Kerala - Kozhikode   

`Tribal people on the verge of starvation'

Special Correspondent

Nalla Thampy Thera says free ration given to them halved `Free ration has been halved'

Kozhikode: Nalla Thampy Thera, social activist in Wayanad, whose public interest litigation in the High Court led to legislation on restoration of alienated land to tribal people, has emphasised the need for urgent governmental intervention to improve the lot of tribal people. He says tribal people in many places in Wayanad are on the verge of starvation because the free ration of rice given to them has been halved to 5 kg in some places, and that too is not being distributed regularly.

Mr. Thera said in a memorandum to Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, a copy of which had been submitted to the Wayanad District Collector, that tribal and other poor people were suffering from acute deficiency of animal protein because of the ban on trawling and consequent scarcity of cheap fish.

To meet nutritional needs of these disadvantaged sections, the Government had to arrange for distribution of at least 2 kg each of ragi and green peas to ration-card holders, he said in the memorandum.

Mr. Thera said tribal people who had received free land from the Government recently were unable to cultivate it since financial assistance or necessary tools and manure had not been provided to them.

Remedial measures

He appealed to the Chief Minister to immediately take remedial measures on this issue so that those given land would be able to benefit fully from the Government's welfare scheme for landless tribes.

It was necessary to limit the area of land given to each landless tribal family to two acres instead of five acres.

The question of giving more land could be considered after all tribal people in the State were given land. It would ensure that all eligible landless tribes would get land.

He said water-borne diseases and other diseases common in the monsoon had affected tribal people in Wayanad. But since Government doctors were on strike, they were not getting proper medical attention.

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