Miserable plight of Adivasis of TAMIL NADU - IRULA Adivasis
Enranged at "inter caste" marriage between Irula Adivasi man & "Caste Hindu" (fancy name for Tamil OBC) woman, Irula men of groom's family are thrashed, beaten & URINATED upon by girl's family.
indiatoday.in/amp/cities/che…
Adivasis/Scheduled Tribe constitute very small (1%) of the population of Tamil Nadu & mostly live in dense forests of Nilgiri hills. According to 2011 census, there were about 7 Lakh Scheduled Tribe people divided among 36 tribes including 6 "primitive" tribes that include Irula.
Irula number between 2.5 to 3 Lakhs and are spread over Nilgiri hills of western TN, southern Karnataka & Eastern Kerela. 90% of this extremely poor and marginalized Adivasi community lives on hills & in forests of Tamil Nadu.
Irula Adivasis are basically as Dravidian as DALITs & OBCs of Tamil Nadu and of the same "stock". Their language is also part of Dravidian family, yet they face social stigma because of their (past) work as "snake & rat" catchers. The Irula word means "people of darkness".
The main problem of Irula tribe is low literacy. Most cannot even make to government schools and even less to colleges or other institutions of higher education because of very humiliating & difficult task of procuring ST (Scheduled Tribe) certificate.
newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-n…
Since most Irula Adivasis now live in plains (many were forced to displace), a special "Anthropology Officer" is assigned to verify if those Irulas desiring ST Certificates are "real" hill Irulas or not.
Most of these "Anthropology Officers" are from "Dominant Caste"(Tamil OBCs)
Irulas are called to government offices and asked to show if they can catch snakes and rates. They are also made of sing & do "tribal dance" by these "Anthropology officers", who even ask Irula women if they are sexually promiscuous or not, before granting ST certificate.
*correction "rats & snakes"
Because of humiliating, castest and degrading process for issue of ST certificate, very few Irulas are able to obtain them.Thol.Thirumavalavan, Dalit leader of VCK conducted aspecial drive to get ST certificates issued to Irula students, but he could only manage 100 certificates.
Irula family settled in plains of Tamil Nadu.
The Adivasi community of Irula contrary to their perceived image are actually very beautiful people as well as very talented, skillful and artistic community.
Snake catching skills may have given them stigma in India, but it has been recognized worldwide, especially United States of America, were some of the most skillful Irulas were invited by US conservation authorities to catch pythons for breeding, a highly difficult task.
Irula tribe members in Florida, USA helping National Park authorities to catch pythons for conservation & breeding.
Futher, their contribution in production of anti venom injections against snake bite are also being recognized in medical field.
Their artistic legacy in songs and music is also now going mainstream as more things are being discovered of their unique, sweet and melodious culture.
Lastly,
JAI BHIM, a Tamil film starring Suriya, which will be released on Amazon on November 2nd is also based on real life struggle of 40 Irula Adivasi families.
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