Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research ISSN NO: 0022-1945

A Study on Socio- Economic Condition of Elderly Tribal People in

Dr. G. M. Gowri Lakshmi, Lecturer, Government Law College, Coimbatore. Email: [email protected] A. Muthuraj Ph.D Research Scholar, Department of Library and Information Science, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli. Email: [email protected] Abstract The present paper attempts to study the socio- economic condition of elderly tribal people in the Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu. At the State level, in Tamil Nadu there were 10, 47,510 elder people accounting for 10.4 percent of the country’s total population in 2011. In the Nilgiris there were 7,94,697 Scheduled tribes accounting for 3.72 percent of the total population in Nilgiris. Todas, Kotas, Kurumbas, Irulas, Paniyas and Kattunaikkan are the main tribal communities found in the district. With this background an attempt was made with the objectives to analyze the socio-economic background of the elderly people of study group, to assess the level of awareness of Government schemes for tribal’s and to examine factors and extent of problems found among the respondents. The study was based on the primary data that was collected with the help of well-structured and pre-tested interview schedule, administered to 180 respondents in the Nilgiris. A simple random sampling method was adopted in data collection. The results of the study showed that the elderly tribes are illiterate and highly ignorant and gullible. They have to work Day and night to earn their daily bread. They are ignorant as well as unaware of the day-to-day happenings not being assertive enough to grasp the opportunities that are offered by the Government. The study also concludes with policy recommendations that may serve as a productive next step forward, keeping in mind the need for urgent and timely action on the part of government, private companies, researchers, and general population.

Key words: Old age, Socio- Economic and Tribal Communities

1. Introduction Ageing is mainly related with social isolation, poverty, apparent reduction in family support, inadequate housing, impairment of cognitive functioning, mental illness, widowhood, loss, bereavement, limited options for living arrangement and dependency towards end of life. Generally, at household level, cultural norms and practices and socio- economic factors determine the extent of health problems among women. Change in socio-

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economic status and various health problems adversely affect an individual's way of life during old age. (Chandrashekhar Aronkar, 2012) The tribal population is unevenly distributed in the four blocks of the district. is having the highest concentration of about 50 per cent of the tribal population, comprising mainly of Paniyas, Kattunaickens and Mullukurumbas. They live on the western slopes of the district up to an altitude of 1,350 m. This is followed by Kotagiri block with 25 per cent of the tribal population of the district. Udhagamandalam block stands third with 16 per cent of the tribal population. Coonoor block, consisting mainly of Todas and Kotas accounts for 9 per cent of the Scheduled Tribe population of the district. According to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, there are a total of 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in the country and six of them are living in the of Tamil Nadu. (http://nilgiris.nic.in) 1.1. Major Tribal Communities of the Nilgiri District of Tamil Nadu The six major tribal communities of the district are the Todas, Kotas, Irulas, Kurumbas, Paniyas and Kattunaickens or Kattunayakas. Their population according to 2011 census was 32813 which 4.46% Scheduled Tribe (ST) of total population in The Nilgiris district. (Census 2011) The Taluk wise distribution of General Population and Scheduled Tribes Population in the Nilgiri District S.No Taluks General Population ST Population 1 Panthalur 125931 10897 2 Gudalur 104768 6616 3 Udhagamandalam 191960 6113 4 Kotagiri 108684 6312 5 Coonoor 157744 2354 6 Kundah 46307 521 Total 735394 32813 (Source: Census 2011) 1.1.1 Toda The Toda are known by several names like Tudas, Tudavans, and Todar. They are found only in Nilgiri district. The Government of India has identified the Toda as one of the six Primitive Tribal groups of Tamil Nadu. The uniqueness of the half - barrel shaped houses

