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
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
| 1 | 165 | 162 | 327 |
High Schools
| 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.
