CHENNAI: The families of KC Srinivasan and 15 others work in a coffee plantation in Karnataka’s Chikmagalur, nearly 600 km from their native village, Kaviyam, in Kallakurichi’s Kalvarayan Hills. And yet, these tribals never fail to vote, travelling back home ahead of every election.
“Though elected members have failed to keep their promises, we exercise our duty,” says 49-year-old Srinvisan. Back home, he is a street artist-turned-farmer who is known for his therukoothu. But in Karnataka he’s just another nameless migrant working for a subsistence wage.
Like many tribals in Tamil Nadu, Srinivasan too struggles to claim ownership of the small piece of land in his village where he grows rain-fed crops such as millets. He has no patta.
“There are quotas available for the community, but we cannot access them because getting a community certificate is next to impossible; red tape mars the process. Without these certificates, dropouts have increased,” says R Chinnasamy of Tamil Nadu Tribals Welfare Association. He recollects the 2015 gunning down of 20 tribal men from Dharmapuri and Tiruvannamalai districts in Andhra Pradesh’s Seshachalam forest by the special task force to check red sanders smuggling. “If employment opportunities were available at home, our people wouldn’t have to risk their lives to make money.”
The tribals of the Western and Eastern Ghats constitute a mere 2% of the state’s population and, not surprisingly, remain invisible on the electoral map. The Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006 that could get them their basic rights exists merely on paper.
“Tribals are nothing but a means for the forest department to access forest produce,” says Nagasaila, an advocate who has been fighting for the community.
For close to eight months in a year, the tribals live in Karnataka and Kerala as labourers in coffee and pepper plantations, and in Chennai and Bengaluru as construction workers. “It is possible to generate employment for the tribal youth by establishing small industries that can convert the forest produce into value added products. But no goverment has listened to us,” says J Kannan, a tribal youth from Jamunamarathur in Jawadhu Hills in Tiruvannamalai.
The tribals of Vepparai settlement in Valparai, slam political parties for visiting them only during elections and forgetting about them until the next time.