As the coronavirus was causing agony around the world, Kerala — which reported the first confirmed COVID-19 case in India on January 30, 2020 — was being lauded for the way it was handling the public health crisis. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the state government’s “collaborative and participative approach” and “high-level political and administrative commitment provided the much-needed impetus in the fight against this pandemic.” The state implemented an effective quarantine policy, ensured free food kits were distributed to the needy and even deployed mental health professionals to help its people.
Yet, the Kerala government somehow seems to have forgotten about the nearly 500 people — largely Dalits and Adivasis — involved in a land struggle or bhoosamaram in Arippa, an ecotourism village located about 50 km north of the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram. On December 31, 2012, these landless people encroached upon a tract of Arippa revenue forest land in Kulathupuzha of Kollam district and set up temporary shelters, demanding land for housing and cultivation. Since then, they have been strangled by poverty and starvation. Now, COVID-19 has made them the forgotten people.
They have been denied access to medical facilities, electricity and running water since the agitation in late 2012. With the pandemic, the income of hundreds of daily wage workers in Arippa has dried up as well. They could not get the food kits distributed by the Kerala government through the public distribution system (PDS) because some did not have ration cards, while others could not reach the allotted ration shops due to the lockdown.
In a state known for its social welfare initiatives — several of which were birthed in protests and revolutions — it seems that the Kerala government has eschewed the people of the Arippa land struggle during the pandemic. What is worse is that the state had stonewalled their attempts to become self-sustaining, which could have helped them through the crisis.
A protest since 2012
A tract of forest land near the Arippa Ecotourism Village, closer to the Shenkottai state highway in Thiruvananthapuram (three kilometres from the main road), continues to be the protest site of these 500 landless Dalit and Adivasis. The site is dotted with hundreds of huts and makeshift houses made out of tarpaulins, amid rubber trees. The name and contact information of the protesters are written in white ink in front of their respective huts. The Ithikkara River originates from this area and the protesters rely on this river for washing and bathing.
Among those participating in the Arippa Bhoosamaram (land struggle) movement, 70% are Dalits, 10% are Adivasis and the rest are non-Dalits, says Sreeraman Koyyon, the leader of the Adivasi Dalit Munnetta Samithi, which is spearheading the movement. “So the struggle here is of the landless. Several politicians have been trying to destroy the struggle by various means,” he adds.
The protest began on December 31, 2012, when a large number of landless Dalits and Adivasis encroached on a tract of forest land. The agitators, led by the Adivasi Dalit Munnetta Samithi, demanded that the Kerala government allot them 50 acres of forest area. This parcel of land is part of the 90 acres of forest land that the government had leased to a private businessman years ago.
After the lease expired in 2001, the Kerala government eventually distributed about 21 acres to landless Dalits and Adivasis of the Chengara land struggle, while 13 acres were allocated for the Dr Ambedkar Model Residential School. The remaining 56 acres of land, which is currently under dispute, was set aside for a university, dental college and a biological park. The Dalits and Adivasis in Arippa are demanding 50 acres of the land to set up permanent houses and farming.
Around 460 families are squatting on the land, according to recent estimates of the Kerala government. According to Koyyon, there are 479 families.
The neglect during COVID-19
Most of the landless are daily-wage workers, who lost their livelihood during the lockdown. To ensure no one starves during the lockdown, the state had distributed free grocery kits and even set up community kitchens in panchayats to feed the poor families. However, no community kitchens functioned near the Arippa settlement. “Because of the lockdown, many could not go to their native places (Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam and various regions of Kollam) to get their ration cards and the kits,” says Koyyon.
However, the world outside Arippa was not aware of the COVID-19 crisis unfolding in this sparsely populated area until many chanced upon a Facebook post on April 6, 2020, by professor Kusumam Joseph, an environment activist and national convenor of the National Alliance of People’s Movements (an alliance of progressive people's organisations and movements in India). “During a phone conversation with Koyyon, I came to know that no ration was made available to the people of Arippa. He said they are starving. It hurt me a lot. So I wrote a Facebook post, tagging the District Collector and the Minister (K Raju) to take necessary action,” says Kusumam.
However, a year later, on April 18, 2021, the Kerala police filed a case against her based on a complaint by Kulathooppuzha panchayat secretary. Kusumam was booked under section 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other sections of the Kerala Police Act. However, following widespread protests, the Kerala police dropped the case a year later, on May 16 this year, citing lack of evidence. “The complaint alleged that I called for riots when all I asked for was food items to be delivered to the people in Arippa,” she adds.
