Thiruvallur Taluk is also called Thiruvallur, as is common in many districts of India. This city is well known for the Veeraraghavan Koil and the innumberable rice mills in and around it.
Anthropological literature says that Irulas belong to the Negrito (or Negroid) race, which is one of the six main ethnic groups that add to the racial mosaic of India. Negroids from Africa were the oldest people to have come to India. These people are now found in patches among the hill tribes of south India (Irulas, Kodars, Paniyans and Kurumbas) on the mainland. Unlike the survivors in the Andaman Islands who have retained their language, Irulas in Thiruvallur have adopted the local regional languages, namely Tamil and Telugu.
Anand, Chitra, I and Vidya met at the Chennai Central Railway Station and left for Thiruvallur on a sub-urban train on Dec 11th 1999 morning. From the Thiruvallur station, we were taken to Bharathi Trust office by the Trust's van and we joined the staff for a discussion.
The Irulas lived in the forests and until about three to four decades ago maintained a system of mild interdependence with the neighboring villages. They used to sell honey, honey wax, firewood,etc. and in return get village products for their use. Their food was obtained mainly within the forests – both the vegetation and wild animals.
Following the Forest Protection Bill of 1976, the traditional homes, livelihood and lifestyle of the Irulas had become illegal. The Irulas started moving to the neighboring villages in hope of rebuilding their lives.
As the traditional agricultural laborers were migrating to the cities or were becoming increasingly contumacious, Irulas were a welcome alternative to the land-owning farmers.
Irulas are recognized as a Scheduled Tribe and are eligible for benefits of reservation in education and job. However, for this they need proof in the form of a Caste Certificate (CC).
Distribution of CC is done by the government and takes a tortuous path of approvals from Village Officer, Revenue Inspector, Zonal Deputy, Tehsildar to Revenue Divisional Officer(RDO). This is done ostensibly to prevent CC being given to undeserved ones. But in reality, Government officials giving false SC/ST CCs by taking bribe is not uncommon. It is the Irulas who are given a tough time.
When we go to get our certificates we are insulted by questions like, "Do you eat rat meat at home ? Can you catch snakes ? Why do you not have curled hair? You are too tall to be an Irula girl?". It is true that Irulas ate rat and snake meat. But this has changed now. We are now living in villages as agricultural laborers. Also only such derogatory things have become common knowledge. Our ancestors also used to feed their children mashed "Katti velli Kelangu" mixed with freshly extracted honey.
Shanmuga: How then will you identify an Irula?
Saroja: Well, we could look at their tradition and culture. How they celebrate their festivals and marriage ceremonies and the songs and dance forms. These are common for all Irulas. We could also make enquiries in their respective village as Irulas live as a strongly knit community.
Shanmuga: What if there is only one Irula before you like how the government people meet you in an office.
Saroja: Then you can find out from the language accent and dialect, in both Telugu and Tamil. This is unique to Irulas.
Shanmuga: But accent changes when people move ?
Saroja: But isn't this better than asking us if we eat rats ?
Lack of caste certificate closes doors for college admission or government job for the few Irula children who manage to pass the 12th exam.
The Trust staff also complained about noon-meals not being given out in Government schools. The budget allotment of Rs.1/child/day implies that as such nothing substantial can be given as lunch. Further the cook receives a monthly salary of Rs.70 and the supervisor about Rs.250. Thus the grains bought are not even sufficient for both their family needs!
After this discussion we dropped by the home of Siddamma, founder-coordinator of Bharathi Trust and from there we left for visits to the villages in the Trust van.
Uncared and in stark isolation, our Irulas live here. Their contact with the rest of society is through the main village, as coolie workers in the farms. There is no water facility; the Irulas are not allowed to get water from the main village pond.
Just a few months ago, the Irulas in Kottakulam were given legal possession of land (seven cents for each family) and the government gave Rs.35,000 to them to build group houses. A house is one tiny unventilated concrete room! The Irulas have built their traditional huts nearby for cooking purpose. Construction of group houses comes under Tribal Welfare Scheme. There is a separate Commissioner of SC/ST.
Asha Chennai volunteers held a discussion session with the villagers (about 80 of them) - women, men and children.
A handful of Irulas here have ventured beyond their immediate neighborhood. Ramalakshmi, the president of the Sarpam Village Committee, is probably the only elder to have gone to Chennai along with other village representatives to apply and followup for the group housing scheme.