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given speculations regarding their origin ranged from Rome to Sumeria. Their main occupation is cattle rearing and agriculture. 1.1.2 Kota The Kothas live in seven settlements, generally known as Kotagiri or Kokkal. They are village artisans, who are good in carpentry, black smithy and pottery. But only a few families are engaged in these skills as a means of living. Most others are engaged in cultivation. Happily, most of the Kota families in all the settlement have their own patta land. In the field of education also they have stolen a march over other tribal communities. Today, many of them are working in the Government and non Governmental departments. 1.1.3 Irulas Irula tribal communities are living in Masinagudi area, and in parts of Kotagiri and Coonoor Taluks. They are generally engaged in Collection of minor forest products. This is a seasonal operation and they work as casual agricultural labourers on local estates. Some of them are also engaged in looking after the herds of cattle belonging to others. Some are engaged in agriculture in the patta lands, conditionally assigned to them, where they have raised tea, coffee, jack trees, guava etc. However, due to their poor maintenance of their land due to lack of finance, the return from these lands is meager. 1.1.4 Paniyas The Paniyas are living as labourers in estates. The etymological meaning of the term 'Paniya' indicates that they earn their livelihood from labour as the term 'Pani' in Malayalam means 'labour'. Thus the word 'Paniya' literally means ‘labourer’ or workers. Paniyas of the plain land having contact with own tribal people and those living in interior forest. The dress of Paniya is simple and easily distinguishable from that of the other tribal communities 1.1.5 Kurumbas The Kurumba houses known as "GUDLU" are temporary constructions in the forests. The traditional occupation of the Kurumbas is food gathering, like collection of honey and forests produce. Kurumbas are known to possess keen eyesight, gained possibly from constant watching of the honey bee to the hives. Now, they are mainly engaged in agriculture and those who do not own lands work as casual agricultural laborers. The Kurumbas are hard working people. 1.1.6 Kattunaickens The word Kattunayakan means the king of the jungle in Tamil. The Kattunayakan are one of the earliest known inhabitants of the Western Ghats, who are engaged in the collection and gathering of forest produce, mainly wild honey and wax. The members of this

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community are short, have black skin, and have protruding forehead. The livelihood of the Kattunaickens is on honey, jungle fruits and tubers. 2. Review of Literature Arlappa. N and Balakrishna. N. (2005), the author says that the tribal elderly are subsisting on inadequate diets, which are reflected in the poor intakes of all the nutrients and higher prevalence of under nutrition. Thirumalraja. D (2013), the paper entitled ‘The Problems of Elderly Tribal Women in Kodaikanal the Problems of Elderly Tribal Women in Kodaikanal Hills: A Sociological Perspective’ the author analysed the socio- economic status of the elderly tribal women and brought out some problems faced by the tribal women. 3. Objective of the Study 1. To analyze the socio-economic background of the elderly people of study group 2. To assess the level of awareness of Government schemes for tribal’s and 3. To examine factors and extent of problems found among the respondents 4. Research Methodology This study is based on Analytical and Descriptive in nature. The purpose of this research design is to describe the problems and other units under investigation like socio- economic condition of the respondent and bring out new information about the elderly tribal people in the study area through the above objectives. 4.1 Sampling Techniques The study focuses on the tribal areas in the Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu. Selection of the tribal villages is based on simple random sampling, and the selection of households is based on convenience sampling. 4.2 Selection of Villages There are 4 blocks and 6 taluks in the Nilgiri district namely Panthalur, Gudalur, Udhagamandalam, Kotagiri, Coonoor, Kundah. Among these one taluk namely Udhagamandalam has been selected. The population of Udhagamandalam is 6113 out of which of 180 respondents are selected by following convenient sampling method. 4.3 Data Collection The primary data for the study is collected through an interview scheduled from the respondents. The secondary data has been collected from various books, magazines, websites and journals.

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5. Major Findings of the Study Table 1 Demography Particulars of the Respondents

Description Variable Frequency % Irula 30 16.6 Toda 30 16.6 Kota 30 16.6 Tribe Panaya 30 16.6 Kurumba 30 16.6 Kattunayakan 30 16.6 Male 98 54.4 Sex Female 82 45.5 60-65 55 30.5 66-70 101 56.1 Age above 70 24 13.3 Single 9 5

Married 82 45.5

widow 79 43.8 Marital Status Divorced 10 5.5 Elementary 26 14.4 VIII Standard 3 1.6 SSLC 12 6.6 Educational Higher Secondary - - Qualification Under graduate - - Illiterate 139 77.2 One - -

Two 34 18.8 Children More than Two 146 81.1 (Source: Primary Data)

The above able presents the general details of the study group of tribal community of the Nilgiri districts of Tamil Nadu. The respondents taken for the study were belonging to various age groups. About 56.1 percent of the respondents belonged to the age group between 66-70 years and 30.5 percent belonged to the age bracket of above 60-65 years, while 13.5

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percent belonged to the age bracket of above 70. Around 40.5 percent of the tribal’s were married and 43.8 percent were widows. A large number of tribal’s (77.2%) were illiterate and only 14.4 percent of them were studied upto elementary level. About 81.1 percentages of the respondents had more than two children’s.

