Kerala is among nine states in India to have received grants from the Union government to build or develop a museum dedicated to the freedom fighters from tribal communities. The state government’s Kerala Institute for Research Training and Development Studies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (KIRTADS) in Kozhikode was sanctioned an amount of Rs 7.19 crore in 2017-2018, which is the first allotment. However, the state government has spent only Rs 25.39 lakh (3.53%) of the sanctioned amount for the construction of the museum complex or memorial for tribal freedom fighters so far, revealed a Right to Information (RTI) enquiry.
"A sum of Rs 25.39 lakh has been utilised till date. A sum of Rs 693.61 (6.93 crore) remains unutilised, and will be adjusted towards the grants payable during the next year," said the report from the Director of KIRTADS. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs (Tribal Research Institute and Media Division) provided the report to the RTI filed by K Govindan Nampoothiry, a Kochi-based RTI campaigner.
The project worth Rs 16 crore involves developing an existing ethnological museum and cultural centre on the KIRTADS campus. Although a fund of Rs 7 crore was sanctioned in 2017-2018, the foundation stone for the museum was laid on the KIRTADS campus only in February 2021.
Activist Govindan alleged that Kerala has neither fully utilised the allotted funds nor started any work that is worth Rs 25.39 lakh, which is the amount spent so far, per the RTI. "KIRTADS was not able to effectively use the allotted funds. Also, there may be corruption taking place when it comes to the Rs 25 lakh that has been spent so far. The funds were allotted in 2018 and it has been three years since. They haven't done any work or no work is going on, other than laying the foundation stone," Govindan alleged.
Although the Kerala government decided to develop the existing museum and cultural center on the KIRTADS campus for the project, there were criticisms from some activists, who alleged that the government was focusing on such upper-class traditions of museums rather than spending money on the development of tribal communities.
It was during the 2016 Independence day speech that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the setting up of museums for tribal freedom fighters in the country. Nine such museums for tribal freedom fighters were sanctioned across the country — Lambasingi (Andhra Pradesh), Hyderabad (Telangana), Kozhikode (Kerala), Rajpipla (Gujarat), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Chhindwara (Madhya Pradesh), Senapati (Manipur) and Kelsi (Mizoram). The largest among these is being built in Gujarat’s Rajpipla at a cost of Rs 102.55 crore. According to the Tribal Affairs Ministry, the museums dedicated to tribal freedom fighters will be completed by the end of 2022.