Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Living Together: The Life of Muslims and Hindus in a Kerala Village
Here is a recent post I made to a discussion on Muslim Resurgence in Kerala: Renaissance or Reaction, at Fourth Estate Critique, a Google discussion group:IN THE other thread, The Arrest of an Editor, on the arrest of People's March editor P Govindan Kutty, there is a discussion about those who are not eligible to be part of a democracy. Well, I think this is a related subject. Who are eligible to be part of a democratic process and who are not...When we discuss about Islamic resurgence, it is common that this same ambivalence surfaces. Are they part of a democratic set up, are they to be trusted or are they working in secret for something sinister, with some ulterior motive, something quite alien to our ethos?John, in his note, had described the Islamic society on a global level, in an excellent macro study. In order to address the same problem, I try it at a micro level, looking at my own village and our own life to understand the complex relationships that define and give shape to our society today.Now, who are this 'us'? I raise this question because I know that there is a deep, hidden casteism in all our social interactions. Hence, it is necessary to make a declaration about one’s own "identity" in relation to these social/cultural/historical discourses.I belong to a place called Omassery, a panchayat on the periphery of the erstwhile Eranadu-Valluvanadu taluks which were the epicenter of the Malabar Rebellion. The dominant castes there are as follows: the Hindu upper castes, mainly Nairs; lower castes mainly Thiyyas, Cherumas and Pulayas; and Muslims. The Nairs were on the decline, though there were caste practices even in our village. The Thiyyas had their own kavu, which we called Karumanakkal. (I don't know the significance of the combination of these words kavu and mana here). The kavu was administered by a committee of family elders who elected the ‘aviathan’, who ran the property and looked after annual celebrations like thira. The Gulikan Thira was one of the most important there. In fact Gulikan was an important deity, and he inhabited the tree. I remember that in our own family, we used to make regular offerings to Gulikan, known as Gulikanu kodukkal, part of the ritual was the sacrifice of a cock to him under the tree. Once my father enlisted me to help him in this and when I saw the blood gushing out of the slit neck of the bird, I backed out and refused to be part of it ever since. In this social structure, I remember that the Thiyyas and other lower castes were much closer socially and culturally with Muslims, who had no caste prejudices. Our village, as most other villages in Malappuram, Kozhikode districts was dominated by Muslims, mainly Sunnis.But a much more major bond these lower castes had with Muslims was economic, as they worked in their fields, and took daily provisions, often on credit, from their shops. And their children went to schools set up by Muslims. My pre-high school days were spent in Karuvampoyil Govt. Mappila School, set up by a Muslim landlord. We had two libraries there in the village, one a public library and the other set up by local Jamat e Islami halqua. Then came politics. Nairs and others (there was just one Namboodiri illam in the whole place) were generally Congress or RSS; the Thiyyas and lower castes Communist and the Muslims, League. Now these equations seem to be undergoing a change: The lower castes, some of them at least, are now being drawn to the RSS-Congress line. Still Communists are dominant.In this scenario, what is important is to realize that Muslims as a community had a dominant role, in every sphere of our village life. They still do have it and they are now leading others, mostly from the backward castes, along with them. So these relations are very deep and extremely complex, which no external ideologies like the Hindutva could easily penetrate or destroy. The same is the case with Muslims who had such a deep relationship with others, and no amount of Pan-Islamism could force them to abandon their village people. My mother, who is now 85, is an example: She is a great devotee of deities like Sabarimala Ayyappan, Kottiyur Amma, and Sree Muthappan of Parassini...(Remember none of these deities ever practiced untouchability.) But she is equally devoted to Karakkattil Thangal, who appears to have settled in the area some 250-300 years ago along with other thangals like Bafaquis of Koyilandy, Sayeds of Kondotty and Jifrees of Kozhikode.Same is the case with my father: His greatest friend and ally was Kottuvatta Aboobacker Haji, an elderly person who had spent decades in the Andamans in the wake of the 1921 Rebellion. (I don’t know whether he was deported for his involvement in the rebellion or he chose migration there as part of the Andaman Scheme launched by the British Government those says.)So who is eligible and who is not eligible to be part of a democratic process? And why do we keep our tongues tied when we speak of our own past, and present, at least that of a substantial section of our society, who never had a chance to speak out? 29.01.2008
Posted by chespeak at 10:11 PM 0 comments
