Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

84 P. THAMIZOLI AND P. IGNATIUS PRABHAKAR
SUBSISTENCE ECONOMY AND MARGINALITY
IN A MULTICULTURAL CONTEXT
The Irulas are the second largest tribal group in Tamil Nadu, concentrated
in most of the northern districts of the state. The group is known by
several local names such as Irular, Iruligar, Iruligas, Villiar, Arava Yenadi
and Pambukaran. Traditionally, the tribal group has been managing its
subsistence economy by small gaming and gathering in the dry and
deciduous forest areas, or through working as labour on agricultural farms.
The traditional Irula settlements near the Pichavaram mangroves in Killai
are semi-permanent and small in size, and are composed of only a few
households. Apart from these tiny settlements, a few scattered huts are
located in private coconut groves.
At present, the livelihood of the Irulas depends primarily on groping
by hand in the mangrove creeks and canals to gather fish and prawns juveniles.
They also very occasionally hunt wild animals in the slushy mangrove
forests. The other traditional fertile grounds for Irula foraging are the harvested
paddy fields; they hunt rats by opening up the burrows and gathering
the paddy grains stored in them. On the one hand, due to changes in the
local environment, the group has developed new skills, adaptability, and
new subsistence and economic practices in the contemporary situation.
On the other hand, the slow process of settling down has created social
stability, which has enabled them to mobilise as a group, discuss matters
more regularly, feel their collective identity and arrive at a consensus to
take decisions pertaining to the common issues of the community.
The traditional farmers and fishers in the region are the two dominant
neighbours with whom the tribal Irulas have developed working relationships.
The Irulas work in the paddy fields and casuarina plantations
of the farming groups, and share the mangrove resources with the
traditional fisher groups. The complete absence of a political relationship
with the external systems and government institutions, and their economic
dependency on other communities, created an environment where
they maintained an absolute silence. The inception of a sedentary life for
at least one section of the population and the emergence of independent
economic activities, like groping for prawn and catching fish in the
mangrove waters, gradually helped to develop their collective identity.