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With their lives already in dire straits due to authorities neglect and lack of basic needs, sixty households of the Irula neighborhood, a semi-nomadic tribe unfold throughout three villages within the Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, have been dealt a further blow due to the Cyclone Nivar, which has utterly washed away their settlements.
At least 50 per cent of the individuals don’t possess even a neighborhood certificates (proof of 1’s belonging to a selected caste) or every other authorities doc like Aadhar or voter ID. This group of 250 individuals, who reside close to a small piece of poromboke land in TS Pettai, Meedhikudi, and Adivaraganallur villages, haven’t any land to farm on, no training to search higher employment and no entry to get both.
The youngsters of this tribe are pressured to change faculties because the households maintain transferring from one space to one other and this leads to dropouts as effectively. Driven by poverty, most of those Irula tribe members work as contractual labourers in brick kilns, rice mills, whilst securities for farmland in Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Cuddalore, Nilgris, Anakatti, and many others.
Murugappan Ramasamy, activist and coordinator of Irular Sangam in Villupuram, says although individuals from a number of different backward communities are employed as daily-wage staff, solely the Irula neighborhood members face harassment and exploitation.
“To avoid these harassments, some of them keep moving from one place to another every six months. Some of them stay in the land which are categorised as ‘Neer Pidipu Paguthi‘ (water catchment area) and hence the government refused to provide them patta. They reside in those areas because their traditional job of catching a snake or rat is no longer providing them a regular income. They do fishing or work as a coolie. Due to the recent Nivar cyclone, their settlements are completely washed away. Their livelihood has taken a toll,” Ramasamy says.
One motive why the native village administration doesn’t pay a lot consideration to the neighborhood is as a result of the Irula inhabitants is significantly low there isn’t a celebration to help them, says Ramasamy.
“For some of the Irula members who have ration card, they are denied all the items. They are provided only rice in public distribution shops. Other communities are taken care of at least during the local elections. The issue can be sorted only if the government allocates the natham poromboke land and if that is not available, they can purchase any of the other lands and accommodate these people,” he says.
However, Ramasamy says not all officers are unhealthy and a number of the collectors and tehsildars just like the one in Tindivanam supplied electrical connection to the Irula hamlet at Jakkampetai.
According to Arumugam, the state secretary of Pazhangudi Irular Pathukappu Sangam, the federal government has failed to conduct a correct survey of those individuals, which has restricted them from offering the patta.
“The issue has been prevalent for at least three decades. The patta allocated for some of these people in 2002 is yet to be materialised. The Revenue Department officials are taking no steps to better the livelihood of these people. There are around 900 Irula houses around the Cuddalore district and only 100 or 150 of them have properly built land and houses,” he says.
“The members of the community are not seeking the help of the Sangam. They are hesitant to come all the way from Chidambaram to Villupuram, where the Sangam is located to seek a solution for their problems. The government officials too are not bothered to visit them and this issue is going on forever. Forget about ration card, some of them even are not able to get the death certificates,” Arumugam says.
However, assist has poured in for the Irula neighborhood by way of the NGO Peace and Happiness, which has been working for the welfare of the individuals since 2015 and offering them with basic needs like meals, shelter, clothes.
Mahesh Subramanian, the founding father of Peace and Happiness, says the federal government needs to step in to save the neighborhood.
“Since 2015, we have also supported their children’s education by setting up computer centers in collaboration with other NGOs. They have also been provided with fishing nets, musical instruments, etc. However, there is a limit to what NGOs can do after which the government should step in. We have met the finest collectors and sub collectors in Pondicherry and Cuddalore and we hope the Irula people get their permanent and proper place to stay soon,” Subramanian says.
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