COLLECTIVE ACTION FOR FOREST ADIVASI IN TAMIL NADU (CAFAT)

Collective for Action of Forest Adivasi in Tamil Nadu is a collective of six NGOs from Madurai , Theni, Dindugal and Virudhunagar Districts of south Tamil Nadu. This collective working with Paliyar tribes in Western Ghats region aims at building up Adivasi Paliyar Movement in Western Ghats Region of Tamil Nadu.

About Paliyar Tribes:

The aboriginal tribes, paliyars live now scattered in the hills of Madurai, Theni, Dindugul,Tiruppur, Virudhunagar,and Tirunelveli districts of Tamil Nadu. The originating place of paliyar adivasis is considered to be Poolavadi Puliyampatti in Palani hills of western Ghats where Palar dam in built now.

Physical Features and habitat:

A.G. Gardener ( 1972) the famous anthropologists says that paliyar tribes belong to “ Astroloids” and are similar to “ Semangs” of Malaysia in physical features .Paliyars are black in colour, with curly hair, thick lips, broad and flat nose. They are short in stature. Tamil is their language. In olden days, these people lived in small cave like structures called Kalazhais. Paliyars, today, list their ancestors with their azhais. In the medieval period, paliyars had small hut like structure between two rocks. Now the paliyars have colony houses built by the Government schemes or built their own small houses in the plains nearer to the hills from where they are thrown out. Some paliyar, who are still living in interior forests build their huts with minimum wood and grass that suits their climatic conditions.

Food Habits

The land and the forest are worshipped with reverence by Paliyars. Their habitat livelihood resources and their enriching culture are in unison with Nature. Roots, Honey, vegetables, fruits from the forests are their main food earlier and later they cultivated minor millets like samai, Thinai and Ragi. They are not in the practice of storing the surplus. The abundant water resource, self sustained forest produce ad a small habitat made them contented and happy. Under Kanikaran’s (Local Leader) guidance, they lived quite freely and happily in the forests.

Land Alienation of Paliyars :

During Pandiya Kingdom in Madurai, the Kings and their teams entered the solemn forests, for hunting purposes. The interface with outsiders made Paliyars very insecured and they moved further into deep forests. Later, when British entered India and found Kodaikanal Hills ideal for their summer, Paliyars moved further into the forest. When Britishers started cultivating coffee, Plums, Pineapple, Berry, Banana and new varieties of fruits and vegetables in the hills, they were in need of workers. They exploited the labour of paliyars, Paliyars started wearing minimum clothes and their food habits too changed.Paliyars were not used to live in big groups or cluster. They ere unorganized and scattered all over Western Ghats region from Pollachi to Thirunelveli.

In the late 17th Century, the North East and Central Indian Tribes had a tough time with Britishers and on British India’s Forest Policy. To bring Forest under state control, British passed Forest Act. After that Act, the entire forest area came under the control of the forest Department. People from plains, who visited the forests and hills for official reasons plundered forest resource and occupied the lands. Paliyars lost their traditional and customary rights over forest resources and also their close relationship with forest. The scattered nature of Paliyars, their innocence and ignorance about forest laws and rules made Paliyars more vulnerable to exploitation by outsiders.

The Forest and Wildlife Protection Act and major projects like Kuthiraiyaru dam, Palar dam, Manjalaru dam, Maruthanathi dam, Kamarajar dam, Parapplalaru dam, Azhiyaru dam and Amaravathy dam have driven the Paliyars out of the forests. They are alienated from their own land, their near and dear Mother Nature, their cherished forests, their deities, their livelihood resources and they are forced to go out in search of jobs for their survival.

Heritage of Paliyars :

Paliyars have a lot in store to teach the present so called Modern worldfrom their traditions. Paliyars, are hunting tribes, never stored anything in surplus; they took utmost care to protect and save forest and wild life and believed that every creation in nature has a right to live. They were never individualistic and self centered. They did not think of surplus, storing of surplus or making profit out of surplus. Their thinking and production process were of primitive communist model and they had enough space of every creation in Mother Nature.

Paliyars are peace loving, and from the study of Gardener, it is clear that their peace loving Nature with shyness to outsiders have increased their vulnerability to be exploited by the

corrupted outsiders.

