A Study of Kaadar Tribe in Vaalpaarai
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A STUDY OF KAADAR TRIBE IN VAALPAARAI SPONSORED BY STATE PLANNING COMMISSION, TAMIL NADU STUDY CONDUCTED BY REEDA (Rural Educational and Economic Development Association) 141, Avvai shanmugam Salai, Gopalapuram, Chennai. Ph. 044-28111023 [email protected] A Study of Kaadar Tribe in Vaalpaarai A study done under the ageis of State Planning Commission, Government of Tamil Nadu, to gauge the Educational standards, income and make appropriate recommendations for providing at least one entrepreneurship activity to each of those families of Kaadar, which is dwindling down drastically over the years TABLE OF CONTENT CONTENTS i LIST OF TABLES iii LIST OF FIGURES iii CHAPTER – I INTRODUCTION 1 KAADAR IN TAMIL NADU 1 GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION 2 KAADAR PATHIES– LOCATION DISADVANTAGES 4 CHAPTER – II INTRODUCTION 6 PEOPLE OF ANAMALAIS 6 KADARS 7 POPULATION STATUS OF HILL PEOPLE 8 EDUCATION STATUS 9 HEALTH STATUS 10 EMPLOYMENT STATUS 10 CHAPTER – III AIM OF THE RESEARCH 12 OBJECTIVES 12 METHODOLOGY OF STUDY 13 SAMPLING 14 DATA COLLECTION PERIOD 15 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY 15 CHAPTERIZATION 15 i CHAPTER – IV ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 16-23 CHAPTER – V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 24-25 POTENTIALS 24 VULNERABILITIES 25 RECOMMENDATIONS 26-30 SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS FOR VAALPAARAI KAADAR 27 OTHER FEASIBILITY FOR JOBS FOR KAADAR AND OTHER TRIBES 28 ONE JOB FOR EACH KAADAR FAMILY 28 SUGGESTIONS 31-32 PREGNANCY AND DELIVERY CARE 31 0-5 YEARS CHILD CARE CENTERS 32 ANNEXURES 33-39 ANNEXURE I 33-36 QUESTIONNAIRE 1 33 QUESTIONNAIRE 2 35 ANNEXURE II 37-39 SUB-GROUP WISE ST POPULATION 37 APPENDIX IMAGES 40-43 REFERENCES 44 ii LIST OF TABLES Sl.No. Title P.No. 1 Tribes with population of less than 700 2 2 Population status of Hill people 9 LIST OF FIGURES Sl.No. Title P.No. 1 Pathies on the Sample Data 16 2 Death Proportion at Pathies 17 3 Proportion of Children in the Families 18 4 Education of Male and Female 19 5 Education of Male 20 6 Education of Female 21 7 Monthly Income of Families 22 8 Laborers Participation in kind of Work 23 iii CHAPTER – I INTRODUCTION CHAPTER - I INTRODUCTION Tribes in Tamil Nadu constitute hardly 1% of the total population. Therefore political sensitivity towards Tribes has taken a backseat. Besides the political space, development discourses on Tribal growth have picked up only recently. A replete of Anthropological studies, though is available. This study attempts a deviation from this trend to study the potentials and possibilities for growth of Tribes in Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu can proudly claim to have pioneered Tribal Education since Independence. Large numbers of Tribal Residential schools were established since the 1950s. However higher education is reaching these Tribes only recently. In order to converge tribal growth in higher education, more focused schemes need to be launched. With this intention a micro level study of one small tribal community, viz. Kaadar has been identified by the project proponents. KAADAR IN TAMIL NADU Tamil Nadu is home to 36 Scheduled Tribes (See Annexure II). Tribes in Tamil Nadu are scattered across Tamil Nadu. Much of the concentration occurs in terms of number of distinct tribes in Western Ghats and in terms of population size in Broken Hills of Eastern Ghats and adjoining plains. Tribal Population in Tamil Nadu is small, compared to other states, i.e., less than 1% of the total population in the state. Out of the 36 Schedule Tribes, 13 tribes have less than 700 persons. The table below lists the 13 tribes with less than 700 persons, in the order of least to the highest. Kaadar, as per census 2011, has a population of just 475. 1 Table No. 01 Tribes with population of less than 700 S. No. Name of the Tribe Population 1 KochuVelan 7 2 Kudiya, Melakudi 66 3 MahaMalasar 77 4 Koraga 106 5 Aranadan 138 6 MalaiArayan 172 7 Malaya Kandi 210 8 Mannan 277 9 Pallayan 256 10 Kota (Kothar) 310 11 Muthuvan 385 12 Konda kapus 521 13 Kaadar 650 Total 3175 Source: Census of India 2011. GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION There are three groups of Kadar living in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Kadar who use the Kadar language live primarily in the hill-forests of Vaalpaarai Taluk and Aanamalai Hills of Pollachi, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu; and Palakkad and Thrissur hills, Kerala. A second group lives in Wayanad District and use Malayalam. 