After Kusumam Joseph took to Facebook to highlight the unavailability of ration distributed by the Kerala government, many others followed suit. The panchayat eventually provided them with 20 food kits, However, it wasn't enough for 400 plus families.
Various organisations stepped in contributed around Rs 5 lakh worth of food material, which helped the protesters avert a crisis temporarily.
The people living on this land feel they could have sustained themselves during the pandemic if the government had not banned them from cultivating. When the movement began, the agitators had come together to cultivate paddy around the protest site for sustenance. After all, the primary aim of the movement was to get agricultural land to cultivate food for themselves.
On July 20, 2013, they started planting paddy near the protest site. Soon, they became self-reliant by cultivating tapioca, banana, vegetables, betel leaves and groundnuts, too. However, on November 16, 2017, the Kerala government prohibited paddy cultivation or any cultivation on forest land. “We would not have starved amid the pandemic if we were allowed to do cultivation,” says V Ramesan, 41, who has been part of the Arippa land struggle since 2012.
What do the protesters do now? “We go to the forest in the morning to collect palm leaves. We prune and dry them under the sun, make brooms and sell them. Now, this is our source of income,” says 70-year-old Gauri, sitting in the midst of the midribs of palm leaves. They have to walk around four kilometres through the forest to collect the leaves. The effort earns each person Rs 50.
How children struggle to study
The children among these families in Arippa are the worst affected as they have missed school. On June 1, 2020, the Kerala government started the new academic year through the KITE-Victers Television channel.
The plan was to ensure that the lockdown does not affect education. However, without electricity, the 18 students living at the protest site have not been able to study. They buy diesel to light lamps at night. Some organisations have donated two televisions to the community. But these are of no use. “We have been trying for a temporary electricity connection for the last six years,” says Koyyon.
They manage to get some power by illegal tapping. Even though some schools have distributed free mobile phones to these students, there is no facility to charge the phones. “We go to houses a few kilometres away to charge phones,” says Arya Krishnankutti, a Class 10 student.
The houses built by the participants of the Chengara land struggle (when they were allotted land in 2008) are now the source of electricity to charge the mobile phones. “Sometimes we pay these residents Rs 5 to allow us to charge the phone. If it’s a smartphone, we pay Rs 10,” says Arya. “It is, however, embarrassing.”
Krishnakumar PS, who completed his Class 12, is thinking of giving up his further studies and his dream of becoming a police officer. “I got free textbooks from school because my teachers knew I was from the Arippa settlement. My uncle has been taking care of us since my father abandoned my mother. Now he is sick and I am worried my studies will end here,” says the teenager who now teaches the other children in the settlement during his free time.
When health is at stake
The protesters also lost medical cover in 2017. Government and private hospitals used to conduct mobile dispensaries in Arippa, mainly to prevent contagious diseases during the monsoon. It was a great help to the protesters, who otherwise would have to walk one kilometre just to catch public transport and reach the nearest hospital, which is 16 km away. However, these mobile dispensaries stopped completely by 2017. “They want to expel us as early as possible. The government does not even consider us as human beings anymore,” says Koyyon.
Around 60 coronavirus cases have been reported from the protest camp so far, says Mylamoodu ward member Udayakumar P. Fortunately, no deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported. Only 15 persons in the Arippa settlement have received the vaccination as of now, says Udayakumar. “We have limited slots and permanent residents get priority. The government could not deliver food materials at Arippa during the lockdown but it did conduct COVID-19 testing and distributed medicines. Around 30 were shifted to care centres,” he adds.
Member of Kerala Legislative Assembly PS Supal visited Arippa on August 18 this year and said steps would be taken to facilitate vaccination for the remaining people at the earliest.
Meanwhile, as the lockdown restrictions were lifted, protesters went to their natives in Kerala to collect the ration and other food items. Although they have stocked up enough food, for now, they are yet to recover from the emotional struggles caused by the first lockdown.
The people in Arippa may be landless, but the Kerala government has a duty to ensure these individuals have access to their fundamental rights — access to education, food, healthcare, including vaccination — without any discrimination, pandemic or not. If not, the government will only further marginalise them and deny them their basic human rights.
This story was reported under the National Foundation for India (NFI) Media Fellowships for independent journalists.
Arathi MR is an independent journalist who is interested in writing about caste, gender, intersectionality and development. Currently, she is working as a research assistant at the University of Wisconsin.