Blood and monsoon passion

another blast from the past

25/11/2005
the inter block soccer matches at thomas's had more colour today with the warden threatening to stop the tournament. apparently he's sulkin coz he wasnt informed. he vented out his frustration by abusing and intimidating senior residents(including a minister) of da hall threatening to dismiss them if they stood on the field. My dear Karadi jesudasan you arent a fuckin zamindar to order us off our football field. we pay for its maintenance not you.

The jolliest fellows of Tambaram, led by Jude, rose to the occassion by collectively approaching karadi, demanding an explanation for his reactionary behaviour only to be rebuffed by a familiar excuse, " I have an appointment". He scooted away on his CD dawn to gather all the resident profs to, "fix the boys".

The grapevine has it that Jude and Randolph are going to be enquired by wardy, dean and gabriel sir. the tournament including the exciting match with martin went on as scheduled, much to the chagrin of wardy. Latest news: senthil n randy wrote apologies. jude's in a tight situation

MCC sports convener attacked

picture of the gang that ruled mcc in 05-06 (standing l-r)Anil Abraham, Madhan anna, Palani sir, Arms, Vasu (princi), shagpathi, Manoj cheta, duck, Vipin, Rajpurohit, Sid, Ajai Kuruvilla, David Ibin.squatting- ME

remembering the days when our blood was inflammable and our heads were in the skies
Feb 6, 2006 6:53 PM

In an unprecedented display of criminal behaviour, Johnson- security liaison officer, violently intercepted and humiliated sports convener- Madhan and sportsman Kumar, while they were neck deep in organising the Danis Esau tournament. their bike also was illegally seized in broad daylight. This shocking incident occurred on Friday, feb the 3rd in front of the eco & hist. depts building.

after obtaining permission from the vice-presi and the physical director, the boys were allowed to bring the bike on campus for organizing purposes. they did exactly this on 3rd morning, with the full knowledge of the security supervisor. on returning from the pavillion, johnson theatrically attempted to ram his bike into their front wheel. they narrowly missed collision, thanks to madhan's acumen. Without wating for any explanation, Johnson began hurling the filthiest abuses for using a bike on campus. perhaps that what he obtained his PH.d tamil in. he also physically threatened them shoving his index finger in Madhan's eye.

Hats off to the two machomen, Madhan and Kumar for keeping their cool or somebody would have been at Christudas hospital now. that indeed would have been delightful. as if that wasnt enough, the bike also was seized. so much for MCC-ian fairplay, justice and transparency. are you readin VJ. Johnson, despite his antagonistic tactics, couldnt agitate the boys, much to his chagrin. that bald headed bastard sure is pushing his luck.

When the VP went to retrieve the bike, a guilty and frustrated johnson falsely accused the students' council of gherao. the lust of power and marital conflict apparently has blurred reality for the old reactionary. Meanwhile Madhan, in the highest gentlemanly traditions of christian college, has preferred a complainy with the chairman. all eyes are on princi now, who needs to prove that at least 1 set of balls exists in the management. the recent past hasnt shown that.

Tanneries killing Pernambut

“Like refugees in their own land, land owners are now working as coolies for others,” says G.M.Munirathnam, President of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) in Pernambut town. Munirathnam showed, this writer, acres of land lying fallow, due to the excessive soil salinity caused by the tanneries.

Pernambut is in the tannery belt of Vellore district. There are 36 tanneries in and around the town. 18 of them pipe their effluents, 350 kilolitres in total, to TALCO Pernambut Tannery Effluent Treatment Company.

This writer observed effluent tanks of the company leaking. The land around the plant had shades of blue, black and white, and the whole area had a foul stench. Children play cricket in the vicinity of these open-air tanks.

Salim Basha, the manager of the plant, said that the total dissolved solids (TDS) levels of the treated water discharged by the plant, is five times the permissible limit. In 12 to 18 months, he hopes to complete a government sponsored renovation and upgrade of the plant, which would bring this under control.

“The water discharged from this plant is unfit for any purpose like agriculture, drinking etc. It is let off into the Palar river bed,” says Basha. The Palar now runs dry as it has been dammed off in Karnataka.

Munirathnam says that the company has been promising this for months without showing any results. “Tanneries have not paid the cess for compensating farmers that have lost their livelihood due to their pollution. The government doesn’t touch them.”

He points out that people suffer from vomiting, dysentery and renal failure due to the ground water. In localities like KK Nagar and MGR Nagar, cases of cardiac problems in children have been reported.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) had, in the past, closed down 135 tanneries, for causing pollution. This has not proved a sufficient deterrent on to the tanneries, which continue to plague Vellore district.

