The book was published in the year 2011.The price of this book was Rs. 383/-.
The Kerala Institute for Research Training and Development Studies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (KIRTADS) is a premier research institute in State of Kerala, focusing particularly on the issues of the Scheduled communities of the State, under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Development Department, Government of Kerala. The institute was established in the year 1972 as Tribal Research and Training Centre (TR&TC) and later reorganized as KIRTADS in the year 1979.
The research institute conducts ethnographic as well as socio-cultural and language studies of various communities, especially on the Scheduled Communities of the state, by incorporating theoretical perspectives from the domain of Anthropology, Sociology as part of its classification of community studies. Act 11 of 1996 recognized the Research Wing of the Department as an Expert agency to investigate into the doubtful cases pertaining to the community status of individuals, especially those referred by the Hon’ble High Court of Kerala, Scrutiny Committee, Screening Committee and other Government agencies. Research studies on the contemporary socio-cultural, economic, political and educational status of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of the State are also undertaken by the institute.
The tribal communities in the State, generally, no longer remain as an isolated and self sufficient group rather they are in close interaction with the members of mainstream communities and groups for subsistence and to meet other needs of life. Their cultural traditions, social control mechanisms, myths and legends, and techniques of production are closely linked to the natural resources and environment amid which they live. The global realities and the practices of unsustainable development have direct influence on their political, economic, social, cultural, and environmental matters. A sum total of the changes in the mainstream society with special reference to the ‘encroachment’ of non-tribals in to the tribal habitat and forest laws, has gradually resulted in the uprooting of tribals – socially, culturally, economically, politically, ritually, psychologically, and physically. The bottom level communities are the most vulnerable among them.
In the light of the above mentioned aspects the Research Wing of the Department had been undertaken five research studies, viz., i) The Malai Pandaran’s: The Victims of ‘Classification’ and ‘Development’ in the Globalized Era- A Study, ii) Developmental Issues and the Problems of ‘Unwed’ Mothers among the Adiya Tribal Community of Wayanad District, iii) Control and Access of Resources and Change in the Land Use Pattern among the Irulas of Attapady in the Context of Globalization, and iv) Evolving a Viable Development Scheme for the Paniyan Community of Wayanad in the Context of Globalization, during the financial year 2009-10. Now the Institute is happy to announce the publication of the above mentioned research studies by compiling all the reports as Volume I of the ‘Research Publication Series’.
The study titled as “The Malai Pandaran’s of Kerala: The Victims of ‘Classification’ and ‘Development’ in the Globalized Era- A Study”, begin with the problem of ‘reservation’ and situate how the ‘Malai Pandarams purposively disengage from the hurdles of ‘reservation’ and ‘developmentalism’ in the globalised era. In doing so the study focuses on the anomaly in classifying Malai Pandarams as ‘generalised tribe’ despite considering their ‘primitive’ nature. Comprehensively, situating the problems of forest nomads, semi-nomads, and the colonized among the group, the study, propose to classify the group as ‘Particularly Vulnerable Group’ despite considering their increase in the population growth which is mostly an outcome of infiltration over years. “Developmental Issues and the Problems of ‘Unwed’ Mothers among the Adiya Tribal Community of Wayanad District” identified that the increased number of unwed mothers is a serious issue in the district of Wayanad, where more than fifty percent of tribes are living. Even though the government had implemented many programmes for the development of these groups, a detailed study revealed that the unwed mothers and their children are living in a socially, economically, educationally and physically backward condition, without getting proper attention from the responsible authorities.
The research study entitled as “Control and Access of Resources and Change in the Land Use Pattern among the Irulas of Attappady in the Context of Globalization” reveals that the non tribal migration in to the Attappady valley in the Palakkad district of the State has affected the Irula ST community in a number of ways. Land alienation, introduction of new verities of crops displacing the traditional crops and agricultural practices, extensive use of chemical fertilizers, etc., are major among them. The study identifies that the non-availability of cultivable land is a major issue among the community in the present scenario. “Evolving a Viable Development Scheme for the Paniyan Community of Wayanad in the Context of Globalization” identified that the economic pursuits, political representation and educational attainments of the Paniyan community in Wayanad were not in tune with that of the surrounding socio-cultural system. The social, economic, educational and other aspects of the Paniyan community has not much improved in spite of decades of interventions from the part of the Government and other agencies. Most of the community members do not have any involvement and participation in the development initiatives. Formation of Paniya Sabha, an assembly of all the members of a hamlet, for coordinating, supporting, mobilizing and monitoring the entire activities in a hamlet, creation of a support group at the hamlet level, comprising a learning facilitator and other elders of the community, to tackle all the issues related to the education of the children, and the institution of Sub-reservation are some among the recommendations for the overall well being of the community.
All these research studies were done by the Researchers of the Department. The Junior Research Fellows assisted them in completing the study in a time bound manner. The specific research studies were supervised by the Deputy Director (Anthropology). We express our sincere gratitude to all those who have co-operated with these studies. We are thankful to those who have advised, helped, and encouraged us in this endeavour. The views expressed in this volume are that of the Researchers and I believe that this book is expected to serve all those who are interested in the development of Scheduled Communities in Kerala.
Sri. K. SASHIDHARA IAS
DIRECTOR
KIRTADS
No Comments