Forest officials free tribals from debt and exploitation

Several tribal families have been freed from the debt trap, got never-before prices for their pepper crop, began saving money and above all, have become the real owners of their agricultural land. Till recently, the 252 families in the 150-acre Mannakkudy and the 119 families of the 62-acre Paliyakkudy were victims of some moneylenders of Kumily.

The pepper crop with the tribals was being managed and harvested by the `financiers’ for the past several years. Their modus operandi was to advancesmall amounts to the illiterate tribals after making them pledge the forthcoming harvest. Alcohol was always a supplementary bait. The naive tribals were gradually sucked into a debt trap as they continued borrowing. Ultimately, many ended up losing their land in “perpetual lease” to the shrewd manipulators.

The woes of the children of the jungle were aggravated when outsiders took over vacant land in the settlements for cultivation and began marrying tribal girls to grab the property.

As a result of all these setbacks, the Mannans had to depend on fishing from the Periyar lake and Paliyans on firewood and other forest produce collection for livelihood. “At this juncture, they also started helping poachers and smugglers, leading to conflicts with forest officials,” pointed out eco-development officer Bennichan Thomas.

At the core of the salvation scheme was formation of three eco-development committees (EDCs) in Mannakkudy and one in Paliyakkudy based on the neighbourhood concept. Each committee hadaround 92 families on an average. Two adults from a family, including a woman, were enrolled in the EDC, which selected a seven-member executive, including three women. A forester, who was the ex-officio secretary of the EDC and two representatives of NGOs did not have voting rights.

The first task in the microplan was to provide financial and technical assistance to the EDCs for agricultural improvements and eliminating exploitation by moneylenders. A revolving fund of Rs 10 lakh was formed, thanks to the World Food Programme authorities. A series of meetings to convince the beneficiaries about the positive aspects of the scheme followed.

“It was at this juncture that the moneylenders ganged up against the proposal and started intimidating the tribals,” recalled flying squad range officer James Zacharia. They had advanced about Rs 5.5 lakh to the tribals for the crop during 1996. Although the first meeting held with the moneylenders during October 1997 fell through, it was decided at the second meetingto return their money with reasonable interest, not to give the produce and ignore the so-called “perpetual leases.”

Sensing trouble, the forest officials pulled out all stops in the efforts to unite tribals and make them confident and non-vulnerable to threats from the financiers. At a meeting of the executive committees, police, revenue and tribal departments and panchayat authorities and the Kozhimala tribal Raja, everyone resolved to offer unstinted support. “This development was a deterrent to the moneylenders,” said sociologist S Guruvayurappan.

Thereafter, the progress was swift and smooth. The fund was released in instalments to the joint accounts of each EDC and subsequently to 263 families, with an upper limit of Rs 5,000 per family.

Meanwhile, an arrangement for marketing the green pepper was chalked out with the Peermade Marketing Co-operative Society.

Harvest commenced in November. The total produce from the four EDCs came to 1,58,732 kg. It was sold for Rs 69.70 lakh. This was notall. The quantity of pepper dried by some families and stored for future sale was about four mt valued at Rs six lakh. Not to mention that the tribals were dumbfounded.

The moneylenders were repaid with 24 per cent annual interest. In all, this came to Rs 6.72 lakh and 114 cases were settled in Mannakkudy EDCs. While the loan repayment was effected through the EDCs in Mannakkudy, the tribal families resolved to settle the loans themselves in most of the cases in Paliyakkudy.

The second biggest achievement of the scheme apart from unshackling tribals from debt trap was the inculcation of the habit of saving, which they never had. So far, 194 families in Mannakkudy and 10 in Paliyakkudy have opened joint savings accounts totalling Rs 7.48 lakh in the name of the husband and wife in the Kumili branch of Idukki District Co-operative Bank, after settling the accounts of the revolving fund and moneylenders.

Nearly 25 families deposited amounts in the range of Rs 1,000 to Rs 15,000 in fixed deposits. They havealso formed a common welfare fund for emergency needs, contributing over Rs 67,000 at the rate of 50 paise per kg of green pepper.

In short, the scheme has become a role model for tribal welfare activities elsewhere. Considering the fact that 18.47 per cent of the tribals in the State live in forests, similar projects ought to be implemented in other tribal settlements. After all, the exploitation should end one day.