#irular

Indian tribal communities, like Irular in Tamilnadu experience violation upon their human and citizenship rights the most in the country. Government promotes quite a few beneficial programs for historically disadvantaged castes and tribes but it doesn’t mean that the benefits actually reach the needy. Too often poor people miss out of all the privileges that the state promises them as a help to escape poverty, the reason is the corrupted bureaucratic system that makes it close to impossible for a “small person” to even prove his legal existence. When you are an unregistered person, the authorities don’t have to fulfil your demands, so they don’t.

Irular women in front of the Collector’s office in Kancheepuram

South Asian Village Empowerment supports Irular people’s struggle for basic identity documents and other required legal papers. On early Monday morning, September 28 we accompanied Jagatha, a leader of Irular Women’s Rights Movement and SAVE Intl’s coordinator in Thiruporur block along with 70 Irular mostly women with children to Kancheepuram, the district capital two hours away from Mamallapuram. The original idea was to make a peaceful agitation in front of the Collector’s office but we actually managed to make a point by submitting all the petitions collectively. Irular people are struggling for three main issues: Community certificates and Family cards, Land Registration deeds and Bonded Labor. All the 256 applications from 70 families were submitted together under a collective petition to oblige officials to pay proper attention to them and make it harder to disregard the petitions claiming that papers are lost or misplaced. There were also journalists invited to cover the event to put additional pressure -- publicity does appear to force people to do their jobs… sometimes.

On the way to Kancheepuram

Signing petitions

Irulars in Tamilnadu have been experiencing difficulties in obtaining Community certificates for some decades now. These certificates recognize their existence in the eyes of the government, state which tribe they belong to, hence give them a Scheduled tribe status that oblige the authorities to protect their rights and ensure social benefits provided by law. Community certificates are also mandatory to have for children to finish last two years of high school (11th and 12th grades), for the first ten years of basic education schools don’t require these papers. It means that when the local government officials give Irulars hard time obtaining documents for themselves and their children, they actually deprive children of an opportunity and a right to finish school, not to mention higher education. People who are issued the certificate have an undeniable right to claim reserved seats in colleges and universities to receive higher education and government institutions to get secured and paid jobs. Irulars wait for years to finally get these basic identity documents for their families, only those who persistent and noisy enough are lucky, the rest usually give up after the first attempt.

One of the main reason why Irular people have such difficulties with official documents has to do with the fact that many adult Irulars are illiterate and shy about it, and hesitate to fight for their rights. They have to have a leader who can organize them and help with filling the applications and writing petitions to ensure brighter educated future for their children. There has been recently an article in the Indian Express about 15 Irula families from Unnai village who have finally received community certificates after 30 years of struggle, though the procedure shouldn’t take more than 2 months. In some cases it requires to make a demonstration in front of officials’ offices to get their attention.

Another big issue that Irular community petitions authorities about is Land registration. Irulars used to be nomads, they were forest keepers and snake catchers. In the process of both the Indian government acquiring the lands for infrastructure and increase in reserved forests, Irulars were forced to move out of their natural inhabitation and settle at the outskirts of villages and alongside the roads. Authorities as a compensation for their forced movement provided housing but only for a very few people. For example, Arungundrum MGR Nagar, one of the Irular villages we are supporting was built 70 years ago by government but people who are settled there don’t have any legal claims for the land and can possibly face eviction if it is required for “development”. The concrete houses in the village are not secure anymore, people stay in thatched huts next to them. This example is actually one of better offs, Irulars in other villages are living in much poorer conditions, not to mention the ones who are forced to put their houses alongside the roads without water, electricity and any sanitation (though sanitation is an issue everywhere here). Petitioning government for collective land registration for a village (not even personal housing) is a necessary action to give these people a sense of security about the places that they have settled in, to ensure them that they won’t be chased away when the wind blows the other direction, but it is a long process.