She asks Asha Chennai volunteers pointedly, "Now you've given us these houses. But we also need livelihood to survive. What do you want us to do next ?".
Siddamma, looking at our puzzlement, explained that Ramalakshmi has mistaken Chennai volunteers for government officials. As far as she is concerned we are the power structure.
However, the Trust staff, being Irulas themselves, have a close relationship with the Irulas here. As we came and left Kottakulam on short notice (we also went a bit late), the Secretary of Sarpam Committee started chiding Siddamma, "Madam has become a big lady these days. She won't stay with us even for a day when she visits us. She will also go to eat in a bigger village."
The children were extremely shy. They do not take bath, as there is scarcity even for drinking water. Strands of brown and blonde hair are interspersed with natural black hair. This is not in line with imitation of Caucasians, current in urban India, but indicative of extreme malnutrition and lack of hygiene.
Bharathi Trust organizes excursions (trips to Chennai) annually - about 5 kids per village are picked up in turns. Of the fifty odd children present for the meeting about ten attend the balwadi in the main village. The distance of 3 kms to the balwadi is a constant strain for the kids and most are likely to drop out when it comes to going to regular school. Illiteracy is 100% in this village.
The villagers appeared a bit more aware here. Ramakrishna, the Sarpam Village Committee President, and a couple of women were the most vocal. We also noticed that the villagers were more familiar with Telugu than Tamil.
Earlier referred to as Rasapalayam Irula Colony, the villagers are calling the village as ST Nagar. We pointed out to the villagers that "ST Nagar" is no name and whether they should not choose one more appropriate and without reference to their social standing. The villagers agreed and requested Asha volunteers to give their village a new name. We suggested that it be named "Senchiamma Nagar" or "Senchi Nagar". This was readily accepted as Goddess Senchiamma is the kuladeivam for Irulas everywhere.
The situation of children was similar to that in Kottakulam. The small fraction of the kids attend the balwadi and slowly drop out. Some of them need immediate medical intervention.
In these two villages, Bharathi Trust would like to start motivational centers. The basic idea is to have a balwadi going for two to three years to motivate the kids, build the habit of going to school, get all the kids going to neighboring government schools and then close down the balwadi. This concept has been successful in two other villages (Gandhigram and T.B.Puram) and a third one is ongoing in Thiruvallur.
Siddamma was having a light fever and would during the course of the evening run very high temperature. I here summarize our conversation at her home.
Siddamma: Bharathi Trust works for the upliftment of Irulas and empowerment of women. It started its activities in Gandhigram in 1992. In 1994, it was successful in getting land for the Irulas and by 1997 withdrew from Gandhigram. Now there is a Sarpam Village Committee(SVC) in the villages which takes care of all village administration.
SVCs are operational in 30 villages and 30 more are in formation. These villages are mainly in the four taluks of Thiruvallur, Tiruttani, Uttukottai and Ponneri. Activities are also starting in Gummidipundi taluk. While Bharathi Trust is an NGO , SVCs together form people's organization. But most of Bharathi Trust staff (all fieldworkers except Siddamma) are Irulas themselves and are derived from the SVC leadership. With 100% illiteracy in most villages, education emerges as one of the Trust's primary focus. In Gandhigram after years of effort the enrollment in school of children is now above 97%.
Shanmuga: What is this group house idea all about ? The Irulas are obviously not comfortable in it and that's why they've built the mudhouses near it.
Siddamma: We've been working for getting the group houses for nearly seven years. It is part of our longterm strategy. What you saw are the fruits of our labor.
Firstly, the Tribal Welfare Scheme is explicitly supposed to build these houses. But we have to constantly push them to do their work.
The group houses are the only recognition of existence of Irulas in the society. The regular visits made by officials regarding this has been a way to raise awareness on both sides.
It is true that the Irulas are not used to concrete houses. Also the government has not given any thought to develop an appropriate design. But with time, the Irulas learn to live in the houses, they remodel the house to suit their needs. Sometimes, as in the case of Kottakulam we've managed to get seven cents of land per family while they need only one or two cents. The rest of the land can be used of other purposes like home-gardening or setting up a small shop. If the Irulas had taken up this much land on their own the other villagers would have opposed it. In fact, government approval of the land and construction of group houses has created a new respect for the Irulas in the society.
Also now that we've the government documents of land and houses, we can demand for basic civic amenities like water and electricity to be provided.
