PUCL SURVEY

Hamlets in Kerala have 800 unwed mothers
T.P. Alexander
Aug. 24, 2000 1:11 Hrs (IST)

Thiruvananthapuram: A survey by the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has found that there are 800 unwed mothers in the 171 hamlets in the hill region of Attappadi in north Kerala's Palakkad district.

The plight of unwed mothers in the region had attracted wide media attention following reports that a Class-10 student in the Government Tribal Girls' Hostel in Agali gave birth to a baby on her return to her hamlet this year.

PUCL national council member P.A. Pauran said a 25-member team, which conducted the survey, found women were molested, sexually abused and cheated. Eight specific cases in which government officials were allegedly involved were being sent to the government for follow-up action, he said.

The survey listed a number of cases where outsiders exploited tribal girls. Men from the plains live with tribal women without any legal marriage and vanish when they become pregnant, it said. Most of the outsiders had wives and children back home.

The survey revealed serious lapses on the part of police in booking the culprits. Even in rape cases, the police looked the other way saying that there should be enough evidence to take action, the PUCL said.

The survey also listed the problems plaguing the tribal community. It found that "there was a deliberate effort to destroy the very identity of the tribals�" flouting the United Nations Human Rights Declaration of 1948. The alienation of tribal land was illustrative of the problem.

The PUCL team also said the Rs. 1.19-billion Japan-aided eco-restoration project implemented by the Attappadi Hill Area Development Scheme had become a white elephant, wasting money on vehicles and buildings. Though it was supposed to provide jobs and other help to tribals, it had not brought them any relief.

The team also pointed out that the Agali Government Tribal Girls' Hostel had no water supply or bathroom. The hostel building was built with sub-standard material. The nearby government school did not have adequate teaching staff.

The PUCL team suggested that specific laws be enacted to suit the needs of the Attappadi region.

Reports of growing number of girls in the tribal areas of Kerala falling prey to men from the plains are nothing new. The number of unwed tribal mothers and their unwanted children has been on the increase for many years.

A survey conducted by Namu, a tribal organization, three years ago had put the figure of unwed mothers in the Attappadi region at 400. v In a report submitted to the Kerala Assembly a few years ago, the state's Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (CWSCST) and voluntary organizations working for the welfare of tribals had recounted harrowing tales of hundreds of tribal girls being exploited by outsiders.

The report said men from the plains lured the girls with cheap ornaments, cinema tickets and clothes. Some staged mock marriages, exchanging garlands in a temple. The grooms then disappeared or silenced the girls with threats.

The Wayanad region in north Kerala, which accounts for 36 per cent of the state's tribal population, was also found to have more than 400 unwed mothers then. About 100 children born to them were found to be wandering in the Mananthawadi area alone. Though some of them were being looked after by the Tribal Development Authority, many of them were left to grow up as vagrants.

-- India Abroad News Service