On the ground, they say: handle with care

In Chennai, too, NGOs and relief agencies met today to grapple with a problem that’s not only hampering relief but undermining the credibility of the official establishment.

Sources who attended the meeting in Chennai told The Indian Express that caste confrontations came up for discussion when John Kurien from the Thiruvananthapuram-based Centre for Development Studies explained the ‘‘peculiar aspects’’ of relief distribution among fishermen.

It was then that various NGO representatives working specifically in Nagapattinam pointed out that Dalits were feeling discriminated against. A few voluntary organisations narrated details of several incidents that have occurred over the past three or four days in which the Meenavars, the majority fishing community, and the Dalits have virtually come to blows over relief. Sources said two key points were highlighted. First, the community panchayats of the Meenavars were very well-organised and were in a position to ‘‘play on the sentiments’’ of NGOs unfamiliar with the terrain and could bag a bulk of the relief for their own. Not only were the Dalits scattered and leaderless, they have also been prevented from approaching NGOs to talk about their plight. It was also pointed out that NGOs or NGO activists operating in the area for the first time were not aware of the dimensions of the caste problem. They were choosing the easy way out of looking at the entire coastal population as part of a large fishing community. The ground reality was, however, different. It was a ‘‘multiple caste structure.’’

Said a senior member of Action Aid India, who attended the Chennai meeting: ‘‘What is positive that even leaders of established bodies of South India Fish Workers Federation like Vivekananda have agreed that the discrimination in relief would not be tolerated.’’

Said Gopalananda Maharaj, supervising the massive relief operation mounted by the Ramakrishna Mission from Belur Math near Kolkata: ‘‘We have a policy of making it absolutely clear that we understand no barriers between human beings.’’ Harry Sethi, director, external affairs, Care India, said they are watching the situation unfold in all four districts of Tamil Nadu where they are working. ‘‘We shall move in with relief material and our rehabilitation package once we identify the most deprived target group.’’