This is transcription of the phone interview by Sankar Ganesh. Sankar Ganesh is an intern with The Sabha, from Kovilpatti and student of Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) (2018 – 2021) Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Tuljapur.
(Conversation on phone among Abhishek Kumar Tiwari, Sankar Ganesh and Munieswari. Sankar Ganesh is translating from english to tamil and vice versa between Abhishek and Munieswari.)
Which community do you belong to?
I am from otta Kuravar community and I am currently residing in Madurai. I got married to a person of my same community belongs to my neighbouring district, Virudhunagar.
What are you studying now and which college?
I am a B.literature Tamil graduate but I didn’t get any government job. My community people are suffering because of not getting any legal support from the lawyers and they are not also available in time. So I joined B.A. L.L.B and I am in the final semester of the course. I am studying in Government Law College, Madurai.
What is Kuravar community’s traditional job and what you used to do?
There are no such traditional jobs but we are going to daily wage works, construction workers, blanket selling, some traditional ornaments like bangles and chains. There is no particular job for the community.
What is the population of your community and are you in Madurai only or all over Tamilnadu or all over India?
All over Tamilnadu the population is about 1 lakh people and in Madurai alone there are 300 people. Apart from Tamilnadu there are nearly 100 people residing in Kerala.
According to Tamilnadu what status you have and you belong to which category?
We are classified under the Scheduled Caste category as per the regulation of Tamilnadu government.
From other SC community or other category people do you face any problem because of your identity?
In the initial times we were facing some discriminatory practices to access education and jobs now it is not like that. But in the locality till now we are facing such difficulties like the people around us call us by our caste name and often indulging in fight with us. From all other communities we are facing such discrimination and even we filed a case for such thing.
How do people identify you and called by your caste name?
Whenever we are going through the streets, they called us “Kura Payale”. We are living in the same place for years like them. So they can easily identify us. It is our area.
Among three hundred people in Madurai how many are educated?
1% of the people got educated and apart from me there are two boys who completed law. They are not helping the community; they simply go for the job and make money.
In your community till what class the children are studying and why they drop out?
There are three major reasons that people are dropped out from the school economic problem, our English knowledge is really bad and we are facing difficulties in Mathematics. Most of the children have fear of Maths and English. They are not even completing their compulsory education and simply roaming around in the streets. In a family there may be four to five children and to take care of them, the parents stopped their education. Also the parents do not really care of getting education and develop their community.
What are your parents doing? How many siblings do you have and what is your husband doing?
My father is an auto driver and my mother is a house wife. I have 5 sisters and 3 brothers. All of us got married. One of my younger sisters is a police woman and other one is a nursing staff. My husband is a construction worker.
What is the average income of the family?
It is a daily basis work and he receives some 400 or 500 per day. It is not a regular work.
How could you manage with this amount?
With this money we are getting the essential goods from the ration shop. For my education the government is paying the fees for me.
Why you are doing law and are you studying with the help of any trust?
From the childhood I and my community are facing problems from the police because of charging false cases against us. We don’t have any proper guidance to resolve the cases. So I decided to study law. People’s watch is helping me for my studies.
There are many DNT’s in Tamilnadu and are you working for other DNT’s too? Is the situation is same for all the DNT’s?
We are facing the worse situation among the DNT’s and even when I was 10, the police took me to investigate a robbery case. Recently I went to the police station to deal with a case, there is actually an another man who came for reporting a theft case and he asked the inspector that who did these type of crimes and the inspector replied that the people from Kuravar community only do such things. When I heard that, I was shocked and I don’t know what to do. I am speechless there. I am asking do people from our community only doing such crime or born in this community is our mistake.
There are some other DNT communities in Madurai. Can you think of the DNT communities in worst or some who are in better situation?
Apart from my community, other people are middle class. All others have to go for daily wage works for their living.
Do you have all the basic facilities and are you in the middle of the city?
We are living in a main area of Madurai. We have electricity and water facilities but we don’t have any toilet facilities. All of us are going for open defecation to the nearby Vaigai River. We don’t get any houses under the prime minister scheme. We don’t have any community toilet too. The government is asking us to give land. We are already living in a rent house then how could we can provide land to them sir.
As per some government schemes, do you have proper gas connection and do you have Jan Dhan account?
Yes, as per the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana all of our people got gas connection. In Madurai there are 60 families in our community and among us 20 families don’t have ration cards. We have BPL ration cards. The government didn’t go for any survey to ensure that everyone has cards.
How many kilos of rice and other products per ration card?
For a Ration card they are giving 15 kg rice, 2 kg sugar, 1 kg daal and 1 palm oil packet. Apart from rice for all other products we have to pay. Other available products are raw rice and wheat. Also if there is more count in the family members, the amount of products will reduce. These products are for per family card.
What is the situation before and after corona? Like do you get the ration correctly before also? What has changed after Corona?
