South India – Day 8, part 2
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Nagarhole National Park
The road from this forest led directly into the Nagarhole National Park, which is also a tiger reserve. There was a watch tower and small forest department office at the gate. This is the setting of yet more conflict, because before it was a national park, the Adivasi lived here as well. According to conventional wisdom, though both the words “conventional” and “wisdom” are highly debatable here, the business of saving tigers requires the eviction of native peoples, despite the fact that those people and those tigers have been living together for centuries. At the same time, the Taj Hotel company drew up plans to build a huge resort inside the park. So, now you can see the true forces behind kicking the Adivasi off the land. Fortunately, the courts forced the hotel to cancel its plans. It was, of course, the Adivasi and their supporters who took them to court and this was another big win.
Thus, those Adivasi that had lived within the park were forced out. A truly a beautiful place, it was once the royal hunting grounds of the Maharaja of Mysore. We saw deer and monkeys with long tails and black faces. Elephants, leopards, and tigers were among those animals we did not see, probably for the better. People are advised not to leave their cars as they pass through, but some tourists were doing exactly that. And people wonder why animal attacks are on the rise. The drive was long and twisty and at one point Roy David pointed out some abandoned houses among the trees. These were the start of the Taj project.
Not far off were other buildings – the houses and offices of the forest department. Then I remembered something else that was said at the meeting. The forest department can build houses in the forest with electricity and water. We are not allowed. If the Adivasi build a house, people assume we stole coffee from a plantation and sold it. How else would we get the money?
When it is deemed an Adivasi group must be evicted, the Forest Department swoops in to do the job. They give notice ahead of time, but what is the good of that? This is their home and where would they go? Hundreds of vehicles and men converge on the village and one way or another get them out. Thus, the Adivasi have come to hate the forest department. They don’t hold conservationists in particularly high regard as well. But while it is the forest department that does the dirty work, you have to consider who it is making these decisions. Who? I asked Roy David. It is powerful lobbies for timber and mining, and even the tiger lobby. More recently, the land mafia has become a part of the picture.
So, with a million thoughts swirling in my head, we drove until we reached a sign that indicated we were leaving the park and then continued to drive until evening. It had been another thought-provoking day.
DEED
Our next stop was DEED, in the town of Hunsur. When we arrived there, the sun was already low in the sky, spreading its hues of red across the land. Sharada (2005 ARI Graduate) and her husband Srikant greeted us with big smiles and garlands of flowers that filled the air with their lovely aroma. While Srikant was explaining that he had written his PhD on how tribal issues are strengthening Indian democracy, Roy David, with a spark in his eye, was telling how the two of them had been jail mates as well – both worthy achievements!
The full name of this organization is Development Through Education, which, with a bit of creative movement of key letters comes to DEED. As is evident in this name, their focus is education and much like Solidarity, they started by going to the tribal peoples themselves with what they called transitory schools. Later they approached the government to demand they take responsibility for providing education.
Disobeying
DEED often collaborates with Roy David’s CORD and on one such occasion, they joined hands to fight for land rights, taking part in a civil disobedience protest in which 900 people occupied a forest they had been forbidden to enter. I couldn’t help noticing that they were using the same non-violent tactics against the Indian government the Indians had used against the British. I wonder if this is what landed them in jail. They also joined those protests in Delhi that led to the Forest Rights Act of 2006 and other laws that benefit the Adivasi. When DEED started in 1980, there were no laws at all protecting tribal peoples. Speaking of Solidarity, I quickly want to mention that CORD has collaborated with them as well. Five times they organized large sanghams (gatherings) of Adivasi from multiple regions to campaign for their land rights.
Which education?
The issue of education for the Adivasi is by no means a simple one. What kind of education do they need? Do they want? Looking at their way of life, doesn’t all they need to know lie in their forest and traditions? Some elders think exactly this and ask what the use of a government school curriculum is, with its reading, math, and science. And what language do they read in? Is it their own language? No, it’s Hindi or English. Furthermore, they see the youth being drawn day by day into the outside world – a world of competition and desire for things like motorbikes and smart phones. Sending their kids to government schools only hastens this. How will they keep their Adivasi values of sharing and caring for the land and its people?
On the other hand, the forest and the outside world are not as separated at they once were. The boundaries are blurred and young Adivasi need to know how to navigate both. Those tribals who are forced from their homes in the trees and into the towns; how do they learn to adapt? We have already seen the power of education in empowering them to stand up for their rights, to stand eye to eye and word to word with those who would keep them down.
That is why places like DEED and Solidarity are always in a balancing act. They must be forever careful to listen to the true voice of the Adivasi, rather than attempt to decide what is best for them (a common mistake by many well-meaning organizations), while also helping them understand and prepare for today’s world. It is a tall challenge.
Adivasi leaders
When we sat down to a wonderful dinner that had been prepared from their own garden, I was introduced to two local tribal leaders. One was called Jayappa. He had been evicted from his forest about 10 years before and found himself a bonded laborer. Remember all those coffee plantations? This is where displaced Adivasi often end up, as laborers for landowners. DEED provided him with an education at one of their transitory schools and now he is a non-formal teacher.
The other, Vittal Nanch, was able to attend school only up to the 5th grade, but he is a tough and capable guy. He was involved in a court case to regain the land of 3,418 families in 90 villages, and they won. Well, they won the legal battle. The next battle is to actually get the decision implemented. This fellow explained that it is the community over the individual. Among our people the “we” is more important than the “i.” Now the “I” is capital and this leads to problems, so we must go back to “we.”
Sharada
Srikant has seemingly boundless energy and throughout the evening he had a lot to say. But Sharada shared a few things as well. She is the behind-the-scenes support for DEED, keeping things running smoothly in the home base. She holds many good memories from her ARI training and felt greatly empowered by it. When she came back, she had much more discipline and confidence to manage the office and her family. For example, when she is overseeing the NGO’s kitchen for an event, everyone works hard, and things go smoothly. With a smile, she said she even taught her husband servant leadership, that our work is for this organization and the people, not for ourselves.
Now she is farming and growing trees. In the area around her house are about 200 varieties of crops and 500 trees. She keeps a small nursery and gives the seedlings away to people. It was Roy and Shammi that had encouraged her to go to ARI and for this she is grateful.
Home remedy – ayurvedic style
Unfortunately, I was not in top form that evening due to a very sore throat, which prevented me from talking much (maybe a good thing). Luckily Srikant and the others were at no loss for word, so the meal passed in lively fashion. When I shared my condition with them, I was promptly given homemade ayurvedic medicines, mixes of various health inducing leaves, garlic, and of course, pepper, all fermented for 30 days for maximum effectiveness.
The hour was not too late when we took our leave and it wasn’t far to Kushalnagar where I would be stopping for the next few days. Roy settled me into the BGT hotel across the street from his house, which doubles as the CORD NGO. Just before hitting the sack, I tried some of the medicine I was given. Boy does that pepper hit you!