Tourism overuns tribal culture

Kolkarar, Nilavoor’s village guard shows this writer traditional coarse grains like Cholam, Saamai. These grains are at the risk of going out of production due to low rainfall and poor irrigation, says G. Raju, village headman and Congress leader of Nilavoor, a Kaaralar tribal village in Yelagiri Hills, Vellore district.

Raju, a former Panchayat president says, “People are selling their land as the tourism boom has made land prices shoot up. One acre is selling for 1.5 to 2 crores.” Though a tribal area, Yelagiri hills is not reserved for them as it is a tourist area. There are no restrictions on transfer of tribal lands.

“PMK founder Ramadoss aiyya has also said that these traditional grains are much healthier, but the younger generation wants polished rice instead,” Raju explains.

“I used to grow Saamai on my 3 acres of land. I sold 2 acres to the resort people for 7 lakhs in 1999, to get my seven daughters married,” says Govindan, a tribal elder. Tourist resorts now dot the hills.

Once dense jungle, large patches of forest have been cleared out for construction activity. Construction labour wages are as high as Rs. 200 a day and there is no visible unemployment.

“Our people don’t know what to do with all this money from real estate and higher wages. They are buying motorcycles or becoming alcoholics. There are only 5 men in this village, including me, that do not drink,” woes Raju.

Due to the influx of money, most youth from the village are well qualified and work in cities. Modern Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) find many buyers in Nilavoor.

Nagamma, a shopkeeper, who sources groceries from Athanavur, the administrative centre of the hills, sells them at a profit of 50p to Re1, per item. I have good sales. Most leading cigarette brands, soft drinks and packaged snacks are sold in this village.

“We are now rich, but arrogant. We need to preserve our culture or risking losing our identity and harmony in our community,” says Raju.

“The contract system must go”

The Word reporter PHEROZE L. VINCENT talked to K. G. Kalimuthu, a beedi labour leader, about the problems and prospects of beedi workers in Vellore district.

K. G. Kalimuthu is the President of the Tirupathur Taluk Beedi Labour Union in Kodiyur, Vellore District. The union is affiliated to the United Trade Union Congress of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), a constituent of the Left Front.

Over 70 years old, Mr. Kalimuthu has rolled beedis since his childhood. Influenced by the communist movement in his boyhood, he joined the undivided Communist Party of India (CPI) in the 1940s. He has undergone imprisonment several times, spending two years behind bars in all.

In 1964 he followed his mentors Harkishen Singh Surjeet, Jyoti Basu, P. Ramamurthi and A. K. Gopalan to form the Communist Paty of India- Marxist (CPM). He spearheaded the successful agitation in 1985 to regularise the services of beedi workers in Tamil Nadu and achieve minimum wages, provident fund, bonuses and paid leave. These benefits won through bitter struggle have now been eroded by the introduction of the contract system.

Two years ago, he split from the CPM and joined the RSP. He says he did so because he felt that the CPM had begun to only represent organised workers in the private sector. He broke away when he was asked to merge his union into a Vellore district wide union of beedi workers. “Our account books are open to all, but we can’t sacrifice our independence,” says this veteran revolutionary.

The walls of his office are still adorned with portraits of the CPM leaders named above.

Excerpts from the conversation:

PLV: Since when have you been involved in the union?

KGK: We started this union in 1955. It was then affiliated to the All India Trade Union Congress of the undivided CPI. Later on it was affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions of the CPM.

PLV: What are the demands of the beedi workers?

KGK: We demand payment of minimum wages, provident fund, bonus during festivals and leave with pay. We achieved these rights after a massive agitation in 1985. To get around these regulations the beedi companies started the contract system more than a decade ago.

In this system, the rolling work is given to contractors who employ people in villages to do the job. They work at home and are not organised. They do not get any benefits apart from their wages. If we are to realise the rights we fought for, the contract system has to go. We demand direct employment under the principal employers.

PLV: But, the law allows contract labour. The liability of providing mandatory benefits to the workers is on the company.

KGK: The companies bribe the government officials and get around these regulations. The Labour and Provident Fund departments of the government do not implement these benefits.

PLV: Then why aren’t beedi workers agitating?

KGK: Only 10% of the 1 lakh workforce in the district is organised. Ours is the largest union. There are other unions affiliated to CITU, AITUC and Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) of the Congress party.

PLV: Why such a low level of union membership?

KGK: Workers are nowadays largely in the villages. It is easier to organise in urban centres, where large numbers of workers live and work in proximity, often together in factories. We are not that successful in penetrating rural areas.

PLV: Isn’t the trade itself bad? Beedi rolling is said to cause tuberculosis and cancer.

KGK: If the government wants to ban this trade, it must provide us alternative employment. The beedi industry is the third largest employer in the country. Cigarettes are more dangerous.
I have been rolling beedis ever since I can remember and I’m perfectly healthy. I know people who smoke 20-25 beedis a day and live into their nineties. There is a lot of adverse medical propaganda in this regard.