Labels: Democracy, Secularism, Social Justice
Thursday, January 10, 2008

Mayilamma and the Struggles for Water
Remembering the frail old woman who stopped Coca Cola, defending the people’s right to waterI first came across Mayilamma a few years ago in Delhi. She was coming out of the Constitution Club in Rafi Marg, just across the Indian Newspaper Society building where I worked as a reporter for a Malayalam newspaper those days. She had come to the national capital as a representative of the adivasi-dalit action committee in her small village called Plachimada on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border.By then Plachimada and Mayilamma had become world famous. The dry village and the frail woman with untidy grey hair were by then symbols of a global resistance against Coca Cola. Mayilamma spoke to us Kerala journos in her peculiar dialect, which was neither Malayalam nor Tamil and one thing that was quite coherent was her loud and clear assertion: “We will never quit this struggle. We will not allow them to take our water.”It was water that pitted this woman who was in her late sixties, living with her four children in her derelict hut in the adivasi hamlet miles away from the towns and cities, against the global giant. She was born and brought up in Muthalamada, a village on the border of Palakkad. Then when she became 15, her father Raman and mother Kurumanda married her off to Mari Muthu of Plachimada. She came to live with him in the village bearing him four children when Mari Muthu died leaving her to carry on life.Life in these villages is tough. It is quite hot in the summer and the empty paddy fields dry up, the scorched earth emitting heat from within. The adivasis plant summer vegetable like water melon in the fields as inter-crop after paddy harvest, bringing water to nurse them from far away. That helps them survive in the off season when there is no work in the fields after the harvest is over. The village Plachimada is in the Chittur region of Palakkad district and it is a predominantly agricultural area, with paddy being the dominant crop. Sugar cane is also planted in some places and the main source of water for the villagers is the canals from the Malampuzha Reservoir which irrigates thousands of acres of fields. But water has always been in short supply, the cultivators giving up paddy as the costs were going up while their incomes came drastically down, and during the past two decades Palakkad had seen a massive drop in paddy cultivation. Even the State Government’s Statistics Department gave the figures that up to 40 per cent of the paddy fields had been converted into less water consuming crops like coconuts or simply left fallow, making the life of the adivasis and dalits all the more difficult. They had no land and no means to survive as the traditional ways of life came to a standstill. It was then the global giant came to their village. Armed with a license form the State Government and the local panchayart, Coca Cola set up their plant in Plachimada. Their rival Pepsi had another plant in another village, Pudussery.Within six months of their operations, all hell broke loose. The water level in the wells and other sources dropped in an unusual manner and the village turned into kind of a desert in a matter of a few months. Within the highly fortified compound of the Coca Cola plant, they had sunk six huge and deep wells that suck up all the sub-surface water leaving the villagers literally high and dry. The long trek of the women in summer months in search of water became longer and their anger boiling. It was then on April 22, 2002, the tribal women marched to the gates of Coca Cola company, and launched an indefinite satyagraha that entered into the annals of history. Police came in force, threw them out, they came back again and again and soon the agitation became a direct confrontation between the tribal women supported by the activists from all over the country and the world against the Cola giant. It was a long and arduous struggle. Mayilamma went to the small dilapidated hut they had set up in front of the gate every day and served water ands food to the satyagrahis, collecting everything from the public who supported their struggle. She was a face that appeared at the satyagraha scene everyday; whether it was rain or shine, whether she had work or not, whether her children had been fed or not. She was the public face of the agitation of these adivasi women who demanded that their water be restored to them. The struggle raised a number of issues and caught the attention of national and international press. BBC and others came, investigated the situation, exposed the lethal content in the chemical discharge from the plant that was causing harm to the soil as well, the High Court and Supreme Court intervened. The Kerala High Court in a landmark judgment against Coca Cola said that the right to water resources was a fundamental right of the people. A Joint Parliamentary Committee on colas and aerated waters set up by the Federal Government in Delhi sharply criticized to the excessive drawing of sub surface water for commercial purposes ignoring the need of the people living in the vicinity.As the struggle entered its 1000th day, Plachimada