Newsletter
No.24
Jul - Sep 2009
Special Adivasi Gram Sabhas organised
AMS
could achieve some landmark developments with respect to the
implementation of the Forest Rights Act during the last three months.
Under this legislation, "Gram Sabha" is the all powerful village institution. But, the word Gram Sabha has been defined quite vaguely in the Panchayats Act by the Government of Tamilnadu. After lot of discussion and persuasion, a major success was achieved when the Government agreed to redefine the word Gram Sabha and to constitute special adivasi Gram sabhas comprising only of adivasi hamlets. Starting from panchayat level, through negotiations we have brought down the scope of such gram sabhas to a group of adivasi hamlets - even dividing the revenue villages into small manageable units.
The AMS activists have organised all the adivasi hamlets in Gudalur and Pandalur taluks into 29 'Special Adivasi Gram Sabhas' and identified the meeting place for each of these gram sabhas. In order to avoid any possible litigation by other veted interests, AMS also pressed the government to ensure that the elected village panchayats also complete the required procedures. Accordingly, all the elected village panchayats in these two taluks passed official resolutions to constitute these special adivasi gram sabhas.
Under this legislation, "Gram Sabha" is the all powerful village institution. But, the word Gram Sabha has been defined quite vaguely in the Panchayats Act by the Government of Tamilnadu. After lot of discussion and persuasion, a major success was achieved when the Government agreed to redefine the word Gram Sabha and to constitute special adivasi Gram sabhas comprising only of adivasi hamlets. Starting from panchayat level, through negotiations we have brought down the scope of such gram sabhas to a group of adivasi hamlets - even dividing the revenue villages into small manageable units.
The AMS activists have organised all the adivasi hamlets in Gudalur and Pandalur taluks into 29 'Special Adivasi Gram Sabhas' and identified the meeting place for each of these gram sabhas. In order to avoid any possible litigation by other veted interests, AMS also pressed the government to ensure that the elected village panchayats also complete the required procedures. Accordingly, all the elected village panchayats in these two taluks passed official resolutions to constitute these special adivasi gram sabhas.
A section of members participating in a special Gram Sabha meeting
On
17th and 18th of August, AMS organised the first meeting of
17 adivasi gram sabhas in the 4 village panchayats of Cherangode,
Nellakota, Srimadurai and Mudumalai. The area teams of AMS undertook
the massive task of mobilising all adivasis above the age of 18 years
to attend these gram sabha meetings. Even though they had only a week
to organise, more than 1500 adult members attended these gram
sabha meetings, besides lot of children.
All the 17 gram sabhas, elected Forest Rights committees comprising of 15 adivasis each. Government had deputed one Nodal Officer to oversee the conduct of each of the Gram Sabha meetings. AMS activists explained the important provisions of the Forest Rights Act, the procedures involved in preparing claims and the role of the Forest Rights Committees in the meeting.
All the 17 gram sabhas, elected Forest Rights committees comprising of 15 adivasis each. Government had deputed one Nodal Officer to oversee the conduct of each of the Gram Sabha meetings. AMS activists explained the important provisions of the Forest Rights Act, the procedures involved in preparing claims and the role of the Forest Rights Committees in the meeting.
AMS activists, K.C.Krishnan and K.T.Subramanian explaining FRA to members
During
the next 3 months, claims to access forest resources will be prepared
and scrutinised by these Forest Rights Committees. Special training
programmes are also being organised to train the members of Forest
Rights Committees and the Sub-Divisional Level Committee.
Simultaneously, we are requesting the Government to issue
requests to the Town panchayats and
Gudalur Municipality to pass similar resolutions authorising the
formation of special adivasi gram sabhas. On 20th September, a training
programme was also organised for the newly elected Forest Rights
Committee members in Ayyankolli. It was attended by more than 500
members, indicating the keen interest of the sangam members on this new
Act.
As there is a move from the Government's side to split the existing panchayats into smaller units in future, this opportunity of forming special adivasi gram sabhas has a tremendous potential in future. If and when the Government wants to split the panchayats, AMS can argue to consider these adivasi gram sabhas themselves into adivasi panchayats. Such panchayats can be controlled and influenced by the adivasi village sangams and all the development schemes to adivasi villages can pass through these adivasi panchayats.
As there is a move from the Government's side to split the existing panchayats into smaller units in future, this opportunity of forming special adivasi gram sabhas has a tremendous potential in future. If and when the Government wants to split the panchayats, AMS can argue to consider these adivasi gram sabhas themselves into adivasi panchayats. Such panchayats can be controlled and influenced by the adivasi village sangams and all the development schemes to adivasi villages can pass through these adivasi panchayats.
