The Hindu : `Notorious' tribe turns a new leaf

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 16, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

`Notorious' tribe turns a new leaf

By G. Nagaraja

LAKKAVARAM (W.Godavari DT) OCT 15. Tucked in a corner abutting this remote village in Jangareddygudem mandal of West Godavari district, the habitation of `Yerukalas', a denotified tribe, appears to be eager to erase the tag of notoriety associated with it over the decades and struggling hard to turn over a new leaf. "Please, don't recall our past'', is the common refrain from the village folks if any inquisitive outsider tries to trace their history. They do not want to inherit the legacy of crime to their descendants any more.

Once crime was their profession and their source of livelihood as well. And the midnight knocks by the men in khaki were quite common for them in the past. They were known as "Lakkavaram gangs'' in police records. It's all history now. The habitation with over 100 families has shun crime. And consider it a taboo now.

According to the Lakkavaram police, none from this community is wanted by them now though some were convicted earlier. Although K.D. (known depredator) sheets against four persons continued till recently, they were closed after their reformation, the police said.

The entry of Christian missionaries in the habitation helped a lot in their reformation. A pastor, Prasad, told The Hindu that a youth, who was the last person in the list of offenders, had turned an active missionary. "Now the village is completely free of crime.

There are, however, conflicting versions about the origin of this settlement. Some say a group of Yerukalas had migrated to this place from Stuartpuram in Guntur district over seven decades ago, while others refuse to subscribe to this view. The inhabitants engage in matrimonial alliances with their Stuartpuram counterparts. But none boasts of his relationship for obvious reasons. The community witnessed a rapid development on the literacy front. To quote the pastor, there is absolutely no illiterate among men. As many as thirty persons from the community studied up to intermediate and graduation and found jobs in Government departments, which included police, excise, commercial taxes and banks. Female literacy is also quite impressive with more than 20 having studied up to 10th standard and even Intermediate.

They are demanding their due share in all the spheres of administration. Dwaraka Devi, a 10th class qualified and ward member, said she would no longer put up with the dominance of the village sarpanch of upper caste at the gram panchayat meetings. She led a delegation to the district Joint Collector, Y.V. Anuradha, recently against the `virus' of commissions in the Housing department. She said the inhabitants were demanded to pay 10 per cent of the amount to be released for reconstruction of their dilapidated houses in the form of commissions to the employees of the Housing department. Houses were distributed to them during the regime of Indira Gandhi.

Women have been formed into three DWCRA groups and engage themselves in thrift activity. Another pastor, Bhaskar Rao, wanted the Integrated Tribal Development Agency based at K.R. Puram to reach out to the locality for the latter's over-all development. The roads formed with gravel are in a bad shape. The cement roads laid under the Janmabhoomi programme were confined to the areas inhabited by upper caste people only, he alleged.

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`Notorious' tribe turns a new leaf