Paliyar habitats are very rich in medicinal plants. The herbal medicines are still used by the paliyars and they have a rich knowledge about herbs. The sathuragiri hills in Western Ghats are still famous for its herbal richness and Paliyars are now marginalized in the hills by the outsiders who plunder the resources of the hills.

Paliyars have a modest living with minimum needs, very simple and straight forward in their thought process, find no reason to acquire in abundance when there is enough for their need and they respect ecological democracy without knowing the terms and concepts as used by the so called educated, modern people.

Modern world and the non-Adivasi have a lot in store to learn from Adivasis . Paliyars are one such Adivasis, from whom the Non –Adivasis community has to learn and understand Nature, ecological democratic principles and conservation of forest and bio-diversity.

The Present Status of Paliyar Tribes :

Paliyars, who are scattered in western Ghats, live in small hamlets, from Palani Hills, Tiruppur district, they are scattered in kodaikkanal, Sirumalai , Agamalai , Bodi, Varusanadu, Sathuragiri in Virudhunagar Districts and Thirunelveli districts. There will be around 3000 Paliyar families scattered all over western Ghats, who are in search of their lost identity, livelihood resources, healthy food habits, rich traditional heritage, access to herbal medicines and minor forest produce. They are forced to live in plains, reduced to the level of plantation workers or agricultural coolies in their ancestral land.

Why this collective as a new Initiative:

There are lots of Action groups and non governmental organisations working with Adivasis all over the country and non-Adivasis have been working with Adivasis on issues like education, health and income generation activities. This collective aims at interacting with Adivasis to learn and disseminate the rich socio-cultural heritage of Adivasis to others and to orient the Paliyar tribes on existing Forest Act 2006 which give some space and positive hopes to ensure the rights of Adivasis over their land, livelihood, forests and wild life. At all levels of action, the (CAFAT ) Collective wants to ensure active participation of Paliyar representatives-specially Paliyar youth – in planning execution, monitoring, evaluation process of the program - to minimize the role of NGOs as mere facilitating agents of dialogue and understanding of Paliyar tribes in Western Ghats.

The Collective has planned program for 2008-2010 to evolve a democratic process of planning and action at all levels and to learn from the process itself to build a democratic Adivasi movement in Tamilnadu with the leadership of Adivasis.

The six NGOs who are partners in the collective are PEAL, ACT INDIA FOUNDATION, HUMANE TRUST, TEST, ARUDECS and MMS are working with Adivasis on various capacities. This initiative will promote wider and deeper understanding about Adivasis and the need for working together to strengthen the grass root initiatives to build a state level Adivasi movement.

GOAL :

“To Build Adivasi Paliyar Movement in western Ghats Region of Tamil Nadu” is the ultimate goal of the collective.

Objectives:

Ø To mobilize Adivasi Paliyar community into a movement for protection of their rights in the present complex socio-Political condition.

Ø To ensure the rights of Adivasis to collect, use and dispose minor forest produce which has been traditionally collected within or outside village boundaries.

Ø To empower the Adivasis on their rights to protect, regenerate or conserve or manage and community forest resource, which they have been traditionally protecting and conserving for sustainable use.

Ø To facilitate Adivasis to set committees that are competent enough to safeguard and preserve the traditions and customs of the Adivasis their cultural identity, community resources and the customary mode of dispute resolution in the village gram sabhas.

Ø To promote dialogue between Adivasi and non Adivasi communities to learn human value on global Justice from Adivasi culture and habitation.

Ø To document the cultlural heritage of Paliyars, their traditional dance, Music, Rituals, faith and their knowledge on herbs, practices of herbal medicine and share the documented resources among the younger generation of Paliyars to cherish their eco-friendly tradition and culture.

Primary Focus:

The collective has planned to focus primarily on Campaign on Forest Rights Act 2006 among Paliyars who are scattered all over western Ghats region as displaced Adivasis .

PRIORITIES

The priorities of action are forming grass root sangams to facilitate the paliyar adivasis to register as an organized co-operatives at district level to ensure their right over minor forest produce; to be informed about Forest Rights Act 2006; and to document traditional and customary rights in Gram sabha resolutions by the Adivasis themselves for the better implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006.

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Friday, January 1, 2010

Meaning of Forest for Paliyar Adivasis

“What does forest mean to you?” After an informal discussion with Vasimalai from Kurunji Nagar of Vasimalai Hills in Usilampatti Taluk, we raised this question straight and pat came the answer “OUR SOULd OUR LIFE”.

