Rajiv Gandhi (24) is a wage-labourer like most of his peers in Marayur, a rain-shadow region two hours from Munnar, Kerala. He works in the sugar cane farms and occasionally joins the Forest Protection Group, a voluntary troop that helps the authorities to nab the sandal wood smugglers from the forests around. Born to a poor tribal family in the Marayur Gramam, Rajiv Gandhi's secondary school certificate clearly states that he belongs to Malavedan (a scheduled tribe) and hence eligible for reservation and educational allowances demarcated for the ST students. But like all other students from his community, who passed class X, Rajiv Gandhi also

thcouldn't resume his studies after 10 standard for quite plain a reason: He couldn't file his community certificate, because the revenue authorities were not allowed to issue one!

Rajiv Gandhi born to Eswari and Sankaran in 1984 belongs to the 'caste-less generation' in the community that inhabited the forest land for centuries on. The year which saw the assassination of Indira Gandhi and the coronation of Rajiv Gandhi in the national capital, mark a historic shift in the life of the tribal community down south who lead a life of destitution and deprivation. It was in 1984 the community was put under the scanner of anthropological scrutiny undertaken by KIRTADS (Kerala Institute for Research, Training and Development of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) and consequently found 'a fake community' whose illicit claims, the study said, were aimed at enjoying the ST status illegitimately. The government stripped off their ST status and directed the concerned revenue officials to stop issuing Malavedan/Malayan certificates to the people belonging to the Gramam, as the tribal settlements are called in the locality. Interestingly, the government and various studies by KIRTADS failed to specify to which caste the Gramakkar (meaning 'the villagers'), as the tribal community is generally known in the region, belong to if they are not Malavedan tribals as 'proved' by the anthropology experts.

Thus, as per the official records, the Gramakkar remain 'casteless' for over two decades . “Th i s i s how progressive governments make the society casteless!” says Murukan of Koviloor Malayan Seva Sangham, with a straight face.

While the organised caste groups like Gujjars brought the entire state machinery to a stand-still demanding their inclusion in the ST list, the tribals put forth only a feeble

Gujjars and Gramakkar

f i g h t , t h o u g h t h e y w e r e unceremoniously thrown out of the scheduled list. The villagers just want the Government to decide up on which caste they belong to. But the signals from the of ficials are confusing. Since the tribals make only a small community of a few thousands and are scattered around in five settlements, a unified action to claim their caste remain a distant dream. Nor do they have the resources or political clout to put pressure on the mainstream political parties to take up their cause.

30Indian AGE October 2008

K R Ranjith &

K P Jayakumar

Out Casts!Once they touched milk and renounced their caste under unknown

compulsions deep in history. Being told that they were not the same caste they belonged to a few years back, now they don't have caste of

their own .Govt is yet to decide on it, subjecting them to insoluble problems of a caste imperative world.

State

Photo : K R Ranjith

The Gramakkar are settled in five closed community settlements across the region, known as Gramam. Since they are the traditional inhabitants of the region for centuries, the whole mountainous region is known as Anchu Gramangal (Five Villages) even in the colonial documents and revenue receipts. These five tribal villages are Marayur, Kanthallur, Keezhanthur and kovilur in the Kerala side of the border and Kottakkudi in Tamil Nadu. The hilly terrain and the distance between the settlements make it even difficult for the people to come together for their common cause.

One myth has it that they are descendents of those who were forced to leave Madurai when the city was set ablaze by Kannaki. Ousted from their native place, they reached

the thick forests of the Marayur region and assembled on a rocky mountain which they called Anchunattampara. There they decided to shed their different identities and dipped their hands in milk to pledge that they will be known as gramakkar irrespective of their castes. They also decided to form five settlements and formulated strict codes of conduct, of marriage and of relationships.

The Gramakkar are not the only group that claim their lineage to the legend of Kannaki. Muthuvan, a prominent tribal community in the forests of the region also have legends and lore related to Kannaki and the fire in Madurai.

