Rahul Gandhi contesting the 2019 elections from Wayanad is being seen as a major boost for the Lok Sabha prospects of Congress and the UDF in Kerala. The hill region of North Kerala, as also other parts of the state, saw a festival-like environment when the Congress president arrived in Wayanad, accompanied by sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and senior Congress leaders including former chief minister Oommen Chandy, to file his nominations earlier this week. There was a road show, attended by a huge crowd of Congress workers and supporters from across the state, and also from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. They all gathered at Kalpetta where Rahul and Priyanka met the people of Wayanad. However, all this jubilation failed to enthuse and excite a particular group of people — the native tribal communities living in Wayanad colonies.
Wayanad district, which lies in the north east of Kerala, has the largest population of tribal people in the state. There are eight major Scheduled Tribe communities in the district. Even though Kerala boasts of 100 per cent literacy and development in many spheres, these communities complain that they have always been sidelined. Many of them live in impoverished conditions without proper food, shelter, clothing, education and healthcare. They survive on daily wages, and remain jobless on most days of the year.
Meppady, a beautiful place with cool weather and coffee plantations, is situated around 15 km away from Kalpetta where Rahul’s chopper landed after taking off from Kozhikode. It is a locality with numerous tribal colonies. Kairali colony at Mukkil peedika is one of them. Nearly 150 tribal families belonging to the Paniyar community live in this colony. Their dwelling units are very small sheds made of mud. Electricity came to these houses only a year ago. Four years back, the block panchayat had granted Rs 6 lakh to each family to construct new houses. But the residents claim none of them has received the full amount yet. The contractors have stalled construction owing to lack of money and material. Many of these houses have no doors and windows.
Janaki, a resident of the colony, says she is yet to receive Rs 3 lakh out of the total amount. Showing her unfinished house, she adds: “People of political parties come here only at the time of election. They need us only for voting. But we have never missed even a single election. All of us go and cast our votes regularly. We never lose hope.”
Janaki’s house occupies a portion of their 1-acre land. Almost all houses in the colony possess this measure of land, and most are documented. But they can make only a meager income out of these. The scorching heat has drastically affected the pepper and coffee crops. “We used to make extra money and would buy small gold ornaments with it by selling pepper seeds and coffee beans. But for the last several years, we have been getting insufficient amount for pepper and coffee,” says Janaki.
And then, there are settlers and middlemen from outside the colony, she alleges. These “outsiders” come here and purchase our produce after heavy bargaining.
“The people here are jobless in rainy season. Vendors from outside make use of their helplessness and buy these produce at much lower rates. Some families give their land on lease to these outside people at meagre amounts. This is what actually happens. The real owners and producers continue to be exploited,” says Ajeesh S, a local resident who runs a beauty parlour at Thamarassery.
Lack of roads, insufficient water for proper irrigation, lack of knowledge in newer farming methods and dearth of work on daily basis add to the grievance of these people. “My friends and I used to build roads on our own during holidays. Last week, we built an inroad into this colony from the main road. We have fed up pleading for help from the authorities. Now, if we require roads we make it on our own. I completed the work on my house, for which the fund was to be granted by the block, using money from my pocket. I am yet to receive Rs 1.8 lakh from the block. I am able to do it because I stay and work outside. But most of the people in this colony live and work here only. Many of them are aged above 60. It is impossible for them to go outside and find a job at this age,” says Ajeesh.
The block as well as village authorities, however, say construction of around 50 houses in Kairali colony have been completed. “These are the houses on which work started way back in 2005 under the Indira Awas Yojana. The houses that could not be completed were given assistance after including them in the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana. Now, there is LIFE scheme initiated by the state government. There is no dearth of schemes. All they require to do is proper follow up,” says a block panchayat official.
While Kairali is among the “comparatively well-to-do” colonies in the area, there are some with no electricity, water and work. Just half a km away is Pathikkad colony with more than a hundred houses. The colony was built 15 years ago after many families left the colonies they were living in earlier as they were getting overcrowded.