About Paliyar Tribes:

Paliyars, the aboriginal tribes, who are scattered in the hills of Coimbatore, Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Virudhunagar and Thirunelveli districts of Tamilnadu live in small hamlets, in Topslip, Palani Hills, Kodaikkanal, Sirumalai, Agamalai, Vasimalai, Bodi, Varusanadu, Sathuragiri and Shenbagathoppu regions. The originating place of Paliyar adivasis is considered to be Poolavadi Puliyampatti in Palani hills of Western Ghats where Palar dam is built now.

There will be around 3000 Paliyar families scattered all over Western Ghats, who are in search of their lost identity, livelihood resources, healthy food habits, rich traditional heritage, access to herbal medicines and minor forest produce. They are forced to live in plains, reduced to the level of plantation workers or agricultural coolies in their ancestral land, which they detest. They have a longing to go into their forests for a peaceful, happy and contented life.

Heritage of Paliyars:

The land and the forest are worshipped with reverence by Paliyars. Their habitat, livelihood resources and their enriching culture are in unison with Nature. Roots, Honey, vegetables, fruits from the forests are their main food earlier and later they cultivated minor millets like samai, Thinai and Ragi. They go for hunting in the deep forest but never disturb young ones and pregnant mothers since they strongly believe they are potential animals and have every right to live. While collecting tubers, the Paliyars take utmost care of not cutting down the Aniver (meaning mainroots). In the process of honey collection, the wax of the honey is not crushed but left untouched for the bees to come again. They are not in the practice of storing the surplus. The abundant water resource, self sustained forest produce and a small habitat made them contented and happy. Under Kanikaran’s (Local Leader) guidance, they lived quite freely and happily in the forests.

Paliyar habitats are very rich in medicinal plants. The herbal medicines are still used by the paliyars and they have a rich knowledge about herbs. The Sathuragiri hills in Western Ghats are still famous for its herbal richness.

Paliyars have a modest living with minimum needs, very simple and straight forward in their thought process, find no reason to acquire in abundance when there is enough for their need and they respect ecological democracy without knowing the terms and concepts as used by the so called educated, modern people.

Karuppasamy, a Paliyar priest from Vasimalai Hills aged 65 years says with nostalgia, “Forest fulfill all our needs. We have no meaning for this money, if we are allowed to be inside the forest without any interruption from outsiders”.

The Paliyars do not even need matchboxes since Kiluvai (a kind of wood which is used for fencing) sticks help them to make fire even in winter and rainy seasons. Karuppasamy says “we, the Paliyars, are children of the forest and our mother forest will take care of our needs. We have neem sticks and herbs to brush our teeth; Kiluvai sticks to make fire; minor millets to cook and eat; streams to quench our thirst; rocks to protect us from sun and rain. The minor forest produce support us with additional food and fetches some income through which we could live a decent life. As you people in the plains, we need not depend on money for everything, even for a match box”. The words of Karuppasamy are true. In very hot summers, when all their streams are dried up, they cut a kind of alovera and quench their thirst. They do not wait for water supply from their local panchayat offices.

Murugayee from Kaduguthadi village, Kodaikkanal Hills shared her meaning of forest: “In the forest, we have enough honey, roots, fruits and healthy greens to feed us always.
Forest is our Mother to whom we rely on during our sickness. For each and every ailment, Forest has very rich herbs and She is our healer”. Women in Paliyar adivasis depend on herbs to cure their ailments. For a feeding mother, they have a root of the local plant, boiled and the decoction is given to nourish her. For young girls, who have attained puberty, they give different herbs from the forest to add strength to their bodies.

While discussing about their gender relations, Murugayee shared their wonderful tradition of respecting each other irrespective of gender. She says, “We marry men after seeing their capacity to collect honey and their perseverance to sustain in the forest for longer days”. Both men and women go out for minor forest produce collection and share the work equally. Domestic violence, harassment, eve teasing, practice of dowry and other gender based differences are not known to them still recently. Their marriage is very simple. With the honey collected by the bridegroom and with the garland of wild flowers, they share their food with their relatives and the marriage ceremony is over. Murugayee anticipates that such a simple but healthy culture may disappear if the paliyars consistently live closer to the plainspeople whose values are gender biased.