Gudalur experiences flood situation
On July 15th and 16th, very heavy rains lashed Gudalur valley. Non-stop record rainfall in a single day resulted in flood like situation in many adivasi villages. The situation was especially bad in few low-lying villages in Gudalur area like Thenvayal, Puramanavayal, Molapalli etc.
Rain water entered many of the houses in these villages and damaged the meagre possessions people had. People had to leave their houses and move into make-shift camps in nearby schools. In some villages, landslip occurred and destroyed the walls. One of the houses in May Field village is shown below.
AMS area teams reacted very quickly and assisted the district administration in providing relief to the villages. It was very heartening to see the Government reacting promptly to this crisis situation and cash assistance provided by them to all the affected families was very timely and useful. AMS extended medical and other material support to those affected in adivasi villages through its health team and village volunteers. Blankets, mats etc. were provided to the Gudalur villages that needed them. For the first two days, food materials were also provided.
In Erumadu, Pattavayal and Gudalur, roofing materials like sheets were given to families whose houses were damaged in the heavy rain. We are grateful to Tzedakah Trust, Mysore (founded by The Green Hotel, Mysore and the Charities Advisory Trust, UK) for promising immediate financial support for relief operations. Affected families have moved back to their villages and things are back to normal. However, this event has highlighted the poor status of housing in adivasi villages. For Thenvayal village, AMS is campaigning with the administration to identify suitable land and to relocate the village to a safer place.
Another Handmade Soap making unit started
During the last two years, the Adivasi Soap unit in Gudalur has stabilised well and has perfected the system of making hand made soaps, besides keeping track of the sales and stock. There is a very good demand for this soap both locally and internationally. So, as a next step, another unit has been started in Mangara village of Erumadu. Three rounds of training was conducted in Gudalur for the Kattunaicken women of Mangara and they made soaps under the supervision of Subramani, the young Paniya boy managing the Gudalur soap unit.
Then, Subramani went to Mangara village with all the raw materials required. As the senior members of the Erumadu Area team were busy with various activities, the younger team took charge of kick-starting the soap unit in Mangara. The first lot of 50 soaps was successfully made in the village. Due to continuous rains, the event had to be postponed twice, but finally when the soaps were made, the women and the Erumadu team is quite happy.
Toilet Constructed in Kuthalkolli Paniya village
During the last
two decades, AMS has established institutions to address the
health and education issues confronting the adivasi community in a
systematic way. For the next few years, Housing, Sanitation
& Drinking Water have been identified as the most important
areas to
concentrate on. AMS has been engaging the Government intensively this
year and is trying to influence its policies in
favour of adivasis.
As an important step in this direction, AMS decided to build toilets in Kuthalkolli village near Thorapalli. Almost for two years, this village and the Gudalur Area team of AMS have been trying to push the Panchayat to build toilet for the village, as there is nearly nowhere to go for the paniyas of this village. The adivasi masons and construction workers trained by Anu and Krishna took up the responsibility for building it.
Land
was allocated by the village and the sangam extended
complete support needed. All the construction materials were
procured by this team and assisted by the Gudalur area team. The entire
construction - from foundation to finishing and plumbing -
was done by this adivasi team itself.
The final tally of the expenditure is about Rs.75500, almost bang on
target as our budget was Rs.75000. The broad break-up of the
expenditure heads are like this:
As an important step in this direction, AMS decided to build toilets in Kuthalkolli village near Thorapalli. Almost for two years, this village and the Gudalur Area team of AMS have been trying to push the Panchayat to build toilet for the village, as there is nearly nowhere to go for the paniyas of this village. The adivasi masons and construction workers trained by Anu and Krishna took up the responsibility for building it.
| Description of Expenditure | Amount (Rs.) |
| Stone, Sand, Cement etc. | 20000 |
| Soil cement blocks, bricks | 16500 |
| Wages for Construction | 26000 |
| Plumbing materials, doors,
windows, closets etc. |
13000 |
| Total |
75500 |
We thankfully acknowledge the financial support of Rs.20000 by Mr.Padmanabhan for this construction, who lives nearby.
Srimadurai Area Centre inaugurated
On 15th September 2009, the newly constructed Area Centre in Srimadurai was inaugurated. With numerous activities being carried out through the Area Centres, the current building has become quite inadequate. So, we are focusing on improving the infrastructure facilities that can be utilised by all the Sangam members. Again, construction of this building also was entirely done by the trained adivasi masons - mostly from Ponnani area. Amidst their heavy schedules due to the Forest Rights activities, the Srimadurai area teamdid a tremendous job in getting the construction work completed. They were supported well by K.T.Subramanian and Chandran.
