God's own' no more

Thiruvananthapuram: The lynching of Madhu has also brought into the limelight the failure of the government to systematically implement various schemes for the tribals. The much-hyped move to implement the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, PESA) law by the previous government had also hit the roadblock. There has also been a steep increase in the number of crimes against them. The information gathered under RTI from the Directorate of Scheduled Tribe Development shows that the fund allocated for the community during 2000-01 to 2016-17 amounted to Rs 2,731.48 crore. As per the data with the crime information bureau there is also a steep increase in the cases of atrocities against adivasis registered in various stations of the state. Around 1,030 cases of attack on adivasis have been recorded as per the statistics.
 
The detail break up of cases against adivasis will be as follows: 

2011 - 2012 - 124 
2012 - 2013 - 133 
2013 - 2014 - 135 
2014 - 2015 - 176 
 2015 - 2016 - 188 
2016 - 2017-192 
2017-2018 till Jan - 182
The decision taken during the time of the previous Oommen Chandy government  to bring 31 grama panchayats and one municipality under the provisions of PESA has not been implemented. The proposal was to include all tribal majority areas of Wayanad, Palakkad, Kannur, Malappuram and Idukki districts under provisions of the law, to enable protection under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. The issue of landlessness has also not been addressed even though it was brought to the limelight as back as in 2001, by the Adivasi Dalit Action Council which later became Adivasi Gothra Mahasabha.

As the government failed to fulfill its promise, Adivasis set up makeshift accommodation inside Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary declaring self-rule. They also started cultivating the land. The move of the government to evict the agitators resulted in the killing of a tribal and a policeman, on February 19, 2003. Even afterwards there have not been any effort to redress the land issues of the adivasis. Only 739 families have been distributed land upto a total of 278 acre from 2013 to 2017 spending Rs 65 crore. Tribal rights activist Dhanya Raman told Deccan Chronicle that Attappady had recorded 136 infant deaths in 2014.The high court in a judgement had asked to return 10213 acres encroached from Adivasis in 2013.The land has been increased to 13,000 acres at present, said Ms Raman.

“After the reports of high infant mortality, during the time of the previous UDF, a scheme providing pregnant women a monthly financial assistance of '1,000 for 18 months from three months of pregnancy and up to 12 months after delivery was launched in Attappady. Money was siphoned off by an official. Following the complaint I submitted to the finance secretary, action was taken against the official. Madhu who was lynched belonged to a primitive tribe. A special fund of Rs 148 crore was earmarked for the primitive tribes.

If the amount was properly utilised proper treatment could be accorded to Madhu who was suffering from mental health issues as there were only around 8000 people in this tribe,” said Ms Raman. Justice Deliverance system has not worked for the benefit of the tribals in the adivasi areas. Most of the cases of atrocities, even those related to scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, has failed to reach a logical conclusion. The same would be the fate of the case relating to the lynching of Madhu said V.B. Ajayakumar.

In fact, Kerala is the only state in the county that has not recorded any improvement in the development indicators of adivasis even though it was the state which has the highest development indicators for other communities. Moreover, the Adivasis have no role in determining their development policies. This was even while the communities have many qualified people including PhD holders, said Mr Ajayakumar.

Tedy Cx, an Attappady-based activist said that it was a reality that development like roads and other infrastructure has not taken place in the region before 2000. The main culprit for the same was the bureaucrat-contractor nexus that diverted the money. All the development activities in the area covering 745 kilometres, even bigger than the Alappuzha district, happened only after 2000s. Moreover, the primary aim of Japan aided Attappady Hills Area Development Society (AHADS) with a total cost of '210 crore was not Adivasi welfare as being suggested.  The aim of the project was environmental protection. It was not fair to think that the Adivasis can be taken back to their traditional living. They have been exposed to modernity and it would be cruelty to confine   themselves to the past now, said Mr Tedy.