The Hindu : Kerala News : A clinical look at tribal population

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Tuesday, Nov 27, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala

A clinical look at tribal population

The lifestyle, songs, and customs of the Adivasi have always evoked curiosity and fascination; which is why books on tribal people have always been in demand.

However, ‘Adivasikalude lokam – vanavasikal’ (Tribal peoples of forests) authored by retired Chief Conservator of Forests C. K. Karunakaran is different, in the sense that it is untouched by ideological hues. It also seeks to correct some popular misconceptions about tribal people.

The author, by virtue of the offices he held in the State government’s Forest Department, has had a ringside view of Adivasi life and is therefore able to provide a clinical look at their life in this book published by Kerala Bhasha Institute and released at the book festival organised by the Institute in Kozhikode recently. ‘Adivasikalude lokam – vanavasikal’ analyses the lifestyles of 21 tribal groups found in the State. “This is an attempt to provide an overall picture of tribal communities residing inside the forests, their traditional customs relating to dress, marriage, faith, and funeral. It also touches on their educational and vocational status,” says the author. “Photographs of various communities have been included in the book to help the reader understand primitive life better,” he adds.

A popular belief that the author exposes as being factually incorrect is that all Adivasis live in forests. He says it is a myth since only 23 percent of the nearly 3.64 lakh tribals in the State now live in forests. Of the 35 tribal groups found in the State, nearly 10 live outside forests.

But he agrees that depletion of forest cover was a principal cause for tribal people leaving the forests where they had lived in perfect harmony with nature for centuries. Population of STs in the 1981 census was less than what it was in 1971. But this does not mean there had been a drop in ST population. It happened because the Pulaya community, 80,000 strong in the 1971 census, was excluded from the ST list in 1976. It was the exclusion of the Pulaya community that was reflected in the decline in ST population in the census held in 1981.

The census in1981 showed that STs formed 1.3 per cent of the State population. In 1991 it was 1.10 per cent and in the last Census, held in 2001, it stood at 1.09.

Going by census figures, the rise in ST population in the1981-91 period was 22.75 per cent .Though it was less than the national growth rate of STs in this period, which was 31.24 per cent, it was higher than the overall population growth in the State in that decade, which was only 14.32 per cent.

The book contains fascinating information about 21 Adivasi groups living in the forests – these are the Adiyan, Irulan, Ulladan, Ulari, Kadar, Kattunaikkan, Kanikkaran, Kurichiyan, Kuruman, Kurumban, Paniyan, Palliyan, Mannan, Mala Arayan, Malabandaram, Malayan, Malavedan, Malasar, Maha Malasar, Muthuvan and Hill Pulayan communities.

R. Madhavan Nair

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