Our SVC leadership was also developed primarily through this work.
Shanmuga: What is the total population of Irulas ?
Siddamma: I don't know the numbers for entire India. But in Thiruvallur district the lower estimate will be 25,000. They usually live in small communities of 50 to 100 families ( but in some villages upto 500) and are spread out in 300 to 500 villages.
You haven't seen the Irulas living in worst conditions: those living inside the rice mills. Dozens of entire families live and work for decades inside the mills. There is complete lack of health and hygiene and they are simply ruled over by the mill owners.
There are also some Irulas still living in the hills and are refusing to come down. I am not sure what fate awaits them as they are sure to be removed from the hills by the forest department.
Shanmuga: I feel your Irulas-only strategy is very good. Why not work for other underprivileged, particularly Scheduled Caste(SC), people also in your area ?
Siddamma: This is an important topic and comes up for debate in our Trust meetings.
Ultimately we need policy level changes to uplift the Irula community. For this we need to become a political force and the Irula community is too small and thinly spread out for this. So strategically speaking, we need to join hands with other oppressed people, like the Scheduled Castes. I'll give you the reasons in detail why we do things the way we do.
Firstly, the Irulas are the poorest of the poor and socially most deprived in this area. So the limited resources we garner should definitely be directed towards the Irulas.
Secondly, we did try to include some SC people as the Trust staff in past. Soon they started dominating the meetings and our Irulas withdrew from discussions.
Thirdly, SC people, though still poor and oppressed, have developed a political conscious to fight back and have started demanding their rights. Irulas do not even react. They are not even aware of their basic rights are human beings.
Fourthly, there are quite a few NGOs working with SC or Most Backward Classes(MBCs). I once went to do flood relief work with SC people who do footware repair near Gandhigram. People from an NGO of that area stopped me from doing any work claiming that it was their area. We cannot work properly when such fortress like NGOs impede at every step. For the Irulas, none other than Bharathi Trust is working. So we want to first strengthen the Irula communities before going for an integrated approach.
I would like to point out that though we don't help out others as a community, the Trust does go beyond its basic agenda for individual help. For instance, we played a major role in bringing awareness about the murder of a 12 year old girl, Manjula, by her father, who had remarried. Also recently, Irulas and Bharathi Trust raised Rs.80,000 by holding cultural shows for sending a SC boy to an international weightlifting competition in Italy. We are proud that the boy won the gold medal in light weight category.
Shanmuga: You are not an adivasi yourself. What is the social dynamics as the only non-adivasi working for Irulas in this area ?
Siddamma: As far as the Irulas themselves are concerned this has never been an issue. Problems are created only by those who want to keep the Irulas oppressed. They bad mouth me and spread messages to weaken the popularity of Bharathi Trust among the Irulas. But this has only strengthened my ties with the people.
I come from the powerful land-owning Lingayat community of Karnataka. My knowledge of how landowners maintain their stronghold on the oppressed has been invaluable in dealing with tensions here. Also I have faced severe social pressure from my family following my marriage to my Christian husband. So I am not the person to give up because of such pressures.
But in the long run, I would like all activities of Bharathi Trust be handled by the Irulas themselves so that I can withdraw from here completely. But for now there is a lot of work to be done.
Shanmuga: Where do you get the funds for the Trust ? How did you buy the van ?
Siddamma: The Trust received onetime grant of two lakh rupees from HIVOS. We are using this for the Trust's staff salary and will keep us going until part of 2000.
I have a CRY fellowship of Rs.4500 per month and its term is getting over soon. I have requested CRY to renew the fellowship.
The van was bought using funds sent by a Belgian girl, Muriel Jellet. Muriel is a student in Brucel University and she visited us in 1997. She came here more as a tourist but her attitudes changed after staying with the Irulas particularly when she participated in relief work during heavy floods. She raised Rs.3 lakhs in Belgium and we raised one more lakh here to buy the van. We felt the van is most essential if we have to reach out to dozens of villages through the tough terrains on a daily basis. Muriel also sent us part of the funds for the first three motivational centers.
Shanmuga : How did you get started with community work for Irulas? Do you have training in social work ?
Siddamma: I have teacher training and a Diploma in Social Work. I was working with Manthara , sponsored by Oxfam for alternative education. I used to work with Lambadi children in Karnataka who work as laborers for the Lingayats. I have also worked with ragpicking children in Bangalore for while. In 1986-89 period I did some work in slums. and in 1990-92 for Women's Rights Organization.
