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Newsletter
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No.31
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Apr - Jun 2011
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Role of Sacred Groves and their current status in adivasi society
Conservation of natural resources has been an integral part of diverse cultures in different ways. Indigenous communities all over the world lived in harmony with the nature and conserved its valuable biodiversity. There were many traditional conservation practices of adivasis in many parts of the world, which contributed to the conservation and protection of biodiversity. A good example of such traditional practices is the conservation and protection of small forest patches called "sacred groves". Sacred groves are patches of forest, water bodies, grasslands considered to be inhabited by gods and hence, strictly prohibited from resource extraction.
Every sacred grove carries its own legends and stories which form the integral part of the sacred grove. Sacred groves act as an ideal centre for biodiversity conservation. Several plants and animals that are threatened in the forest are still well conserved in some of the sacred groves. It has been observed that several medicinal plants that are not found in the forest are abundant in the sacred groves. Furthermore, rare, endangered, threatened and endemic species are found in greater numbers in sacred groves. Sacred groves occur in many parts of India viz., Western Ghats, Central India, northeast India, etc. particularly where adivasis live. They are known by different local names. In Gudalur, the Paniya community calls them 'Kaavu'
Kaavu amidst Coffee plants
But, the social and occupational status of the Kaavus has been changing. Earlier, Kaavus were conserved by the community and generally encompassed an area of around an acre or so. With the arrival of the more dominant non tribal population, things started to change. Land was being encroached all around; even before the adivasis could realize, their sacred groves were being taken over. What used to be an acre got reduced to a few cents-sometimes even half a cent. Most Kaavus are in the middle of tea and coffee estates owned by non tribal people. There have been several cases of people moving their Kaavus closer to their houses in the event of encroachment.
Encroaching Tea fields all around
Given the importance of the sacred groves in the cultural life of adivasis, the AMS undertook a detailed study and mapping of all the Paniya sacred groves during the past three months. A small team comprising of Shruti (a volunteer from Delhi) and four students doing their Masters in Social Work (Lohita, Palanisamy, Mohana and Aiswarya) helped trace the sacred groves and mark the geographical coordinates using GPS equipment. Such a recording will help preserve these sacred groves. The AMS plans to approach the Government to provide legal documents recognising the presence of such sacred groves and prevent illegal encroachment by non-tribals. AMS thanks the team of young volunteers who helped in this important process.
Higher Education Challenges
Success brings its own challenges! This is most visible in our education work through Vidyodaya Trust. Due to an intensive focus encouraging children to enroll in schools and supporting their continuation at the primary level through various innovative means, the number of students reaching / clearing the 10th and 12th standards has been steadily increasing. Along with this success comes the aspiration of the children and their families to pursue higher education. Higher studies that can result in a livelihood opportunity is within the reach of many students and their families now - a far cry from even a decade ago.
With all our energies concentrated on ensuring good quality education at the primary and secondary level, the support provided by the sangam to the students was limited to financial assistance to get private tuitions. The students were also encouraged to attend counselling sessions in which they were exposed to various possibilities of higher studies and vocational streams.
In spite of this, we have miles to go in being fully prepared and organised to tackle the enormous challenge of higher studies. For the first time, we had a few Adivasi girls getting selected for B.Sc. (Nursing) course in a private college at Bangalore. This is a huge step and the total costs of education per student will be nearly Rs.200,000 for the four years. We have managed to get a couple of individual donors who will support these students at least the first year of their course.
Girls like these will be an inspiration for other children to pursue their education and we will find an increasing number of children determined to go to colleges and professional courses. So, the team is actively consulting the community leaders and activists on the future course of action and exploring the possibilities of setting up a centralised Scholarship Fund which can support at least a part of the costs. We will keep everyone updated on the developments in this front and request all our supporters to lend a helping hand.
Tribal counsellors in Govt health centres
ASHWINI is partnering with the Government of Tamilnadu under the Health Systems Project. The project intends to improve the access of adivasis to health services provided by the Government. Under this project, different programmes are being implemented in our adivasi villages to encourage adivasi families access outpatient and inpatient care provided in Gudalur Adivasi Hospital. Besides, two years ago, a special project was also launched to place adivasi women and men as Counselors in Government run Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and at the Gudalur Taluk Hospital. The responsibility of identifying suitable persons and providing training and continuous support to them was given to ASHWINI.
Bommi attached to Nellakota PHC is ensuring immunisation of adivasi kids
Governments have come a long way from their earlier belief that adivasis will access services from mainstream institutions like any other community and it was only a matter of designing the delivery systems properly. Today, they see merit in the argument of AMS and its service institutions that the design should include some special provisions, if the adivasis are to access those services. One of the crucial issues is to have known faces in the institution who can speak in their own language and who can understand them. So, when the Government agreed to place Tribal Counselors in government health centres, we immediately supported and facilitated that idea. At present five such counselors are functioning in different health facilities and they are working very closely with the AMS area teams.
