SLAVERY CONTINUES

“ The landlords have gone; in their place have come the bureaucrats. This is the change after thirty years of the abolition of slavery”. This is how, Kariyan, a member of the Adiya sect, compares the old days of slavery with the contemporary situation of the tribals. Naturally, he is giving vent to his pent up righteous anger against the social structures, which cannot be changed through legislation, when he says that exploitation now takes place at the government level, robbing the tribals not only of their possessions, but also of their identity and reducing them to the state of absolute pauperism.

In 2006, the tribal communities, denied as they were of every human right and driven to the margins of society, have entered the thirtieth year of the abolition of slave trade and slave work. Even after so many years since the abolition order, the living conditions of the tribals have not improved. The only change is that those who were once the slaves of the feudal lords have been transformed into new feudal lords and oppressors. Which means that in the post-modern era, slavery has assumed a semi ‘scientific’ look.

Horrendous are the new methods of exploitation. A slave begins his life with the sight of his father meekly submitting to every sort of indignity and torture at the hands of the landlord, and his mother uncomplainingly yielding to the lustful demands of her tormentor. The salve’s only reason for existence is to till the land of the feudal lord and fill his granary. Not only his mundane existence, but also his spiritual life was steeped in slavery. The slave grows up hearing the myths and folk songs crafted to buttress the slavery system. The tribals of Wayanad were released from the yoke of absolute slavery only in the twentieth century. The change effected was from life-long slavery to one year’s slavery to one landlord under the Valliyoorkavu system.

Slave Auction of Valliyoorkavu
What was abolished in 1976 was the slave trade practiced during the Valliyoorkavu festival and related exploitations. Once upon a time the feudal lords used to buy and sell the tribals, just like cattle in the Valliyoorkavu temple premises, under the gaze of the presiding goddess. Hundreds of those freed slaves are leading sub-human lives today. Only a few are known to the outside world. P.K.Kalan, Adiya elder and Gaddika artist, who won the Dala award of 2005, lived the life of a salve for 35 years. He reminisces:

“ On the festival day the entire family would go to Valliyoorkavu. Our elders would be there already. In the temple compound we would sit on country mat or on the bare ground. Then, each feudal lord would come and pick out the tribals he liked, priority being given to sturdy build and robust health. He would say:” Come with me”. The lord would enter into a contract with the elders. We would follow the feudal lord, without even knowing who he was or wherefrom he came. One feudal lord would have as many as 40 or 50 slaves under him.

“He would not allow you to put up your hut in his extensive farm land. He would point out a jungly area and we would put up our hut there. We would clear the land surrounding the hut and plant fruit trees, such as mango, jackfruit and banana. When they are somewhat grown up the feudal lord would come and say: ”You are not to stay here any longer. You can shift to the hill over there”. Leaving our huts and crops behind, we would go to the next jungle area. The same story would be repeated. Thus the cruel and cunning landlord would get his farm extended.”

This is how Mathai Vaidyar (78) of Trissileri, also a former slave, reminisces the daily routine of a slave:
“As soon as the cock crows before dawn the slave should be at the work place. Minor ailments were no excuse. If the work consisted in ploughing the filed, it would continue till noon. At noon men would be given two measures and women one measure of paddy. We would carry that to the hut, pound, and cook gruel for the noon meal. Soon after the meal we would rush back to the field to continue the work or go to the hill side for clearing the forest. Work will continue till it is dark. If there is anything left of the paddy given at noon, we would prepare gruel for the night meal. Often enough there would be nothing left and we would go to bed on empty stomach. No meal till noon. We would be going to work without breakfast. A little late and you face the music.

The wages were never given in the form of money. Valli (paddy) was given. From this came the expression ‘Vallippani’ for slave work (pani=work). Some refer to it also as ‘Kundalppani’. Valli was not given everyday. Beating, striking and kicking were routine. The slaves were not treated better than cattle. Once upon a time the slaves were bought, sold and mortgaged just like cattle. The Thukudi Munsif court has records showing that a Paniya, named Kaippandan, was mortgaged for 50 paise (half a rupee). K.J.Baby, in his study, states that the title deed of a prominent christian settler from Tarvancore mentions 600 acres of land and 60 tribal families among his possessions.