In 1989, I started to work for a non-gipsy man, a Naidu, who was actually supplying gipsy children for housemaid service. At that time I thought it was good for the children as they were gaining employment. I was also badly in need of financial assistance at this time. He was getting Rs.500 for each placement. He was well-connected and placed servants of many known people including M.S.Swaminathan and R. Venkataraman. He was also running an All India Irula Development Association. The Association was doing nothing except for collecting Rs.10 membership from all Irulas who came to visit him.
Once he jokingly referred some Irulas to me, "Talk to Siddamma, she may be able to help you". After listening to them I decided to make a visit to their place in Thiruvallur. After seeing their condition, I started making more visits. I noticed how the powerful made "false cases" and locked up insubordinate Irulas. I still didn't know what to do but used to stay there for a week and simply observe what was going on and then come back to Chennai. The whole thing was "like receiving a tonic".
In the meantime, I was awarded a CRY fellowship and immediately after receiving the fellowship I moved with my family to Thiruvallur. My husband, Edward, works in the Secretariat and has to commute to Chennai everyday.
In 1993, I started teaching in Gandhigram and in 1994 I trained a teacher and gave her a salary of Rs.400 from the fellowship I received. In 1994, I also managed to obtain some land for the Irulas in Gandhigram. From then on, our work has been steadily spreading to other villages.
Shanmuga : Why not approach government to run the balwadis ?
Siddamma: The concept of motivational centers on a temporary basis is not something the government will appreciate. Also we are dealing with first generation learners whose parents and ancestors have never been literate; they need special attention.
For a permanent balwadi the government has stipulated some requirements: at least 500 people, 40 kids below the age of 5 and no school within 3 kms. Many Irula villages don't meet these. The officials ask the Irulas to send their children to balwadi in the main village.
So we want to run the centers and build a conscious among the villagers about the importance of education. Also sufficient funds for proper nutritional care is needed.
Shanmuga: What about other activities ? Did you try applying for loans for the women, form self-help groups(SHGs) , etc. ? Did you try working with other NGOs here ?
Siddamma: Yes, I once went to CAPART to get loans. For every Rs.15,000 they expected a kickback of Rs.3000 and the thing ended there.
Formation of SHGs is over-rated. The villagers already have a traditional savings scheme called "Ammavasai Panam". We need to strengthen this rather than put all the money in the bank. Also not much can be done by simply forming women's groups without proper land rights and human rights.
We would like to work with NGOs but would be careful in choosing the right ones. For example, some NGOs run night schools and give carpet weaving training for the children. This seems to reinforce the notion that these kids are fit only for such work. Also many NGOs are very territorial in attitude. In a recent conference of NGOs about child labor, I met Shanta Sinha from Andhra Pradesh and was impressed by her work and ideology. It is with such people that we plan to build ties.
Shanmuga: What are your future plans for Bharathi Trust ?
Siddamma: We will continue to reach out to more villages and help in the formation of SVCs. We also want to continue our demands for land and group houses based on successful precedent. Our new work will be in bringing basic amenities like water and electricity for the villages. For the older generation this is what we can do. For the children, we want them to be educated. For this we want to continue the motivational centers as the first step. In the future we would like to develop our curriculum for the balwadi (and say 1st and 2nd standard) with focus on Irula culture. This is important as the children get to hear only derogatory reference to their own culture from everywhere.
In general, we want to make use of the government machinery to get things done. Personally, I would like to spend more time on policy level issues at the state or national level. For this we need to build leadership among the Irulas themselves to handle Bharathi Trust administration.
We also discussed about my future plans. Siddamma gave her blessings for my travels. She also wanted to be part of any national coalition Asha may form of individuals or organizations. She requested that Asha start playing a role in campaign networks working for policy level changes (eg. compulsory primary education or abolition of child labor) at the national or state level.
We visited a large piece of land recently allotted for Irula group housing. This will be given to 40 villagers and 70 plots were for families currently living in rice mills. For the Trust this was a new beginning: to be able to bring Irula families outside the mills. The adults will continue to work in the mills, but now there is a chance for regular interaction and the children can be saved from the cycle.
