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Stalin reaches out to indigenous communities after tribal woman barred from having food at temple
As the country celebrated Diwali on Thursday, chief minister MK Stalin reached out to indigenous communities with festival gifts such as land deeds and welfare measures in Tamil Nadu’s Poonjeri village
As the country celebrated Diwali on Thursday, chief minister MK Stalin reached out to indigenous communities with festival gifts such as land deeds and welfare measures in Tamil Nadu’s Poonjeri village.
This came following a series of events where Ashwini (goes by a single name) -- a woman who belongs to the Narikurava community -- had raised the issue of discrimination via a video after her community was prevented from having Annadhanam (concept of temples offering free food for the poor) along with others at a temple (Sthalasayana Perumal) in Mamallapuram, 50 km from Chennai, about two weeks ago.
Following the discriminatory incident, the minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments, PK Sekar Babu, had a feast for lunch with Ashwini and others at the same temple. Stalin visited her home on Thursday to in his words “return the dignity”.
“I had expressed a wish to meet the chief minister but I never thought it would happen. There are a lot of struggles our community faces and now that he intervened we believe things will change for us,” Ashwini said, speaking over the phone.
She sells beads for a living much like the rest of the Narikurava tribes. “We earn between ₹200-300 a day and some days we earn nothing.” In her video, Ashwini aired her grievances and criticised temple authorities and the society at large for treating them without dignity which circulated widely on the social media. She also spoke of the lack of opportunities such as tribal children not being able to access education.
Stalin, in a tweet, recalled the discriminating incident. “What was denied for Ashwini is dignity and respect not food and it is an opportunity for the government to restore it,” Stalin said drawing in the tenets of the DMK party’s Dravidian ideology. “The role of the Dravidian Movement is to protect every single person from the downtrodden with self-respect and social justice.”
On Thursday, Stalin distributed land pattas, community certificates and launched welfare and development schemes such as drinking water supply, electricity and road facilities all worth ₹4.53 crore. At the event, Ashwini was given the stage to speak of the problems faced by the community.
As many as 282 people, who belong to the Narikuravar and Irular tribal communities, received their land deeds under the Chief Minister’s Special Regularising Scheme worth ₹3.52 crore. Stalin also distributed ration cards, voter ID cards to them.
According to a statement from the state government, orders were issued for six people to receive old-age pensions, 88 people from the Irular community received their Scheduled Caste certificate and 34 Narikuravar people got their Most Backwards Class (MBC) certificates. For livelihood support, 12 people received a loan amount of ₹1 lakh each under the MUDRA scheme, and a bank loan amount of ₹10,000 each to 33 people under the small business scheme, among other benefits.
Stalin also announced that such welfare measures will be extended to members of the community across the state over the next two weeks.
Tribal activists say for generations these tribal communities have faced several problems but at the top of it are three basic amenities that they are still struggling to receive - land deeds, ration cards and community certificates. “Basically, the data with the Tamil Nadu government of the population of the state’s 36 tribes is incorrect,” says Villupuram-based tribal activist Thenarasu Sudaroli, who works with the Integrated Centre for Research, Resource and Rehabilitation.
“For instance, according to the government there are 1.89 lakh of Irular tribes in the state. But every year we have a festival along the sea shore of Mamallapuram for which 3 lakh people from the Irular tribe gather. So when there is no correct Census of their population how will the social welfare benefits meant for them reach them?”
However, he says Stalin’s visit and handing over of these documents was making a change on the ground. “Our organisation has received at least three calls since Friday morning from the Taluk office about pending petitions.”