According to locals, “Communist party workers” grabbed land from the forest department and handed them over to these homeless families. The residents cleaned up the forest land, built small huts and sheds and started living. They have no documents to prove their residential status and hence have no electricity and water supply.
“Ours is a hell like situation. We fetch water every day from downhill. It is a terrible job to do. My house has seven people. Myself, my husband, who has another wife too living nearby, my son and his wife, my daughter and her husband and their little daughter,” says Ammini who does not know her age. Her son Achuthan,45, cannot do lavbour-intessive jobs due to poor health. “When we were in Jayanth colony, we used to get 4 litres of kerosene from the ration shop. But now we don’t have any documents so that we could not prove that we had no electricity. So we get only half a liter now,” says Achuthan.
“Can anyone call this a house?” Ammini asks pointing towards her shelter consisting of a half-closed bedroom space with a corridor separating it from a small kitchen space. “All houses in this colony are in a similar condition. During rains, the rooms are filled with water. We have sleepless nights then,” she says.
The nearest schools are at least 5 km away from these colonies. Children have to walk at least 1 km to get a bus. Most of them drop out of school at a young age because of lack of money for bus fare. And most start working early, as young as 10 at times. “There are educated people in these colonies. But they do not have jobs so they also rely on daily labour. My brother had cleared an exam conducted by the forest department several years ago. But he did not get the job. People with more influence were appointed,” says Ajeesh.
There are young people who get to live in government-run tribal hostels. But when seats are filled, the rest find no other option but to stop studies.
The Mooppanad Village Extention Officer says the land on which Pathikkad colony is built is linked with many cases. “Firstly, it is a forest land which was grabbed by the tribals. The government and the forest department have filed law suits over this land with different coffee plantation companies. So it is difficult for the present inhabitants to get documents to prove their residential status. In Kairali colony, construction of almost 50 houses have been finished under various schemes. This colony was also an encroached land. But over years, they could secure the ownership.”
Cheera is Janaki’s aunt and lives in a colony at Poothammoola in Meppady. She has recently bought a television and is aware of Rahul Gandhi’s visit. “I saw it in news. All politicians are same. They visit us only at the time of election. Our struggles, joblessness and other grievances are not their matter of concern. None of them come here even once after election. We attend gramasabhas regularly, raise voices and give applications. But nothing has changed. We cannot sit for protest every day because only when we work hard we can meet the ends. Otherwise, our children will die starving. I have cast vote regularly. This time I have to think whether I should go for voting or not,” she says.
None of these houses have toilets. Open defecation is a normal practice. The Swaminathan Foundation had granted Rs 4 lakh for 10 houses in Kairali colony three years ago to build toilets. But the mud houses they built have started crumbling.
Officials, meanwhile, say there are schemes like LIFE to help tribals build homes, though they have limitations.
“LIFE cannot include those houses which have doors, windows and roofs. Houses with doors and roofs are considered livable. Such houses are excluded from the schemes. But newly constructed houses without roofs are included under LIFE and will be given further assistance. Besides, majority of them believe that each house will be given Rs. 6 lakh. As per the scheme, assistance up to Rs. 6 lakh can be provided. But if a house is half built under some other scheme, LIFE will provide money only to complete the construction. This is how it works.” says the Mooppanad Village Extention Officer, who also says there are tribal housing schemes apart from IAY, PMAY and LIFE under which money upto Rs 3 lakh can be granted for each house.
Meanwhile, a solace for these families is the 30 kg rice that they get free of cost from ration shops. But for big families, this is still inadequate. People with sufficient land have tried cultivating vegetables. But they don’t find ways to protect the crops from being attacked by pigs and monkeys.
Many also claim lack of knowledge about the schemes available, illiteracy and dearth of leaders among themselves to speak for them fail the tribal communities.
If won from Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi has a big job as hand. With the highest number of tribals in the state, who have long been marginalised, Wayanad seeks a helping hand. Meanwhile, as politicians go about campaigning to get power, a whopping 1.36 lakh people of Wayanad silently protest, staying away from the jamboree.
(The writer is a Palakkad-based independent contributor)