Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

Legal Identity and Natural Resource Management 93
opportunity for employment and income for the Irulas. The Forest
Department’s support in the form of the revolving fund given to the VDMC
has helped to promote other income-generation activities for the Irula
women like crab fattening, selling prawns and running petty shops. It has
also been encouraging the Irula women to take up the fish vending business,
which has hitherto been a monopoly of traditional fisherwomen.
EDUCATION AND OTHER OPPORTUNITIES
The community certificate has paved the way for Irula children to have
access to education. In the past, Irula children were not allowed to go
beyond primary education due to the lack of a certificate. The community
certificate is the proof that indicates the community name in school records,
but because no family had the certificate, they could never continue
with their education beyond the primary level. Now the certificate helps
the children to go onto middle and high school, and continue with their
education without this hurdle. It has also helped children to get the special
fee concessions and other facilities meant for tribal students. The certificate
also enables all households in the hamlet to get family ration cards, which
can be used in locally designated ration shops to buy subsidised food
grains, provided by the Public Distribution System.
The experience of MGR Nagar also helped the district Revenue Department
to see it as a precedent and provide the community certificate to
Irulas in other hamlets located in the same region.
Ethnic identity is dynamic, not static; hence, the real issue is not about
preserving a static culture, but rather one of promoting a cultural autonomy,
which will allow people to redefine their identity without compromising
their dignity. For the tribal societies in India, this implies
integration in the larger society, but not necessarily by losing their cultural
distinctiveness.
CONCLUSION
The changing physical landscape and social and political environments
of the Irulas created the pressure to define their identity. For small