The village was immersed in complete darkness, save for the light from distant sources. The arrival of the van (throttle and headlights) created a brief commotion. Krishnan, Cluster Coordinator of Bharathi Trust, had admitted his daughter in a hospital on the very same day (hence was absent earlier for the Staff meeting) and people came around to inquire if everything was okay.
Years of work by Siddamma in Gandhigram has paid off well. Irulas here are the most vocal and aware. Some of them now cultivate in their own land. Some have cattle. SVC here is very active; police have to first talk to the SVC leaders before making any arrests or inquiries. There is a television in the village common (It is kept in a separate room and is operated by the person in charge). SVC leaders from Gandhigram routinely visit far off villages to motivate other Irulas to form similar committees.
Krishnan and his wife, Dhanalakshmi, ward member for Gandhigram in the Town Council, welcomed me to their home. Deep into the night they narrated story after story of atrocities (ranging from burning of houses, beating up insubordinate Irulas, getting them arrested by cooking up false allegations on them) by higher castes. Even now the land behind Krishnan's home is cultivated illegally by a higher caste person who lives in the main village, Pudhur. I vaguely remember dozing off during the narration; the couple took it gracefully and walked me to another home where an extra cot was available.
Early in the morning, before sunrise, Krishnan and I took a walk through the land which is now cultivated by the Irulas. Krishnan operates a water pump from his house that supplies water from the well to Irulas' land. He himself does not own any land.
We came back just in time to meet with the men who were making their way to the Poondi Reservoir for fishing. I, Krishnan and Murali went from house to house inquiring about the motivational center and also about how the children were studying.
Almost all the children are going to school all the way upto 12th standard. The young ones are attending the Pudhur school and the older ones attend the Kanagamma Catram School. When asked if they need the motivational center in the village again for the kids born after the previous center was closed, the villagers feel that its not necessary as it has now become a habit for all parents to send their children to school. The villagers feel that what they need in Gandhigram is not a school but training for the emerging educated youth in some trade. There is an unspoken pride among the villagers that the organization of Irulas through SVCs began in their village.
We then visited the village temple of Senchiamma and the now-dismantled motivational center. Krishnan says he is persuading the BDO to build a community hall in the village common, so they've dismantled the center to gain space.
As we walked Krishnan pointed out many herbs that the Irulas have brought down with them from the hills. The leaves of one of them are used to cure snake bites – tiniest bit of this leaf can (and does !) leave a bitter taste in one’s mouth for the whole day. Ramesh, a 12th Standard student joined us. Ramesh held tuition classes for children while the motivational center was operational. He wants to pursue college study in Mathematics, but is insecure as he still does not have a caste certificate. I advised him to go to Thiruvallur and talk to Siddamma about his future.
Ramesh is acutely aware of the upcoming IPR regime. He says, "Why talk about such special herbs, even neem and basmati rice are being patented by these companies". When asked why they would not document such knowledge, he replies, "Among Irulas, we have an outdated tradition of not giving out such information. Our elders will never tell anyone about the herbs. Only in their deathbed they will choose a youth and teach him the names and function of the herbs.".
In parting, Krishnan repeated the request to see if I can help Gandhigram start some cottage industry so that the youth can be gainfully employed. I and Murali during our journey back to Thiruvallur by bus discussed several issues related to Irulas lifestyle and culture. To give an example,
Shanmuga : How do the Irulas respond to intercaste love marriages ?
Murali: If it ever happens with our youth, our people will go and pick up the one who belongs to Irula community. We will also ask the other community to pick up their child. The boy will be scolded more than the girl.
Shanmuga: You mean to say this has never happened ?
Murali: Actually, recently this happened. An Irula boy ran away with an SC girl. But the boy was already married. So our people will not stand by him. The SC people have taken the girl back. The boy is absconding, if he is found, they'll definitely hack him to death and we can't protect him. If we do, the situation will only worsen into communal clashes.
After a brief exchange with Siddamma in Thiruvallur, I was dropped at the railway station by Edward, her husband.
The proposal for motivational center was written up in the current form by two students of S.P.Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai as part of their summer project. It was originally written for consideration by CRY India.
Mrs. Rema Menon of CRY Project Support Group has requested Asha to consider the project. She says that both CRY India and CRY Inc.(USA wing) are short of funds this year and can take up very few new projects. CRY has however renewed Siddamma's fellowship recently. Rema Menon gives a strong recommendation for Asha to support Siddamma's work.
Some advantages of picking up this project: