KOLLI HILLS - Soludaiyanpatti

                                    KOLLI HILLS - Soludaiyanpatti

Preface:

It is part of documenting Adivasis life of Tamil Nadu to empower the community and also to address their issues, which is un noticed by so-called mainstream society. My friends and I are collecting data through participatory learning hoping that some change will be made in the life of Malayali adivasis.  Malayali adivasis are not primitive tribe but consider as indigenous people of the land. I sincerely acknowledge Karur Gurudevar school authorities helped us to understand the kolli hills.  The current article contains one of the villages we visited. The coming days I will be posting series of articles on adivasis of Tamil Nadu.

Introduction:

Kolli Hills or Kolli Malai is a small mountain range located in central Tamil Nadu Namakkal district of India. The mountains are about 1000 to 1300 m in height and cover an area of approximately 280 sq.km. The Kolli Hills has 70 hair pin bends to reach the top of the hills. The Kolli Hills are part of the Eastern Ghats, which is a mountain range that runs mostly parallel to the east coast of South India. The mountains are relatively untouched by commercial tourism and still retain their natural beauty. It is an attempt to document 

Total Area                    : 283.93 Sq.Km

Total Population           : 36525

Male    - 18,992

Female – 17,553

Total number of small villages: 275

Total number of main revenue villages + Panchayaths : 14

Names of the main villages + Panchayaths

1.      Valavanthi Nadu

2.      Thinnanur Nadu

3.      Selur Nadu

4.      Devanur Nadu

5.      Ariyur Nadu

6.      Valappur Nadu

7.      Kundur Nadu

8.      Thiruppuli Nadu

9.      Edappuli Nadu

10.  Bile Nadu

11.  Chittoor Nadu

12.  Perakkarai Nadu

13.  Alathur Nadu

14.  Kunduni Nadu

Total No of Schools   : 56

Schools	No.	No. of Boys	No. of Girls	Total Students
Higher secondary School Semmedu GTR	1	165	162	327
High Schools Sengarai GTR Thempallam Govt school	2	257	76	333
Middle Schools	17	816	695	1511
Panchayat Union Elementary Schools	36	805	761	1566
Total	56	2043	1694	3737

No. of NGO’s: 3

1)      DTMC

2)      M.S.Swaminathan Foundation

3)      CST

In Semmedu

1)      BDO office

2)      Police Station

3)      PHC

4)      Fire Station

5)      Telephone Exchange

No. of Primary Health Centers

1)      Powerkadu in Edappulinadu Village.

2)      Semmedu in Valavanthi Nadu Village.

Temples :

1)      Arappleesuwarar Temple.

2)      Ettukkai Amman Temple ( Kollippavai).

3)      Maasi Periya Samy Temple.

Social Life:             

                 Soludaiyanpatti is a mountainous village and hamlet of Valapur Nadu Panchayat in Namakkal Taluk and District. The Village has 41 houses and consisting of different roof structures like tiled roofs, tined roofs, thatched roofs, asbestos, colony houses and RCC roofs. Most of the houses are tiled ones.  Majority of the people are engaged themselves in rain fed agriculture. The village is not a well structured one or planned. There are no streets. Only foot paths in zig-zag manner with full of ups and downs.  Both men and women are working as Agriculture labourers. The agriculture peak season is from mid-May to October. The daily wages for men is Rs.250/- their working time is 7.00am to 2.00pm. The daily wages for female is Rs.80 -150. Their working time is 10.00 am - 6.00p.m. The Village social head is called Kavundar. He takes care of his society. He looks after the civil affairs like domestic violence, trifling issues, property disputes, etc by penalizing the erring the people.

The Tribes are called as Malayalies. There are about 600 clans (Kulam).Men and women belong to the same clan would not marry, (i.e.) marriages are banned within the same clan. Several small hamlets form one Nadu. Each Nadu is treated as a village in the revenue department. The head of the Nadu is called Pattariyar. Pattariyars have subordinates called Karaiyars. Karaiyars are in charge of village affairs and village temples. Their duty is collecting money for the temple and makes arrangement to celebrate temple festivals. The period of the post of the Karaiyar is 2 years. The power of the Pattariyar is decreasing because the people are approaching the police and court for their disputes. Hence the social system of Kollimalai, Malaiyali Tribes is fading away in this aspect. The position of women in the village is considered as secondary. Generally the marriable age for women in this community is 16. Most often the education has been neglected both for men and women.

Thus the social life of Soludaiyampattyi needs more attention in terms of awareness and capacity building.    

                                                   Soludaiyampatty.

                                                          Resources

            Soludaiyampatty has various resources like forest, common lands etc., the total area of the village site is 6 acres. Out of 6 acres, 3 acres are for common purposes. The village people have more than 100 acres for Agriculture. The agriculture mainly depends up on the rain water; the main crops are Tapioca, banana, guava, Jack fruit, pepper, small area of coffee, silver oke, etc. The Tapioca is predominantly cultivated. The farmers borrow loan from the merchants who are from the plains. They charge interest at rate of 36%.

[Rs.3 per 100 for a month]  In emergency, the farmers barrow money from the merchants. Taking the merchants dictates the rate of the Tapioca. Thus the tribes became poor by setting only undervalued amount for their harvested Tapioca. In this process they become indebted to the lender and ultimately forced to sell his land to his lender for a dictated cost.  They are forced to sell their lands only to the merchants. The mono crop pattern of cultivation sucks all nutrients in the soil. The Tapioca cultivation has been occurring for past 25 years. Thus the soil fertility is decreased. Mono culture crop of Tapioca and more use of chemical fertilizers, Pesticides and less rain results in decreasing fertility of the soil. Hence the incomes of the farmers have reduced drastically co-operative society for a Tribal farmer is the special also not functioning properly. Soludaiyanpatti has only one drinking water tank. The village also has a pond which is not in use. The village has a middle school with 3 teachers. There is no Balwadi for the children. The village also does not have a hospital or primary health centre. The people have to travel 11 Km for hospital which is in Semmedu. They have to go to Namakkal for well maintained hospital which is at 50Km away from the village. Few people have Tribal certificates [20 people] in the village. As per lively hood the agricultural labour is available only for 4 months in a year. For the remaining period the people are migrating to other places like Karnataka, Kerala and Valparai Migration is high in all village.

                                   

Kolli Hills

Total Area                    : 283.93 Sq.Km

Total Population           : 36525

Male    - 18,992

Female – 17,553

Total number of small villages : 275

Total number of main revenue villages + Panchayaths : 14

Names of the main villages + Panchayaths

1)      Valavanthi Nadu

2)      Thinnanur Nadu

3)      Selur Nadu

4)      Devanur Nadu

5)      Ariyur Nadu

6)      Valappur Nadu

7)      Kundur Nadu

8)      Thiruppuli Nadu

9)      Edappuli Nadu

10)  Bile Nadu

11)  Chittoor Nadu

12)  Perakkarai Nadu

13)  Alathur Nadu

14) Kunduni Nadu

Total No of Schools   : 56

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Schools	No.	No. of Boys	No. of Girls	Total Students
Higher secondary School Semmedu GTR	1	165	162	327
High Schools Sengarai GTR Thempallam Govt                                                                                   school	2	257	76	333
Middle Schools	17	816	695	1511
Panchayat Union Elementary Schools	36	805	761	1566
Total	56	2043	1694	3737

No. of  NGO’s : 3

1)      DTMC

2)      M.S.Swaminathan Foundation

3)      CST

In Semmedu

1)      BDO office

2)      Police Station

3)      PHC

4)      Fire Station

5)      Telephone Exchange

No. of Primary Health Centres

1)      Powerkadu in Edappulinadu Village.

2)      Semmedu in Valavanthi Nadu Village.

Temples :

1)      Arappleesuwarar Temple.

2)      Ettukkai Amman Temple ( Kollippavai).

3)      Maasi Periya samy Temple.

Crossing the troubled water

On 27^th May 2011 the students of Tamilnadu were rushing the internet café to browse the web to know their 10^th graded result.  But Mari who has also written the examination was busy in collecting the charcoal along with his mother Ms. Shanmugam, never bother about result. During that time his middle sister Banu priya informed Mari that somebody has come to see him. The friends who came lifted Mari jubilantly. They shouted “you got 490 and you are the district first”. Mari’s mother Shanmugam, filled with tears in her eyes, did not understand anything but felt that her son achieved some thing great.

Mari alias Mariselvam belongs to Mookaiyur village comes under Kadaladi taluk of Ramanathapuram district. Mookaiyur village is not familiar to most of the people in the district but got its name and fame because of Mariselvam. The next day the press flooded Mariselvam’s hut got surprised and shocked to know his background.

In 2005, People’s Action for Development, a social organization based at Vembar identified Mariselvam for its sponsorship program, which is supported by Christian Children Fund of Canada. Mari was born and brought up in Mookaiyur, who studied up to VIII grade St Jacob middle school. When he completed VIII grade Mari realized his family situation and asked his mother that he would like to join his father in fishing. But mother did not allow him. In the mean time, father Mr. Muniyasami told him” I will look after the family”. Though your sister Parvathi studied well but could not get opportunity to continue her study. Therefore “You should study well”. Thereafter, He proceeded to Velayuthapuram which comes under Kalimangundu panchayat of Thirupalani block of Ramanathapuram district. 

Mari’s father was a fishing coolie who accompany in other’s boat. Other wise he was fishing with small net near the shore. He dreamt of Mari at least he should study well in his family. There are 5 girls and 2 boys in Muniyasami’s family. He got married 4 daughters and a son. Mariselvam and Banupria are yet to be settled. To own a vallam (small boat with engine) and help Mari to study were a dream of Muniyasami, for which he worked hard in day and night.  In this circumstance a major blow hit Muniyasami in the form of brain tumor, which shook the family for many years.

In the mean time, Mari has been studying in St Joseph Higher secondary school, Muthupettai(Thirupilani block) of Ramanathapuram district. In his holidays Mari helped his mother’s work. His eldest sister Ms. Murugeshwari with he stayed and studied looked after him like her own son. Ms. Murugeshwari has 3 daughters and a son. She and her husband Mr. Muniyasamy took care of Mariselvam’s family. They also supported Mari’s father in getting married of his 3 sisters and a brother. Two months before the exam Mariselvam’s father died of brain tumor.

There after, the family’s burden fell on the shoulder of Mari’s mother, who began to stay in Murugeshwari’s house and went for hard labor like fire wood cutting, charcoal making and other coolie (daily wage) work. In the month of March, exam came. He wrote two examinations. His sister Murugeshwari enquired about his examination. He said “today I wrote English second paper and I wrote well”. He saw sister’s fatigue face and asked her “what happened?” she told “I have heart burn, if I sleep a while, I will be alright”.

The poor Mari did not know that he was going to loose caring sister in few hours. His sister died of sudden heart attack.  The next day he got mathematics examination. All his relatives consoled him. His brother-in-law and relatives convinced him to write the examination. They said that we would do the last rights of the sister after your examination. With heavy heart he completed his school final examination, which was deciding factor for his future.

After the completion exam he continued to work with mother. All his villagers, teachers and friends knew well his situation. The result gave a pleasant shock to all. He scored 490 out of 500 and his marks are:

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Subjects	Marks
Tamil	95
English	98
Mathematics	100
Science	99
Social studies	98

In the similar circumstance many of us even could not reach minimum level. Despite his shocks and hardships he reached the peak. Mariselvam’s niece (Murugeshwari’s daughter) also wrote the same examination and scored 423 out of 500.

The sufferings and sorrows still haunt Mariselvam. He has been suffering from incurable head ache for the last three years. The local doctors told him that was no problem. But a doctor from Coimbatore told him that he has problem in his heart, which causes for severe head ache. Further he told he has to wait for his operation till the age 21. PAD, a social organization supporting in his study promised him for his future studies and treatment. He wants to study biology mathematics group in his higher secondary. Mariselvam crossed troubled water with his confident, courage and hard work.            

The Traditional Social Governance

Traditional governance

The following article is the out come of focus group discussion with the Palmyrah taping community members held at Veettukadu village of Kannirajapurm panchayat of Kadaladi. All the facts and figures on the basis of the focus group discussion and interview. This was documented for the People’s Action for Development, Vembar.

Introduction

The palmyrah tapping community is in the Gulf of Mannar region is migrated from deep south of Tamil Nadu i.e. villages like Samithoppu as well as in and around villages of Kanyakumari district. They were migrated at least 150 years back i.e. roughly in the beginning of 18^th century. They were migrated in search of livelihood.  Palmyrah tree was only source of livelihood in the region apart from fishing.

In the beginning they settled in smaller level. In order to protect the community interest they developed their own system of governance.

Origin:

The governance must have started in the early 19^th century. This was verified through oral tradition of the community who are living in the panchayats of Kanyrajapuram and Naripayur of Kadaladi block of Ramanathapuram district, Tamil Nadu. The system was evolved it self last 100 years or so.

Structure:

The head of the village called ambalam who inebriated the post from his ancestors. The ambalam was assisted by Kannakar (who is in charge of account), Pokishthar (who is in charge of treasury). Dharmarkartha, who was looking after the temple. All these post were inherited from their ancestors otherwise it was kind of feudal system.

Functions and role:

The traditional body performed certain roles and duties:

      The governing body was entitled to collect taxes especially from vendors (who entering the village) it is otherwise called ‘mahamai”.

      They plan and conduct village temple festival.

      They involved in conflict resolution with in the community.

      They had power to negotiate with other community in case of conflict with other communities.

      They also collect common fund called ‘dheeva kasu” to meet out the emergency for the community. This fund will be used to help even individual families which under went emergency like fire accident or death of earning member of the  family.

      submission of financial expenditure to the villagers

Democratization of socio political governance:

This community also underwent various changes which influence by the contemporary mainstream politics. During 1970 the traditional governing body is democratized. For instance, the post of Ambalam is replaced by the village leader who has elected by the villagers. He also assisted by secretary and treasurer. This leadership is on rotational basis which means every year leadership will be changed. Their functions are also similar to the earlier setup. They also levied taxes on venders who are entering their villages called "Mahamai". In order to meet out the emergency, they collect "Deeva Kasu". It is usually Rs. 20/- from palmyrah tappers; Rs. 50/- from others. This is the way they strengthen their common fund.

Conflict resolution:

• The governing body resolved civil issues between the community members especially land issues, domestic violence, land titles etc
• The police will enter the village with the consultation with village leader. The criminal cases will be informed to the police station through traditional panchyat
• The traditional bodies achieved through few common issues. They got ration shop (PDS) in their village in Vettukkadu after struggling for 20 years (since the year of 1990). They also received drinking water supply from Panchayat in the year 2005 through effort of traditional panchayat.
• They got uninterrupted 3 phase power supply in 2011 after long agitation by the      traditional panchayat.

Traditional Vs modernity

Till 1970 the traditional leadership was inherited. After 1970, the system was changed. All the community members jointly elected a leader. The leadership is shifted from inherited to elect. The leadership also becomes rotational one. The posts were replaced by village leader, secretary, and treasurer instead of Ambalam, Kanakkar and Pokkistar.