Before Corona all the materials were available to us and now all of the items are free due to corona and as per State Government Corona Relief fund we got Rs.1000.
What are the legal cases that you were pursuing before Corona and what are the cases you are pursuing now?
Before Corona I was dealing with theft cases. Even two days before I was dealing with a theft case in Theni, where they charged a false theft case against a construction worker of my community. I helped him to get the condition bail but after some days the police again take him for custody by saying that you are involving in other case. The situation is continuing again and again. He told me that sister if this situation will be like this, I will definitely turn to be a criminal. What can I do sister and I asked him to leave the city. I don’t know where he is now. I am definitely sure that after Corona there will be more cases on my community. I am not blaming all but some particular government persons are targeting us.
Before Corona there was actually a case that workers from vilachery, Madurai travelled to Mandaikkadu, Kanyakumari for a job. I heard you mentioning that in Webinar organised by National Alliance for Nomadic tribe and Praxis. Can you please tell us about the case?
There are 13 workers 4 children and 9 adults. Among four children there is a one and half year old child too. In the adults there are 4 men and 5 women. They went for knife sharpening job and suddenly some police men who are not in uniform came there and take them for an investigation. They were taken to Thakkalai police station. They just locked them in a dark room for 63 days and the case went to National Human Rights Commission. It’s been 63 days and their relatives started searching for them. So with the help of people’s watch trust the mother of a worker who kept there in Thakkalai police station put a Habeas Corpus in Madurai Bench High Court. So the police suddenly put a theft case on three men and women and they have been jailed along with the child. The remaining nine people have been released.
What is the work of People’s watch organisation?
They are helping people who are in need of legal support. Wherever the human rights have been violated, they will help the people to get the rights back.
What has changed after corona since your people are not going to work?
We are suffering a lot. With the help of my law college friends I collected money and gave as rice to the most deprived people of my community I got help from the councillor and ward members too. The people’s watch trust helped a lot by providing the groceries worth Rs.5, 000.
What is the situation in Madurai now? Do people will get the job again?
Though there are some relief in restrictions like for construction jobs, the shops are getting closed and there is a huge demand for people in need of work. The house owners are asking rent to the people and they are also locking up the houses.
Is it easy for people in your community to switch the jobs since you mentioned that even though people are studying, they will not get any job? Is it easy to find any job?
Actually we are getting very few government jobs and most of them are self employed of very small works. Only 50% of them are employed and other 50% of them are earning by daily wage.
You said some people got government jobs. Do they face any discrimination in their work?
There is no such discrimination during their job.
Which celebrity do you like in cinema and politics?
My favourite celebrity is Rajnikanth.
Which chief minister of Tamilnadu like MGR, Jayalalitha working for your community?
MGR provided food to my community and once a time there was a huge flood in Madurai. We were evacuated and kept in school for the relief works. MGR directly came there and helped us.
Do your people have any land?
No we don’t have any land holdings.
Are you a religious community like visting Meenakshi Amman Temple? Which god do you worship?
We are worshipping a local deity called Karupasamy.
Why do you worship Karupasamy?
Our ancestors worshipped the deity as a stone and we constructed a temple after some time and yearly festivals will be there.
Is there any Dowry practice?
There is no such dowry practice. Only from the Bride’s family they may voluntarily put some ornaments.
Do women have equal status in the society?
Yes we have equal status in our community.
Do the marriages happen outside community?
Yes outside marriages are there and even my Husband’s brother is also married a girl from outside the caste.
Do you know the name of the communities that you are marrying outside?
Yes like Thevar, Nadar, Naicker and even muslims too.
Do you think that the customs of your community and others are different?
Yes actually most of the men marrying the women outside the caste and after marriage they are changing into our customs.
What are the works that women are doing in your community?
Most of the men are not educated. Even though the women are educated, after marriage Husbands are not allowed them to go for work.
What do you think about Periyar and Ambedkar?
Ambedkar struggled for the upliftment of downtrodden people and he is the father of Indian constitution. He is the role model for me.
Periyar struggled for the self respect of Tamilnadu people and mainly for the self respect of women. He said there are no religion, no caste and no god.
You are working as lawyer and you want to improve your community. What are the ways that you are thinking of to improve your community? What are the demands from the state?
If the government provide any land to us for building houses, it will be useful. Many people are struggling to pay fee for their studies. My community has to be educated and they don’t have enough money to pay them for coaching centers. Other people are paying money and get pass for the exam. We don’t have any materials to study for the exams.
What are the eating habits of your community and do the community people have any drinking problem?
As an organised community, we controlled the people and mostly the old people are drinking. We are eating goat, chicken, beef, fish and pork.
How did you manage to study Law and did your parents supporting you for their studies?
My husband is fully supporting me for studies and my parents too are supporting me a lot.
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