Mari from Vadakaraiparai, Kodaikkanal Hills expressed in a very poetic way that forest is his teacher which taught him confidence and contentment in life for a peaceful living. Paliyars are not willing to get down from the hills and even if forcibly evicted, they prefer to settle very near to the hills. Mani says, “Forest is my first teacher and my mother from whom I learnt how to make my life self reliant. When I feel hungry, I go out into the forest, search for my food and find my food. Whenever and wherever possible, I do some minor millet cultivation and feed others too. I love my forest and my people. I do no harm to them and I live in peace”.




Habitats of Paliyars:

In olden days, Paliyars lived in rocky cave like structures called Kalazhais (meaning stone houses). Paliyars today, list their ancestors with their azhais. In the medieval period, Paliyars had small hut like structure between two rocks which we could see in some paliyar hamlets till date. Now the paliyars have colony houses built by the Government under adivasis welfare schemes or built their own small houses in the plains very near to the hills from where they are thrown out. Some paliyars, who are still living in interior forests, build their huts with minimum wood and grass that suit their climatic conditions. Their houses are simple. food is natural and healthy; medicines are cost free and they did not have anything in surplus to store.



Theivam, a representative of Paliyar younger generation expressed his desire to go into the forest of his greatgranparents’ days. He says, “While listening to my elder people, I feel I have lost a lot. I miss my Mother Forest and the basic life skills which my ancestors inherited and cherished. I am reduced to a daily wage earner in plains nowadays. I have to depend on others for everything. Even for my daily work and daily bread, I have to depend on the people in the plains. I eat rice distributed in PDS (Public Distribution System) shops with very minimum nutrition in it. I feel like running into my forest again to find my own way of living”.

The residents of Kurunji nagar colony are very close to the forest. They live in the plains but within the reach of the forest. From the words of Karuppasamy: “We will cling on to these rocks if we are chased away from this forest. Entering into the forest at the least once in a day refreshes and recharges ourselves. We cannot live far away from our forest. We feel suffocated down in the plains and our Mother forest gives us fresh air to breathe”. Karuppasamy’s words came out with full of emotions expressing how much he gets in his life from the forest. Being a representative from older generation, he could express himself how much he misses the forest and how enriching the life in the forest he had as a child.

The present status of paliyars:

Forest is now polluted with smoke, polythene papers, ecologically insensitive tourists and outsiders. Huge hectares of land are in the hands of private coffee plantation owners, who indulge in extensive monocropping patterns affecting the bio-diversity of the forest. People from the plains, the forest officials and the rich who visited the forests for official reasons or health reasons have plundered forest resources and occupied the lands.

Paliyars have lost their traditional and customary right over their forest resources and also their close relationship with forest. They feel that they are now alienated from Mother Nature. They also realize that their scattered nature, their innocence and ignorance about forest laws and rules have made them more vulnerable to the exploitation by outsiders.

Paliyar adivasis who had easy and free access to crystal clear drinking water from the streams nearby their hamlets are now depending on panchayats for drinking water supply. Their mobility into the forest for collection of minor forest produce is curbed to greater extent by the State and the private estate owners. Their cultivatable lands are now in the hands of non adivasis and they work as daily wage earners in their ancestral land. Their healthy food habits are forcibly changed and they depend on rice distributed under public distribution system which is grown with intensive chemical fertilizers.

The meaning of forest:

When asked after a long discussion what forest mean to them, as said earlier, it is their soul and life. They miss their life in forest though they visit their forest boundaries at the least once in a day to breathe the fresh air. For Paliyar women, forests are their real safe place where they live as birds and enjoyed equal rights with their men unlike in plains. Forest is their mother, teacher, friend, food provider, The God and everything with whom their life is closely related.



(This article is translated and compiled by Varthini and our sincere thanks to Vasimalai, Theivam, Karuppasamy, Mari and Murugayee who participated in the discussion. Author also acknowledges Sukumar, Dhanraj and Marirajan of PEAL for their support in organizing the discussion and in photography)

1 comment:

  1. Hello. I volunteer for ACT India Foundation from the UK. I have designed them a website www.actindiafoundation.org and in September 2012 I will be hosting a fundraising festival for them in Oxfordshire, UK. Please get in touch with me via the contact listed on the website to see how we can collaborate and together help promote the plight of the Paliyar. Thanks

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