The quiet of the sleepy hamlet of Njaraneeli, around 40 km away from the State capital, is disturbed by the media contingents trooping in after the news of an 18-year-old girl’s suicide broke out around a fortnight ago.
This tribal hamlet in Peringamala grama panchayat has come under the scanner mainly after many suicides are reported from there in recent times.
Official sources claim that over 40 people, mostly youngsters, have taken the extreme step since 2012. However, the intense media scrutiny and the high-profile visits, including those by Minister for Welfare of SC/ST and Backward Classes A.K. Balan and Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, have surprised many here.
“While many have died here due to various reasons in the past, a customary visit by an official from the local police station was all that we have been seeing. For once, there has been an attempt to understand what ails our society,” says Sreedharan Kani, the Ooru Mooppan (tribal leader) of the Ilanjium hamlet. Njaraneeli, Thevarathukavu, Eezhacode, Alummoodu, Kattilakkuzhy, Kuruppankala (Kuruppanakunnukala), and Kallana are a few of the other settlements of the Kani tribe in the region.
While there is no dearth of welfare schemes intended for tribespeople, such assistances have evidently benefited few here. The unpaved road that connects the tribal area, which extends around 7 km from the main road, is in a bad state. Most of the residents live in thatched shelters, which, surprisingly, have mostly been electrified. However, the absence of water supply schemes forces them to depend on streams. Toilets are seen as a luxury, which can be afforded by only a handful. “The beneficiary lists for various welfare schemes that are sent to the ST promoters are often altered to include the influential few. As a result, the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) has done little for our welfare,” Mr. Sreedharan said.
Unemployment has also affected the tribespeople severely with many youngsters finding it difficult to land jobs. While there are two public schools nearby — the Dr. Ambedkar Vidyanikethan CBSE Model Residential School and the Government U.P. School Njaraneelikani — not many pursue education beyond Class 10.
Deepthi, a nurse employed at the SAT Hospital, a government mother-and-child centre, in Thiruvananthapuram, is one of the two in the area who has been fortunate to complete nursing education. “Many students have to trek at least 5 km to reach their school. Carrying those afflicted with diseases for long distances to receive medical care is a common sight in these places,” Deepthi says.
For the tribal population that has managed to minimise the consumption of hooch over the years, the addiction among the youth towards liquor and tobacco has acquired worrisome proportions in recent times. “For many youngsters, who dropped out of school, a trip to one of the two Bevco outlets around 7 km away to purchase alcohol is a routine affair. Shutting down these outlets will go a long way in solving much of our problems. There are also many who find joy in consuming suka (tobacco) that is mixed with slaked lime (chunnambu),” Vikraman Kani, a government employee, says.