Irular tribe doesn’t have a public face, a political representation to protect and support them. Because Irulars are illiterate and don’t enjoy protection of the officials and generally are very humble people, many of them were forced to debt bondage in agriculture due to lack of alternatives after they lost their main occupation of snake catching in 1970s. Authorities do try to find and release people from exploitative conditions of bonded labor when they become aware of it, but this is all they do, they don’t provide necessary means for people to have a chance to earn decent money or any other kind of support, except 1000 rupees ($15) per person. After being released these people find themselves with no place to stay, no money, they can’t find a paid job and also lack necessary skills for it. Some people have to go back to debt bondage: despite the inhuman conditions and long hours of hard work this is the only way for them to get some money to support their families, and it also in some wicked way gives them assurance of food on the table from time to time. Irular villagers from Jeeva Nagar – another village SAVE Intl supports - are mostly released bonded laborers. They were given the land to stay on by the Communist party of India some decades ago (there is a red flag hanging on the road leading to the village), though also don’t have legal right for it. These Irular people did manage to stay away from debt labor after being released but some of them still work on rice fields nearby for little money.    

An example of a released certificate issued by the local gvernment officials

Right now we are waiting for an official reply to the petitions submitted, ideally issued documents. If there won’t be any actions from authorities the next step is to make noise -- an actual demonstration.

Irular people in front of the Collector’s office in Kancheepuram

India has the largest tribal population in the world, yes more than any other country in Africa. It is about 84.3 million people, nearly 8.2% of the country’s total population. Tribal communities for far too long were considered insignificant in the strictly divided by the caste system and religion Indian society. Even more so than so to speak “official” outsiders like Untouchables who were still relevant to the system to provide such “services” as, for example, to take dead animals from villages where in other times Dalits were not allowed to be seen. Nowadays all tribal communities go by the name Schedules tribes, that puts them in the lowest position right next to Scheduled castes or even lower. To be fair the terms Scheduled castes and tribes were invented to be able to ensure rights of these communities, to secure educational and employment seats in government institutions for them. Tamilnadu has the highest quota among all the Indian states for such reservations – 69% (50% for Backwards castes, 18% for Scheduled castes and 1% for Scheduled tribes). Of course, it doesn’t work all that perfect and raise many question in the modern society.

One of the biggest tribes in Tamilnadu state, Irular is the main concern of SAVE Intl, organization I am volunteering for. There is an opinion that Irulars were the original inhabitants of South India before Tamils came, though information about the tribe is limited. Irular people were forest keepers, they were adept in handling snakes and making herbal medicine from wild plants. According to the study “Living Conditions of Irula Tribes in Gingee Taluk, Villupuram District of Tamil Nadu” by Dr.Sinu.E, Dr.Udaya Mahadevan, published in 2013, the tribe was displaced from its original habitation as the reserved amount of forests has grown and at the same time rapid infrastructural development has taken place in the region. People were left landless though some families got government housing in return. Irulars also lost their occupational life and major source of income after government banned the export of snake skins in 1976 under Wildlife (Protection) Act. (These days one has to have a license to catch snakes, and usually these people hire Irulars to do it for them.) What happened to Irular tribe was a major crisis for them, considering that most of the people in India still bore a believe that a person or a group can only exercise a particular occupation depending where on social scale one is. Many of Irular people were forced to become bonded laborers (basically slaves), mostly in agriculture. Many of them have gotten their freedom just recently, some are still in debt bondage.

Irulars live separately in thatched huts in small groups on the outskirts of bigger villages, some have to live alongside the roads without electricity or water supply. Knowing where they are coming from, how they had to survive and how hard-working, shy and harmless these people are, it brings the strong feeling of unfairness, as so many other things that happen in this world of ours every day. Such devastating social conditions Irulars pushed into are only little due to a fault of their own: these people are harmless, they have no idea how to fight for their own rights, as many poor people around the globe. Irular women are very beautiful with gentle manners and warm smiles. They are modest but hold themselves with dignity. Meeting an Urular woman on a street, one would never think that she lives in such deprived circumstances. In the Irular villages, I have visited so far, there were almost no men around, only women and children. Several men I have noticed were not involved in any discussions, doing their own thing and letting the talking to be done by women, who seem to be in charge of decision-making. To make a stronger point, the community coordinators of SAVE Intl in Irular villages are women.

