Withering Valli: Alienation, Degradation and Enslavement Of Tribal Women In Attappady

Various policies and programmes implemented avowedly for the benefits of the tribal people have resulted in alienation and degradation of tribesfolk. This detailed study of Kerala's Irular tribal community uses the Participatory Social Action Research method (PSARM) method along with conventional strategies to highlight the impact of outside intervention on tribal life. Selected young tribal people were trained in PSARM for a month to team up for this research. The research teams stayed in hamlets, shared their lives, conducted in-depth interviews and held group discussions at various levels with tribal people. The main objective of the study was to investigate the adverse impact of development programmes on tribesfolk and to propose alternative forms of eco-friendly, sustainable, and indigenous development programmes. The study formulates an account of the origins and socio-economic, political and cultural life of the tribesfolk. It discusses the effects of the Forest Policy of the government and the Kerala Tribal Land Policy with special reference to the Kerala Scheduled Tribal (Restriction of Transfer of Land and Restoration of Alienated Land) Act of 1975. It also investigates the impact of the Integrated Tribal Development Programmes (ITDP) implemented during the Eighth Five-Year Plan period along with the land policy followed by the government.