witnessed a huge turnout of activists and supporters from all over the world. The occasion was observed as world water meet which felicitated Mayilamma and others who launched this struggle. She was selected for the Outlook national award and was feted in many forums. This month the adivasi action committee is observing the first death anniversary of Mayilamma who died on January 6, 2007. She died after a long and hard struggle, her last days spent in acute pain as her skin was wracked with psoriasis. The one thing she repeated to all those who came to listen to her were these words: “We cannot leave our water to others. We need water from birth, we need it for our life and we need it till our death. Even after death we need it as we must wash the bodies of our dead before they set out on their last journey!”06.01.2008
Posted by chespeak at 6:04 AM 0 comments
Labels: Adivasis, People, Social Justice
Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Tsunami Breaks Villages, But Fails to Break Caste Walls
Remembering the Tsunami Experiences on its Third Anniversary DayBy N P ChekkuttyThe tsunami disaster brought into sharp focus the deep chasm between the two Indias : the India that is marching confidently ahead in the comity of nations and the India that lags behind, discriminated against and sorely lacking even in basic necessities. Even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, addressing the Confederation of Indian Industry in Kolkata, asserted that India’s decision not to accept external assistance and rely solely on its own resources to fight the calamity was an instance of turning adversity into opportunity, dalit workers who toured coastal areas of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were briefing the national media in Delhi on glaring instances of caste discrimination, even in the face of this horrendous tragedy.Activists from the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), Safai Karmachari Andolan and Sakshi Human Rights Watch, who toured dalit villages in the two states for over a week, brought back accounts of serious discrimination in aid distribution and rehabilitation between the fishermen community and dalits, both of whom were equally affected by the tragedy that struck on the morning of December 26. The tsunami knew only geographical boundaries, but we could see the deep and entrenched boundaries of caste dividing the affected people, said Paul Divakar, an activist from Hyderabad who is associated with the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, Delhi .Dalit activists Paul Divakar, Bezawada Wilson (Safai Karmachari Andolan), Dr S D J M Prasad (Sakshi) and others toured the districts of Kanchipuram, Thiruvallur, Chennai and Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu, and Prakasam and Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, for an on-the-spot assessment of aid delivery and rehabilitation in the weeks following the tsunami tragedy. They reported several cases of caste discrimination against dalit refugees in both states, even amongst the official machinery.In a note prepared by the activists, based on their enquiries, they report extensive damage to dalit households and property in all the five districts they toured. Livelihoods have been destroyed and water sources contaminated by seawater. In many places relief camps were organised along caste lines, with separate camps for dalits, with aid distribution in the camps often erratic. There were instances of dalit hamlets being completely ignored by officials and organisations involved in aid delivery. Official estimates of loss of life and property have not been properly carried out in dalit areas; where they have, the losses have been underestimated. There were cases of unidentified bodies being buried close to dalit settlements despite the availability of land elsewhere. Restoration of drinking water, roads, public health services, communication facilities etc were done faster and more efficiently in fishermen areas while dalit areas were neglected. The extrication of bodies was done only by manual scavengers who are exclusively dalits. For this, ‘safai karmacharis’, as they are called, were brought in from neighbouring municipalities and corporations. They were offered no additional benefits and were paid only Rs 25 a day as additional wages. They had to work without proper protective clothing like gloves, face masks, etc.The team of activists visiting villages in Prakasam and Nellore districts in Andhra Pradesh said relief deliveries of rice, medicines etc reached only fishermen communities, not dalit areas. At Urla Palem, in Prakasam, the district collector, local MLA and MP who toured the fishermen village did not visit the dalit colony which was also badly affected by the disaster.Activists reported that assessments of dalit loss of property were underestimated as the dalits did not own pucca houses, unlike the fishermen community which was comparatively better off. They said revenue officials generally took the view that fishermen communities were the only ones that were financially destroyed by the tsunami, as they owned tangible assets like boats, nets, etc. In the case of dalits, who are equally dependent on the coastal