6. Socio- Economic Condition of the Study Group  It found that 78.5 per cent tribal people living in huts or Thatched house at interior forest area, 21.5 per cent of the respondents are living in concrete house.  It is found from the study that majority of the respondents depend mainly on agriculture (42.7 per cent) and also depend on agricultural coolie works for livelihood. They belong to the age group of 60-65.  The income of the respondents highlighted that high number (39.7 per cent) of the respondents were earning Rs. 1001 to 3000 per month.  It is observed that 31.9 per cent of the respondents get financial support from their daughters. 12.1 per cent of the respondents are getting financial support from their spouse and remaining 11.7 per cent of the respondents are receiving from their sons. The inference drawn from the analysis is that female children were taking care of their parents during illness in the lost stage of elderly tribes.  When assessed the level of awareness of supportive systems and welfare of the elderly tribal people, the majority (80 per cent) of them responded that they did not know about the Government programmes. It is observed that the elderly people are not well aware of Government tribal welfare programmes due to ignorance and illiteracy.  The age groups of the respondents were divided into three categories that is 60-65, 65-70, and above 70. It is clear that the respondents from 60-65 are more aware than others for instance. Based on the objective ‘factors and extent of problems among the elderly tribal people the researcher finds factors and major problems of elderly tribal people in respect of their age, sex, dependency ratio, etc. and the conditions of the aged in respect of their economic dependency, number of dependants, living arrangements, persons supporting the aged, physical immobility, etc. The results obtained from the research are presented in this section.  It is observed from the field that 81 per cent of the respondents have some kind of Physical problems like gastro intestinal disease, chronic constipation, chronic

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headache, joint pain, loss of vision, loss of hearing. These problems occurred due to food habits, climate condition and ageing factor.  In this modern medicine era, 60 per cent of the respondents are following sidha medicine for their physical illness like, fever, cold, jaundice and other problems from primitive period.  59.1 per cent of the agricultural coolie workers have the physical problems. 61.8 per cent of the agricultural coolie workers have economic problems. And 60 per cent of the agricultural coolie workers have psychological problems. These three major problems affect the agricultural coolies only. Because they were getting very low income, they cannot consume healthy food, and they do not get proper respect from the society. 7. Conclusion Age is an important demographic trend of a respondent. The role of age is an individual in performance in socio and economic problems. Age group is one of the most influential segments in the society. Having studied the socio- economic condition of elderly tribal in the Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu it is found out from the in-depth analysis of the condition of the tribal elders under study are more prone to be affected by physical, economical and psychological problems. Taking into account the nature of geographical location and sources of livelihood have affected the poor elders to lead unhappy life in the rest of their lives. As there is no alternative employment and their increasing age factors have become instrumental behind perpetuating their poor economic life. Problems of the aged anywhere is unavoidable. It is nature’s course of action; some problems can be solved with utilization of medical advancement and increasing economic position. But, the life of elders in hill area and their ever increasing problems remain the same despite taking steps to alleviate them. References 1. Basu S. (2000) Role Status, Relationship of the Elderly Women in Family, Department of Anthropology, Calcutta University,; 6(1):92-104 2. Chandrashekhar Aronkar, (2012), Aging of Population in India and Need for Wider Social Security Scheme International Journal of Social Science & Interdisciplinary Research Vol.1 Issue 11, November 2012, ISSN 2277 3630 199 3. D. Thirumalraja,(2013).The Problems of Elderly Tribal Women in Kodaikanal The Problems of Elderly Tribal Women in Kodaikanal Hills: A Sociological Perspective

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International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 3, Issue 6, June 2013 1 ISSN 2250-3153 4. Gurumoorthy. R and Thirumalraja. D (2015), ‘Status of Aged People in Tribal Community, International Journal of Applied Research 2015; 1(10): 682-684 5. J., S., & NIC . (n.d.). Home. Retrieved April 18, 2018, from http://nilgiris.nic.in/ 6. Lela, A., K. Ashok , M. Padma ,V. Kamath and A. Kamath (2009): ‘Health and Socio Problems of the Elderly : A Cross Sectional Study in Udupi taluk, Karnataka’, Indian Journal of Community Medicine 7. Mary Angeline Santhosam and Umesh Samue, (2013) ‘A Study on the Health Status of Elderly Irular Tribal Women in Kancheepuram District’, IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279- 0845. Volume 7, Issue 2 (Jan. - Feb. 2013), PP 01-04 8. (n.d.). Retrieved April 19, 2018, from http://tribal.nic.in/indiamap.html 9. Tag Archives: Kattunayakan. (n.d.). Retrieved April 18, 2018, from https://www.indiantribalheritage.org/?tag=kattunayakan 10. The Nilgiris District Population, Tamil Nadu, List of Taluks in the Nilgiris. (n.d.). Retrieved April 18, 2018, from https://www.censusindia2011.com/tamil-nadu/the- nilgiris-population.html 11. UGC Approved Journal. (n.d.). Retrieved April 18, 2018, from http://www.Iosrjournals.Org/

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