2 A third Kadar (Kadir) group is in Tiruchirapalli and Tanjavur districts. The latter two groups have nothing in common with those living on the hills of Western Ghats. In Tamil Nadu, in Western Ghats, Kadar are found living in Aanaimalai Hills in Vaalparai Taluk, Coimbatore District. Along with Kaadars, there are the other tribals (lowly in numbers) viz., 1. Muduvaar 2. Eravaalar 3. Malasar (Mahamalasar) are the other ancient Tribes living in Vaalpaarai forests from time immemorial. Deforestation of the thick forests started a decade earlier to 1900 and continued for four to five decades. Trees were felled for providing rail-sleepers for the department of railways, through the sub-continent (India – both colonial British Raj and Independent India). Over 20,000 acres of forests were cleared and turned into Tea Estates. As of now 50 Tea Gardens exist (See Annexure for more details). 3 Victims of Encroachment: After the enactment of 1880 Forest Act the Tribes in forests were settled in gjp (Settlements). However, legal rights were not conferred to them in proper deeds and even if done not honored in good faith. No development inputs were taken to their doors to either cultivate the lands provided to them or market their produce. Roads to habitations are still a far cry. Drinking water, sanitation, electricity, education, healthcare and livelihood opportunities have not reached these tribals in satisfactory measures. KAADAR PATHIES – LOCATIONAL DISADVANTAGES: Kaadars live in the following habitations, most of them requiring at least one hour walk from the town and at least half an hour to 45 minutes from the fringe of Tea-estates until where road passage is available. All the Six Kaadar tribal settlements are located in deep forests declared as sanctuaries and therefore deprived of normal roadways for travel and transport. A cursory look at 2 of the 6-Kaadars settlements give a glimpse of locational disadvantages faced by Kaadars in terms of accessing services such as education, health, banks, transportation, etc. Nedungundram: 9-kms away from main town or 5-kms away from any of the Vaalpaarai neighborhood villages; From the village one has to walk through the forests at least 4-kms, through (tea) estate pathways, meandering through the bushes, before reaching a regular bus 4 road. Another 5-kms to reach any primary health care is available at Vaalpaarai. Any emergency need for critical care, they need to set on another long road (bus/motor) journey to Pollachi. Udumanpaarai: One hour of steep climbing from the village/hamlet proper, almost 3-kms through rubble pathways and another 2-kms of walk through estate pathways, and then another 6 kms to reach Vaalpaarai and Pollachi; There is a history of a tribal lady walking for over 8 hours during her full pregnancy to reach the nearest hospital where she delivered on arrival. In such a tribal context ‘108’ ambulance service in its present form of a four wheeler cannot come handy, since they cannot access habitation. Moreover no mode of transport is safe for a mother in labor when it’s going to be a long and bumpy ride. Therefore, schemes appropriate to tribals needs to be conceived. Eethakuzhy: About 6-kms away from the main town Vaalpaarai and other neighbourhood villages; one can take a vehicle upto 5-kms and then walk deep into the estates and forest terrain for another 1-kms Erumaipaarai: About a km from Top Slip Tourist spot by the side of the road at the entrance of the forest range in the neighborhoods. Kallaar, About 7-kms, from Valpaarai town, 4-kms can be covered on the roadside and forest path and climb up another 3-kms through hillock ranges, amidst the valley dividing Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Kavarkal: About 3kms from the town-Vaalpaarai and this is the only Kaadar settlement which is accessible by road as it is adjacent to the main road, as we climb down from Vaalpaarai towards Pollachi. 5 CHAPTER – II REVIEW OF LITERATURE CHAPTER – II REVIEW OF LITERATURE INTRODUCTION The second chapter consists and explains the available literature that is related to Kaadar People, and this literature review shows the detailed data of Anamalai people. Under this Literature can know about the Kaadar Tribe’s Population in Anamalai, Educational Status, Health status and Employment status of Anamalai. Sekar. T (2003) elaborates about Kaadar Tribe in his traced book Forest History of Anamalais, Tamil Nadu. He explains about, PEOPLE OF ANAMALAIS Anamalais, known for its biodiversity is also rich in anthropological diversity. With five scheduled tribe groups out of the 36 different tribal communities listed by the Tamil Nadu Government and one scheduled caste community living in 36 different settlements in the sanctuary limit, Anamalais can rightly be described as the 'anthropological reserve' of the state. The indigenous groups living in Anamalais are the Kaadar, Malasar, Malaimalasar, Pulaiyar, Muduvar and Eravalar. Of these, the Eravalar constitute but a small minority generally restricted to foothills. The other hill tribes in contrast are spread out in different settlements, distributed over one or more ranges of the division. Each settlement or 'Pathy' as it is referred to consists of a group often or more huts, huddled together on the banks of a stream or an open glade within the forest.