Slaves for Catching the Fugitive Slaves
When the sufferings became intolerable, some of the salves used to flee. Other slaves would be sent out with bows and arrows to bring back the erring slave. Once caught, the fugitive would be put in chains and brought back. He would be tied to a tree and beaten by the landlord. It was meant to be a lesson for the other slaves. Slaves were employed not only to punish other slaves, but also to exploit them. Elders among the slaves were given charge of supervising the work of slaves under them. By transforming them into traitors and oppressors, the powers that be succeeded in creating confusion in the minds of the slaves about who was their friend who the foe.

The slave owners employed several ruses to extract hard work from the slaves. One such strategy was ‘Kampalam’ If a landlord wanted to get work done in a hurry, he would speak about it to the tribal elder, who would make the arrangements. Before starting the work the slaves would be served liquor and pan. While the work is in progress in the field, some men standing on the margins of the field would be beating the drum and sounding the trumpet. The workers, in full inebriation, would sing and go on working for hours together, unmindful of the passage of time. The result was that in just one day a worker would finish as much work as he would otherwise take four days to complete. Till quite recently, Kampalam was a familiar sight in the fields of Wayanad.

During the festival seasons of Onam and Vishu the slaves would be given extra paddy. Those attending the Valliyoorkavu festival would be given one rupee each. Each one in addition would get 2 meters of country cloth. These were the only annual bonuses for the slaves. P.K.Kalan and Mathai Vaidyar still remember their land lords: Shoolapani Warrier, Ramawarier (Kulirmavu) Ananadana Componder (Plamoola), Parameswarayyer (Chiramoola), Agasthyan (Narippara), Appu Ayyer Swami (Kaithavalli), Mathukodakan (Veerakom in Coorg), Appayyer Pattar (Edappadi). None of them is alive today, says P.K.Klana, who was their slave.

Mathai Vaidyar remembers Appukuttan Swami, Easwara Swamy and another Swamy of Edappadi. They too are not alive today. Maran (70) of Priyadarsini Estate at Pancharakolly clearly remembers his former owners at Payyampalli.

Attempts at Liberation
By the end of 1960s the Naxalite movement under the leadership of comrade Varghese initiated a strong campaign for raising the wages. They demanded that paddy should be measured in liters in place of the country measuring container made of bamboo. It was accepted. Varghese was the first ever activist to raise the voice of protest on behalf of the tribals of Wayanad.

Only in 1975 the tribal issues became a subject of serious discussion in the Kerala Legislative Assembly. When the government became convinced that there were still land lords who used ‘living machines’ to augment their income, the legislative assembly passed the Act for abolishing the practice. A survey conducted prior to the Act revealed that there were 702 families engaged in slave work in the state. The Act abolishing slave work was aimed at ‘putting a full stop to the practice of the landlord giving advance money to a tribal directly or indirectly on condition that he shall work without wages or with low wages for a stipulated period’. The Indian Parliament in 1976 passed the Act of abolishing slave work all over India. Since the central Act was more comprehensive and included all the clauses of the state Act, in 1977 the Kerala Assembly repealed the Act of 1975. P.K.Kalan says that though slave work and slave trade were abolished by law, the practice continued secretly, centered around houses. In short, what the law did was to abolish the Valliyoorkavu slave market. The abolition of slave trade and slave work led to the problem of their rehabilitation. It is part of history that several freed slaves went back to their former owners. During the meet at Valliyoorkavu in the presence of the then Union Minister Maurya, P.K.Kalan, who had become a communist and a close associate of Varghese, demanded three things for the effective liberation of the tribals: work, rehabilitation and education.
Towards the end of the 1970s and during the 1980s the government announced a few projects for the rehabilitation of the freed tribals. These included the Suganthagiri Project, the Pookode Dairy Project and the Priyadarsinsi Tea Estate Project.