“We've a close traditional links with the Muthuvan tribes.” Says Dhanushkodi of Marayur settlement. “We call Muthuvans as Uravukar (of

the same origin) and traditionally maintain a kind of barter between us. We give them rice and chilly and buy sweet potato and Ragi (finger millet) in return. And we've a number of similar customs and rituals.” For the past two decades the members of these poor communities were trying to convince the authorities about their tribal nature by reciting their songs, re-enacting their ways of life and marriage, displaying their ethnic culinary practices, ethnic wisdom of agriculture, their strict codes with in the community and all possible evidences they could gather from memory to prove their ethnicity. But every attempt just falls short of the evidences the anthropologists of KIRTADS would want them to produce and the poor people just don't understand the ways and means of

31Indian AGE October 2008

State

Photo : K R Ranjith

Marayur Village

32Indian AGE

producing the scientific proof of their very own existence.

Before the settlers from down stream Kerala and Tamilnadu discovered the Marayur planes, just a few decades back, the Marayur planes, known for its megalithic monuments and the sandal rich forests, were exclusive haven of tribal communities including the Malave-dans, Malayans, Malappulayans (Hill Pulayas), and Muthuvans. The Gramakkar depended on the forests and paddy for their existence. They cultivated rice in a primitive manner before the settlers came in and introduced modern ways of farming in the late sixties.

Gradually the ethnic popu-lation began to loose their land and means of living as it happened in almost all the tribal areas in Kerala; they lost their land to the settlers and became coolies in the land earlier belonged to them. The new settlers introduced sugar cane in place of paddy. And now the Marayur planes do not produce a single grain, seriously affecting the food chain of the ethnic population. Milk was part of the staple diet of the community and each family had dozens of cattle ensuring a regular supply. “Our cattle didn't have reins to control them.” Prahladan recalls the intimate bond with the animals “Oh.. is the signal to stop and OHO to make them turn round.” Maintaining cattle cost them little as the forests and fields down the planes provided natural fodder. The

change from rice to sugar cane made it difficult for them to maintain the sizeable livestock. To make things even worse, the strict enforcement of forest laws practically forced their cattle out of the forest limits. “We don't keep cattle now and we don't own the paddy we had once. We've nothing! ” Says Kadireshan an inhabitant of Marayur village. “We've lost our caste too...”

Confusion and conspiracy

Many of the tribal people of the village suspect a plot in raking up suspicion about their caste identity in the early 80s and in demanding an investigation in to the same. In 1984, when KIRTADS was summoned in to examine the anthropological lineage of the tribals, the settlers from outside had just started their land grab. The conspicuous link between the loss of land and the simultaneous loss of caste identity can never be easily ignored.

The tribal identity of the natives was a major impediment before land grabbers to have a complete take over. Once natives were removed from the list of the Scheduled Tribes, it became easier to oust them from their land. After two decades of the first KIR TADS intervention, now the people of Marayur Gramam, have only a few acres to boast of. The original inheritors of the land now sweat in the field for 60-100 Rupees a day. We asked the local correspondent of a major daily about the tribe, who said that they originally belonged to an upper class community called Vellala Pillai and all their claims were ill-founded. Lest he may seem prejudiced, he added that though their claims were false, the gramakkar now

October 2008

State

Garlic being dried in the kitchen

Photo : K R Ranjith

Photo : K R Ranjith

33Indian AGE October 2008

community who were able to get a temporary community certificate in 1988. So he could complete his studies and avail education grants for ST students. But by the time he finished his course, his community had been stripped off its caste and he could no longer apply for government jobs in the ST category. He got enlisted in five rank lists by Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC) but didn't make it to the final lists as he couldn't furnish the community certificates. Now he works as a social worker on contract basis in the Eco Development Society, a wing of Kerala Forestry Project. “Since I could not furnish the community certificate, they didn't consider me in the ST category and because my Higher Secondary certificate states that I belong to Scheduled Tribe, they didn't consider me in the general category either.” complains Dhanushkodi. In response to a petition filed by him, Justice KS Radhakrishnan of Kerala High Court issued a verdict in November 8,1996 directing the authorities concerned to look in to the matter and issue community certificates with in two months. Dhanushkodi is still waiting for the certificate. K S Murukan of Koviloor Gramam also had to approach the HC (c.p.m. no. 27995) to get community certificate issued to him. The HC verdict in the petition to issue the certificates with in three months had the same fate. Many students who passed the Navodaya schools entrance examination had to give up their seats because of the same reason.

