Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 05, 2008
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Monday, May 05, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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Tamil Nadu
They are in need of community certificate Without it, schools do not admit their children KODAIKANAL: Owing to an inordinate delay in issuance of community certificates, people belonging to Paliyar tribe are unable to avail benefits given by the government for the Scheduled Tribe community. Worse, they are not able send their children to school. The condition of tribal people of Adalur and Kumbaraiyur on Kodaikanal hills and Thenmalai in Sirumalai hill is pathetic. A group of 32 families with children live on a rocky terrain near lower Kumbaraiyur village. It shifts base from one place to another for survival. Without permanent houses or jobs, they live in makeshift plastic sheet-covered shelters and eat tubers available in the forest. While forest officials prevent these people from entering reserve forests, owners of patta lands chase them away from their farms after extracting work. “Landowners allow us to stay in their farms for two or three months till we convert the hilly terrain into cultivable land. Once the work is over, they chase us out mercilessly,” said Rani, a tribal woman. Tribal welfare associations had been struggling relentlessly to get community certificates for them. But revenue officials refused to issue them stating that there was no proof that they were Paliyar tribals. InspectionWhen the issue was brought to the knowledge of the then Collector, P. Amudha, she deputed an anthropologist to check their physical features and lifestyle and submit the findings. After conducting an inspection in last December, S. Sumathi, anthropologist and lecturer in University of Madras, confirmed in her report that they were indeed Paliyars. They had been living on the hills for three generations. Several families were displaced from the forests three years ago. Some tribals in Anna Gundu area were forcefully displaced after the land was bought by private parties. Their basic requirements were housing, education and livelihood support, she noted. With these recommendations, the present Collector, R. Vasuki, also advised officials to issue community certificates to them. But, despite all these efforts, nothing has been done till date. Further delay would wipe out the chance of admitting their children to schools at least in the ensuing academic year, said a tribal woman.
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