But Kerala Government remains insensitive

Kerala's Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and his Rural Development Minister KC Joseph have come under heavy criticism for making some insensitive remarks on the death of 56 adivasi children, including new-born babies, due to malnutrition in the tribal settlements of Attappadi in Palakkad district in the past 18 months. According to Mr Chandy, children were dying there because of the adivasis' refusal to eat the food the Government has been distributing. For Mr Joseph, the deaths of adivasi children were the result of alcoholism among pregnant tribal women. The sad part of these cruel jokes is that the two political executives shamelessly repeated their strange statements even after the media and the people working on the ground in Attappadi for the welfare of the tribes people pointed out that the Government had not been distributing sufficient food among the adivasis and that there was no alcoholism among the adivasi mothers. It is extremely shocking that these leaders were not ashamed to make such comments on this tragedy which was occurring when they were preparing to spend lacks of crores of rupees on projects like Metro rail and high-speed railroad systems, international airports and industrial corridors. This irresponsibility is perhaps an innate quality of the Congress and its allies, as was seen recently in the ‘five rupee-a-meal’ scandal. The fact is that the system has allowed the consistent plundering of the land and resources of the adivasis in Attappadi and elsewhere since the State's formation in 1956. Adivasis of Kerala, whose total population comes to less than 3.25 lakh, have always been a neglected lot. And they have been victims of the cruelty of migrants from other parts who settled in their lands with the blessings of those in power.

Despite the existence of laws that banned transfer of ownership of adivasi lands, the settlers have found many ways to exploit them. Also, the system has not hesitated to quell the adivasis’ call for justice with brutal force as it had happened in February 2003 at Muthanga in Wayanad district where the police opened fire on adivasis who were demanding land to live. A 1997 survey showed that 10,472 acres of land had been grabbed from adivasis in Attappadi alone. One of the reasons for this situation is the explosion in settler population in adivasi regions. In Attappadi, tribespeople constituted 90.92 per cent of the total population in 1951, the time when large-scale influx of settlers into the region began. Statistics show that the adivasis' strength in Attappadi had shrunk to a mere 41 per cent 50 years later. As per official papers, there are 481 public health workers serving in Attappadi but many of the child deaths had occurred due to lack of timely medical intervention. A tribal organisation has recently alleged that the authorities were permitting child deaths as part of a programme of passive genocide. That may be an exaggeration, but the Government has done little to restore faith.