economy and environment and who suffered just as much as the fishermen, the losses could not be quantified in the official sense. So dalits are at the receiving end of a double loss, as official estimates of losses from the tsunami do not take intangible losses, like damage to the coastal environment, into account.The Urla Palem salt cultivators are an example. Around 500 dalit families in the village of Urla Palem were engaged in extracting salt from 175 acres of land near the sea, under the auspices of the Binginapalli Scheduled Caste Salt Cultivators Society. These fields are now completely submerged, filled with saline water and sand, and it will take at least another month to clean up the area and resume work. Villagers told the team of activists that officials assessing the losses had not visited the dalit colony once to find out what the situation there was.A survey by the team in five districts of Tamil Nadu reveals the following information: In Kanchipuram, although 2,332 dalit houses were damaged, 365 head of cattle swept away, and 55 acres of land affected, no dalit family had received any aid. In Cuddalore, 20 dalits died, 614 houses were damaged, 13 boats lost and 19 head of cattle perished. But no aid was given to the dalits. In Thiruvallur (16 deaths, 102 people missing, 3,810 houses damaged), there was some aid distribution among the dalits. In Chennai (30 deaths, 2,825 houses damaged), aid has been made available. In Nagapattinam/Karaikkal (113 deaths, 1,914 houses damaged), aid has been distributed among the dalits.Dalit activists say the discrimination does not seem to be a conscious effort on the part of the officials. It stems from age-old practices and prejudices. Separate camps for dalits and non-dalits were set up in places where there had earlier been incidents of conflict between the communities.The activists also came across areas where camps had been jointly organised, and where communities lived together. One example was Poppukar camp, in Nagapattinam, where activists witnessed fishermen, dalits and members of other communities living together in a relief camp after the tsunami struck.Activists say that once media attention is drawn to instances of discrimination, higher officials respond quickly. But lower down the ladder, apathy and animosity towards dalits still exists in many villages.(The information detailed above is based on discussions with the team members in Delhi on January 12, 2005 . The situation regarding aid delivery is likely to have changed as local officials have been briefed about the survey’s findings)(N P Chekkutty is a senior journalist based in Delhi ) InfoChange News & Features, January 2005
Posted by chespeak at 2:35 AM 0 comments
Labels: Social Justice
Sunday, December 9, 2007

Get out Dalits, We Are Here to Develop!
Valanthakkadu: A Dalit Island’s Encounter with DevelopmentBy N P ChekkuttyThe tiny island of Valanthakkadu in Maratu panchayat off Kochi is a unique ecosystem. Just one kilometer away from the national highway in the midst of the commercial capital of Kerala, the 246-acre island is surrounded by the richest mangroves in the southern parts of the State. Situated in the Vembanadu Lake, Valanthakkadu is home to a variety of fishes that are unique to estuaries as the lake itself is a mixed water-body of salt and fresh water extending to hundreds of kilometers to the east spread over the districts of Ernakulam, Alapuzha and Kottayam.Till a few months ago, Valanthakkadu was a sleepy village where only 44 families lived, all of them poor fishermen who eked out their livelihood from the lake around. The main sources of their livelihood were fishing, collection of shell fish like clams, growing of prawns in enclosures and cultivation of a particular variety of rice known locally as pokkali, a unique rice variety seen only in these parts. The rice plants are seen above the salt water while their roots are sunk in the lake’s bottom.Valanthakkadu’s social and ecological system is now in turmoil: The island in the heart of the commercial hub of Kerala is the envy of builders and land-developers. Around 200 acres of private land, which remained idle for generations giving a common fishing and cultivation ground for the people – normally they are submerged in water except in summer-- have been taken over by the builders’ lobby with a view to developing it into a high tech city that will bring huge investments and money.As the workers from the builders’ firms recently descended on the island in large numbers and started cutting down the mangroves surrounding the village, people rose in protest converting this small island into a scene of contest between the band of developers on the one side and the deprived people on the other.