One of the houses that was built by SAVE Intl

Many in Irular tribe don’t have a community certificate, an important identification document that is required to get into 11th and 12th grades of high school (which are not part of mandatory basic education), to apply into colleges and claim jobs in government institutions secured for them by the state (quotas I mentioned earlier). Some of the reasons why they can’t get this certificates are flaws in the reservation policy, corruption and interest confrontations. There is an opinion that officers responsible for the job, mostly from Backwards castes, prefer to delay issuing these certificates to STs to make sure that reserved seats in colleges that are not taken by these communities go to the caste higher, meaning theirs. The wide spread practice is to make people come several times, every time making excuses that their papers are lost or they need to pay additional fee of 500 rupees or something else. Some people wait years to finally get this certificate. Some time ago, Jagatha, one of SAVE Intl’s coordinators in charge of the problem with the certificates organized a protest in front of the local authorities’ office to demand them to do their job. There were journalists and photographers invited not to let the matter go unnoticed. It didn’t, there were several articles in the local newspapers, and in no time 56 certificates were issued. But then again after short time everything went back to “normal”.

Embroidery project

One of the ways to empower Irular women that SAVE Intl came up with is Embroidery project. The aim is to teach women a new skill that could be used as means to earn money for a living, and more importantly it is about cultivating self-respect and self-worthiness. The project is work in progress at the moment, women are still improving their skills. The organisation provides them with fabric, threads and beads, guides them when needed but usually just lets them use their own imagination for patterns and colors. It seems like Irular ladies have a natural gift and necessary patience to do such craftsmanship. They get paid depending on quality and size of their work. Some of the women, as I mentioned previously, are true artists. The main concern right now is how to turn it into a self-sufficient project. The thought is to make bags, small purses, cushions, gift cards with Irular women’s embroidery on them. This way we hope people could be interested in buying those, locally and abroad.  

What I love about this project is that teaching Tamil women how to make embroidery is not something completely alien for them. Women embroider patterns that have a very special meaning for them: they come from the traditional floor drawing practice called Kolam that is an important part of Tamil culture. In other regions of India they have their own floor drawing styles with different names in different areas. Kolams are made before the threshold of the house and before the household deity within the house for different reasons (to beautify the house, as symbols, as ritualistic drawings for religious purposes) and are different depending on the occasion, and also vary from house to house. The kolam is a type of mandala, every morning before sun rises women draw patterns into an unbroken line, leaving "no gaps for the evil spirit to enter" and inviting the goddess Lakshmi in the house. In informal way kolam signals that the house is inhabited and everyone in it is in good health, and also that there is a woman living there. Also kolam made from rice powder is created as an offering to small non-human creatures. The rice flour feeds the ants, birds and other animals. 

Making a kolam is considered to be one of the signs of Indian womanness. Through the kolam women act out their roles as protectors and caretakers of the family, according to the article “Invitng the goddess into the household” by Vijaya Retakkudi Nagarajan. No surprise that Irula women enjoy to embroider these patterns on fabric. It is a way to continue on and interpret their own culture using new means.

India was never a country of my dreams or even interests. Partly the reason lays in a prejudice of India as a place for “westerners” to seek so called enlightenment in ashrams or to seek freedom and/or happiness on the beaches of Goa. Nothing personal, I know this is not all that happens. This was just the idea that I had in my head, and I wasn’t looking for any of these.

After 1 year in Kenya I was looking for a grass-roots volunteering opportunity on a community level in a small NGO that hopefully does more good than harm. I was mostly interested in women empowerment and community development projects. I came across an organization called South Asian Village Empowerment (SAVE Intl) that works in Tamilnadu, South India. The majority of Tamilnadu are people who are considered to belong to so-called Other Backwards Castes (socially and educationally disadvantaged) as they named in the Constitution of India, significant percentage of them are Scheduled Castes (another term for Dalits or ex-Untouchables) and Scheduled Tribes. SAVE Intl focuses primarily on Irular tribe but doesn’t limit its work just by one community. The NGO works on several projects: housing, water pump systems in several villages, tuition classes in 24 centers around Mammalapuram area, limited amount of scholarships and - the one that caught my eye in the first place – Embroidery project. Excited about this opportunity, I took my chances and came to India to break my own prejudices by personal experience. I have been here for about a week now, so far I am convinced that SAVE Intl does an honest and admirable work in the area.