Since they no longer belonged to any caste groups, thousands of gramakkar fell far off the margins as the welfare measures for the deprived classes reached no where near these out-casts.

The KIRTADS submitted its report in 1986 recommending to the government and as per the report the government issued an order on April 1, 1987 which said that there were no Malayan, Malavedan or Malappan-daram tribes left in Devikulam Taluk, making it impossible for the tribals who earl ier belonged to the Malayavedan/Malayan community as per the official records. All the educational grants and social welfare

The legal entangle

measures were denied to them immediately after this government order. They approached the government to re-instate the welfare grants to which the government responded positively in November 13, 1987. The complainants asked how these communities could just disappear in a matter of five years. They pointed out the fact that the Malayan and Malavedan communi-ties existed in the census documents till 1981. The government threw the ball back in to KIRTADS and asked its director to look in to the issue and submit a fresh report.

In August 1987, former MP and former MLA, KK Madhavan filed a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) in the HC (c m p.886) in the issue. Justice P K Shamsuddeen in his judgement dated October 13, 1992, directed the government to study whether the tribal communities had vanished as discovered by the KIRTADS report and stayed the government order. Even after the HC order , the Government didn't take any action for two years. After repeated requests by the tribal group, a committee was formed in 1994 to look in to the matter. The f ive member commit tee consisted of the district collector of Idukky, Director of Scheduled caste/tribe development Department, and the Director and Deputy Director of KIRTADS, submitted a report which upheld the earlier KIRTADS study and used almost the same language to describe the community members. The report said the Gramakkar were trying to fabricate evidences to get the ST status.

And finally the anthropology experts came to a conclusion that the people of the village belong to Vellala Pillai, an upper caste in Tamil Nadu. Though the government accepted the report, it is yet to decide up on whether to allot Vellala Pillai certificates to the people of over there. “Vellazhar means farmer/agriculturalist in Tamil. We are vellazhars and not Vellalar / Vellalappilla. The committee seems to have mixed up things in a deliberate attempt to tarnish our community.” Says Murukan of Malayan Seva Sangham. He says the Sangham can not be taken for granted and it simply can not accept any caste bestowed up on them. “Caste is caste,” He asserts. “And no body can meddle with it.”

live in abject poverty and face a lot of problems due to the confusion of caste.

Marayur and other settlements of the tribe group have an ill-reputation for strictly adhering to their old tribal habits. Each settlement will have number of out-castes who were ex-communicated by the tribe for reasons ranging from cross-caste marriages to smuggling sandal wood. The dictums of the community are so strong that those who were ex-communicated remain out for years. They will not be allowed to enter the premises of the gramam or participate in community festivals and gather-ings. The community is often criticized by the media and public for these primitive and uncivilised practices. But when it comes to the caste identity of the tribe, the same public would turn against them and call them upper castes.

On the way to Karayur Gramam, we met Devarasan, a frail figure in his seventies. “I really don't know my caste.” he said “earlier we were Malavedans in our certificates. Now we've none. We being in the forests for centuries don't know what's happening around. We're illiterate.” Devarasan like many other members of the community we met had only one demand. “Any caste will do..” they say, “… so that our children could continue studies.” In all the “caste-less settlements” we could see hopeless youngsters who couldn't resume their studies after SSLC. The Marayur Gramam had only a few youngsters who had the opportunity to study further. Those who've completed graduation can scarcely be found and even if you manage to see one, he would be working in the cane fields as his family couldn't support his further studies. In the 170 families of the Keezhanthur village 80

thhave passed 10 standard. But only five of them managed to complete plus two. Those who manage to study further against all odds will have to face a whole lot of problems due to their caste-less identity. In the Mara-yur settlement, the number of people who made it to the pre-degree level is below 20. Only three have reached bachelor degree and one MSc graduate and no one made it to the government services. K. Dhanu-shkodi of Marayur Gramam has a Bachelor degree in Economics. He was one of the two students from the

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