“We lived here for generations and all of us supported ourselves with the natural resources available in the island,” said Sahajan, a youth in his twenties, who is now one of the leading activists of the Committee for the Protection of Valanthakkadu, set up recently. He pointed out that except for a few youngsters who are employed as casual labour in the booming construction business in the city, the entire population of the island depend on the rich ecosystem for their living. He says the people are not impressed by the offers being made by the builders and developers who have promised the State Government to set up a high-tech city that would generate 75,000 new jobs and modern houses for those who live in the island. “Why do we need those houses as without this ecosystem we will have no way to survive here?” he asked.But Valanthakkadu has many other aspects that speak of the lesser known casualties of the march of development. On a visit to the island last week, this correspondent came to realize that of the 44 families living in the island, except for one Christian family, all others are Dalits, belonging to the Pulaya community. As untouchables in a caste-ridden society, they were sent to this uninhabited island in the midst of the lake a few generations ago. Now they are once again being uprooted, as much of the land in the island is originally owned by rich families who live in the mainland. Each of the settler family in the island own around 15 to 25 cents of land in their possession, while major share of the land in the island is owned by outsiders whose properties were till the other day hired as common fishing and cultivation areas. A socio-cultural study of the island revealed much more interesting aspects: Most of the families have their own fishing nets and other traditional implements which are now predominantly used by womenfolk or older people as the youngsters prefer to cross the lake in search of jobs outside. The island is connected to the outside world through a ferry boat manned by 65-year-old Vasu Chettan, who says he gets around Rs. 50 a day. It was evening as we crossed the water, little fishes jumping in the still silver-coloured water partly covered by green hyacinths and the island a majestic view of scenic beauty.The boat lands at the foot of the Primary Health Centre, the only public institution in the island which has not even a primary school to boast of. The few and scattered houses, a few of them tiled and concrete structures, can be reached through narrow footpaths. Most of the houses are modest dwelling places and one could see the fishing nets and other implements hanging from the walls. There are two types of nets, the prominent one mainly used by men who go out into the lake in boats and swing them wide, and the other- a smaller variety-- used by women who tackle the smaller species of fish. Women also collect clam and other items of shell fish diving deep into the water. The mesh-size of nets are made in such a way that younger fishes are allowed to escape.“We go for fishing early in the morning and sell whatever we get at the market across the lake,” said Biji, a 36-year-old woman who is unmarried. She said her mother Chinnamma, 65, takes the fish to the market and normally they get nothing more than 50 or 60 rupees a day. “We have no other income, our brother is bed ridden, and we don’t know what we will do when we are forced out,” she said.Ambika Gopi is a mother of two and she was on her way to the lake with her small net as we met her. A former president of the island’s micro finance group, Kudumbasree, she said her family’s only income was from fishing. They have recently bought a small boat and fishing net with a loan of Rs. 10,000 from the micro finance unit and have to repay Rs. 350 towards the loan every month. She said she has two children, a girl going to a degree college and a son who is admitted to a private course for which she has to shell out Rs. 400 a month as fee. “The new owners of the land are not allowing us to fish and we will face doom if the Government does not intervene to save us,” she said. Most of the families have similar worries to share with the outside world. But except for a few activists like C R Neelakantan, a nuclear scientist turned environmental activist, who is associated with the Valanthakkadu Protection Committee, few people from Kerala’s public life have come here to investigate. One exception was Kallen Pokkudan, a Dalit activist and campaigner for the protection of mangroves, who is known for his heroic efforts for the preservation of mangroves in the northern parts of Kerala. “Pokkudan came here and he was horrified by the way this precious ecosystem is being wantonly destroyed,” said Neelakantan who accompanied him on the visit. An indigenous expert in local mangroves, Pokkudan was able to identify 12 varieties of them in the island. He felt that this is the largest system of natural mangroves in the southern parts of Kerala.Neelakantan said the Valanthakkadu Protection Committee has petitioned the State Government against any destruction of the fragile ecosystem in the area. The committee also has filed a petition with the Kerala High Court against any move to destroy the mangroves in the island. The Chief Minister has instructed the Industries department to take into account the concerns of the local people before any MOU is signed for the development of the proposed high tech city. But the local people are wary about the promises as they fear they are powerless against the immense resources of capital invading their village.Originally published at www.infochangeindia.org)
Posted by chespeak at 10:18 PM 0 comments
Labels: Social Justice
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