The Suganthagiri Project was initiated during the time of the Indira Gandhi government as part of the Western Ghat Development Project. It consisted in rehabilitating the tribals in 1500 hectares of land acquired from the reserved forest. Crores of rupees have been spent on this project. It was made clear that the tribal families would be given 5 acres each and the project closed within 5 years. The Pookode Dairy Project was to be implemented in 1500 acres of land. The Priyadarsini Tea Estate was started with the aim of rehabilitating members of the Paniya and Adiya communities in the Manatahavady taluk. This project has more than 2500 hectares of land in five units. The project was started with the assurance that after seven years each tribal family would be given 5 acres. Unfortunately, after so many years, not only land has not been distributed among the tribals, but the project has landed the tribals in tosituations of neo-slavery. The projects have provided opportunities for the bureaucrats to amass wealth. Recently two tribal workers, Velukkan and Velli, died of starvation in the Priyadarsini Estate, which has earned reputation as the biggest tribal rehabilitation project in Asia. Unless the government urgently intervenes, we might be hearing the news of mass starvation deaths and mass suicides in this estate in the not too distant future.

Present Condition
The tribals of Wayanad are milking cows for many people. If the crores of rupees set apart for them were to really reach them they would have become millionaires by this time. Of course, many have turned millionaires and billionaires. Only they are not tribals. The tribals are still languishing in utter misery.

The present condition is that the people, whose sweat is the foundation of the development of the district are left in the lurch and suffer for want of basic survival resources. A large percent of the former slaves are unemployed and starving. In these circumstances, some of them opt to migrate to Coorg for work. Coorg is notorious for exploitation of migrant workers. After several months of hard work many return empty handed. Many are the contractors and landlords who after extracting hard work swindle their earnings by selling them cheap liquor. Many do not give the wages agreed upon. Coorg is notorious for the practice of exploiting women by tempting them with liquor and other things. Those who have returned from the plantations of Coorg say that workers are put up there in inhuman conditions.

The condition of Mathai Vaidyar underlines the words of Kariyan. The family of Mathai, with a tradition of 30 years of slave work, are practitioners of traditional tribal medicine. (During the days of slavery no owner exploited the traditional healing systems of the tribals). With the support of the government, an institution in Kozhikode functioning for the development of the tribals, recently took Mathai to Kozhikode and pumped out secrets of the traditional tribal medicine. In several meetings he has revealed the secrets of the tribal healing systems. For a few months this institution used to give him a monthly honorarium of Rs.900. Apparently that has been stopped.

Many of the former slaves are wandering without work. Begging was alien to the tribals. Even in times of acute starvation they would never beg. Now they have taken to begging. Even today sexual exploitation of starving tribal girls is no news. The Panchayat of Tirunelli in Wayanad district has the maximum number of unwed mothers. The number of unwed mothers who stood in the queue, when the Legislative Committee for SC/ST Development came for gathering evidence in 1997, was 202. The actual number of unwed mothers must be many times more. Most recently, in the study conducted at Puttad by Satheesh Chandran, Secretary, National Committee, Surveillance of Tribal People for Social Justice, has identified more than 3000 unwed mothers in Wayanad.

In brief, although slave work and slave trade have been abolished by the Act of 1976, even after 30 years their social and economic situation has not improved. The crores of rupees spent by the State Government as well as the Union Government are pocketed by big sharks in the administration. Many are those who became billionaires and owners of large estates by skilful exploitation of their land.

Land reforms have not in any way improved the lot of the tribals. Not only that, the forest laws that were enacted time and again have served only to alienate them from their habitat and survival resources. The governments are more interested in evicting the tribals from their habitats and repeating the Muthanga episode, rather than follow the constitutional provisions and guidelines related to the control and governance of the SC/ST areas. On top of all, starvation, malnutrition, various types of diseases, illiteracy etc. are making their life more and more miserable and vulnerable.

The young generation among them are in the search for means of freeing themselves from this state of insecurity. If they come to the conclusion that the only option open to them is armed rebellion, what right have we to blame them