Embroidery workshop

The founder of SAVE Intl is an American Curt Degler, or John as they call him here (which is his middle name), who started his community work in partnership with a Tamil man Sonny somewhat 10 years ago. John is a New York born Californian who first came to India in 2003 as a tourist and a retired man and stayed in Tamilnadu ever since. I have to say that it wasn’t a sudden love from the first sight. John told me he has developed an interest in Tamilnadu back in Undergraduate school when he studied anthropology as a major subject, but afterwards took a career path in a different, more moneywise life secure direction. Nevertheless, I suppose, life finds its way back to our true passions. 

John (first on the righ) and Sonny (second on the right) 

John is a storehouse of knowledge of Tamilnadu’s reality, its politics, culture and language, religious practices, etc. It seems like he has an answer and a book for any question you have about different practices here. John tends to speak about subjects rigorously in many details, until he exhausts the matter completely which makes conversations with him interesting and very knowledgeable but requires sometimes  patience from his companions. They call it pedantic, as once he told me himself. I have to say that sometimes John is difficult to work with especially when he gets stressed by too many things happening around him, but he is admirably passionate about his work. John is very respectful and kind with locals, he takes his time to explain and listen. He always speaks appreciatively of efforts people make to improve their own life. I believe, his ability to speak in Tamil (not fluently though) among other things gained him much respect from local communities. John’s partner Sonny is a Dalit. Sonny is a mediator between John and deprived people in the area, he finds out where there is an immediate need of a new roof or a house for a widow or which village or school could greatly benefit from a water pumping system. I really like Sonny, he is very caring, always makes sure that I am in a good mood. Sonny knows quite a few words in Russian, and he pronounces them very well. He learned them back in 80s when there was some kind of nuclear agreement between Russia and India, and there were many Russians in Tamilnadu.

Few words about Tamilnadu and India. I don’t know much about the whole country and suppose one can’t really talk about India in general: politics, economic growth, education levels, cultural codes and language vary from region to region significantly. Local authorities are the ones who hold here the real power, national government over the years after independence settled on overlooking duties. Tamilnadu region is a special place in many aspects. Politics in Tamilnadu are quite amusing if not absurd. Many political leaders come from Kollywood  – second biggest movie center in India after Bollywood. They used to be locally famous movie stars. The great example is the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu in office Jayalalithaa, an actress in the past, who has been on and off in power since 1991. If I know correctly, English became second national language after Hindi mostly due to the political influence from South regions like Tamilnadu and Kerala. At least, this is what I learned from an online course about Contemporary India. Tamil people often don’t express much interest in learning Hindi because it is the native language of North India, not knowing it as a mother tongue would automatically put them in a lower social and economic position. People seem to be friendlier here. If you give a stranger a smile, she or he will most definitely give an even warmer one back.  

Bharat private school

Public primary school

The first week here in Mammalapuram with SAVE Intl has been overwhelmingly busy but made me terribly happy and excited about the next 6 months to come. This is truly hands on experience focusing on poor communities in rural areas with little online involvement (there is still a need to update the organization’s website and manage social networks). So far, I have been introduced to some Irular tribe women who are involved in NGO’s Embroidery project and have visited a few of their villages. These ladies are remarkably welcoming, though shy at first, very well-mannered and noble. Some of them are still working on their embroidery skills but many already make exquisite pieces. As you can see, they made quite an impression on me. I will write about them and the project in a separate entry. This week I also had a chance to get to see several government and tuition schools, attended a teachers’ training initiated by fellow organization Aid India and couple other events organized to reward and encourage hard-working students to excel. There hasn’t been a dull moment, and I hope it will continue this way.