Raman attached to Ayyankolli PHC is following up the adivasi patients with chronic illnesses
After sustained training and inputs through monthly meetings and field visits, the tribal counselors are making an impact in improving the access of adivasis to government PHCs. For example, in Nellakota PHC, where Bommi (a Bettakurumba girl) is placed, the outpatient strength increased from a mere 9 patients per month in 2009 to 192 in May 2011. Similarly, the presence of Raman (a Mullakurumba man) in Ayyankolli PHC is encouraging more and more patients to utilise the government facility. The outpatient number rose from 34 in March 2009 to 156 in May 2011.
These tribal counselors also function as a good bridge between the government's health system and the adivasi community, by informing everyone about the various government schemes and other possible assistance. They help monitor chronic patients and pregnant women regularly.
Importantly, they prove, once again, that given an opportunity, adivasis are capable of providing important services to our own community and are the best bet to mobilise the community and to take responsibility for their future.
Legal Clinics in AMS Area Centres
AMS's interaction with the judiciary during the last one year is opening new doors for us. First, it was the possibility of getting birth certificates of over 500 adivasi children. This time, in the form of Gudalur Taluk Legal Services Committee. This committee came forward to provide free legal aid to adivasi community nearer to their village, that they are made aware of the various legal provisions. In June 2011, the Magistrate of Gudalur court inaugurated two such free legal clinics in the AMS area centres at Devala and Erumadu for the adivasis and other underprivileged people in Gudalur and Pandalur taluks respectively.
The objective of these free legal clinics is to provide free counseling to people on legal aspects and importantly, try to resolve disputes at the local level itself, instead of pursuing the long legal process at the courts. It is also hoped that these clinics will create awareness about the provisions of basic laws and can provide the required guidance to people on matters related to civil disputes.
AMS has agreed to use its Area Centres to conduct these clinics in the hope that it will help reduce the expeneses of underprivileged people in accessing legal services and in resolving their disputes.
AMS Team visited
Germany
This May, we had our ATP-AMS tour in Germany. Ayyappan (animator, ATLM, Board member of Ashwini), Indira (Pharmacist at Ashwini), Easwaran (Health animator) and Shikha (Just Change) spent a month traveling and visiting with our German friends. It is 20 years since the first German visit to Gudalur by Christiane and Ute in 1991 and our relationship has blossomed and grown over the years!
Celebrating 20 years of friendship and solidarity
They were hosted by over 12 ATP families, visited the adivasi hut in the forests of Eußerthal, and attended the Kirchentag (churchday) at Dresden. The story of AMS and tea were shared with many school and university students, members of Eine-welt-laden (one world shops) and at public presentations to many people. The theme of this years tour was "Sustainability - links between adivasis, forests and nature". While exploring this theme, the ATP organised visits to both organic and in-organic farms, explored an 'alternative energy' village and spent time learning about the forests of Eußerthal. This is an area of great interest and relevance to both ATP and AMS, so many ideas were shared and notes exchanged. Here is a brief summary of the visit in pictures:
Meeting "Chameleon" in Bretten: A Company set up by school students to sell Adivasi Tea and other fairtrade products
Drinking Adivasi Tea at the Eine-welt-laden (one world shop) in Tübingen: "We are volunteers for this cooperative shop" said Christine & Marijam. "We have been selling Adivasi Tea for over 5 years now and it is a very popular product. This is the first time producers are visiting our shop!"
Matthias' students at Würzburg: Students asked interesting questions about our culture and religion. They could not imagine living without a washing machine, dishwasher or car! We discussed issues faced by youth - consumerism, discrimination, responsibilities and so on
Sharing experiences: We learned about the forests of Eußerthal through an interactive session with forester Siegfried. We played a few of his games - the international year of the forest cards, blindfold tree identification, collecting forest items and the importance of water.
We sang banni babba (a kattunayaka song), played on bamboo whistles and shared stories from the Indian forests. Of course, the highlight was repairing the adivasi hut, and celebrating a pooja together
Less is More: Public presentations led to interesting discussions on sustainable lifestyles and challenges faced by the adivasi community as we 'develop'. At the Kirchentag, we spoke about how 'one person can make a difference' as well as the importance of collective action!
We look forward to the ATP visit to Gudalur in the next year, and trust that this wonderful friendship will go from strength to strength over the next 20 years!!
Regular updates
about
our other
activities are available
in the newsletters of Ashwini,
Vidyodaya
and
Just
Change
.