(This reporter spoke to five families that rolled beedis, in three villages in the district. None had any diseases. Other reporters of this paper came across some cases of respiratory diseases in beedi workers.)

PLV: Has the Smoking Ban reduced employment of beedi workers?

KGK: No, the employment levels are the same. The way I see it, people with breathing problems shouldn’t go anywhere near tobacco or it will kill them. For the healthy, there is no problem.

The government is busy implementing smoking bans. Can’t it do something to provide alternative employment? Agriculture has failed. I haven’t gone to college like you and I can’t speak English, but I know that if we don’t save this industry, we will starve.

PLV: What about child labour?

KGK: Times have changed. People of my generation and the next grew up rolling beedis. Now, awareness of the need for education has been spread. Even the poorest of landless labourers send their kids to school. Some children do the work of closing beedi ends, after school, but most kids don’t touch beedis.

PLV: Doesn’t the fragmentation of unions jeopardise labour unity?

KGK: I left CITU with a heavy heart. But, the leaders like Ramamurthi (he glances at his portrait hanging on the wall) who led me into the movement are now gone. I have rolled beedis for decades. We workers know our problems. Union leaders without experience in the field cannot effectively guide us.

Also, leaders like Surjeet and Gopalan were austere mass leaders who were revered. I have heard reports of Income Tax Department raids on the homes of present day Communist leaders. How can a man whom the IT department raids be a communist?

Low rainfall hits Cotton crop in Tirupathur taluk

Periamotur, Vellore District, Jan 9: “I don’t know how much we spend every month,” says a V. Vanitha, after she and her husband R. Vellikannan, spend five minutes trying to figure out their monthly expenses. Vellikannan and Vanitha are farmers in Poonaikuttaipallam in Periamotur, Tirupathur taluk, Vellore district. Both of them are illiterates who live off the acre of land they own. Rain is the only source of water. The neighbouring well has run dry due to low rainfall.

“I spent almost Rs. 5000 for sowing this cotton. I am now keeping the harvest at home and not selling it until the price rises. The market price is only Rs. 2700 per quintal. Last year we got Rs. 3000 per quintal,” says Vellikannan. The Cotton Corporation of India increased its Minimum Support Price (MSP) by 39% last month to Rs. 2500.

Vellikannan says that he used to harvest almost 10 quintals of cotton every year, but this year he won’t get half as much, due to low rainfall. According to ikisan.com, the total cost of producing a quintal of cotton for a small farmer like Vellikannan is almost Rs. 2250.

“I used to work as a labourer in Himachal Pradesh. I have used our own savings to cultivate this crop and haven’t gone to the moneylender. All three of my daughters are in school. How will we manage?” asks Vellikannan.

The cotton is grown between June and January, of the following year. During the rest of the year, Vellikannan and Vanitha grow tomato and ash gourd.

Sampath grows cotton with his wife and two daughters on their 2.5 acres. They share a borewell with a neighbouring farmer.

“It costs Rs. 50,000 to sink a borewell. When the water table is normal, it irrigates up to five acres a day. But now, only half an acre can be irrigated,” says Sampath, who has invested Rs. 15,000 in sowing his land. He too has not gone to a moneylender.

During a good year, the prices go up to Rs. 4000 per quintal. Look at our fate this year. I haven’t hired labourers for harvesting. Even my married daughter has come to help us,” Sampath says.

When not working on the land, Sampath works as a construction labourer while his younger daughter and wife roll beedis. Sampath hopes to get work digging a government sponsored rainwater storage tank, on which work is expected to start soon.

Farmers associations have demanded that the MSP of all crops be at least 30% more than the cost of producing them. The Press Information Bureau’s jubilant announcement of an MSP increase, that is even lower than the market price, is a slap on the faces of farmers here in Vellore district whose children are forced to roll bidis when they should be doing their homework.

Dying fish and crumbling flats

“How can we complain against the government and big people,” says a puzzled Prakash, when asked about why he has not complained about fish dying from effluents dumped by Metrowater and the skyscrapers of neighbouring MRC Nagar.

Prakash is fisherman from Srinivasapuram, a slum on the banks of the Adayar Creek, in ward 150- Avvai Nagar (South) of the Chennai Corporation. The seaward side is picturesque and wonderful to walk through, but the side facing the creek is terribly congested and stinks of sewage.

The local municipal councillor is T. Velu of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Srinivasapuram is in the Mylapore assembly constituency and Chennai South parliamentary constituency, represented by S. V. Shekher All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) and T. R. Baalu (DMK), respectively.

Karthik, another fisherman from Srinivasapuram says they find syringes in the creek, dumped by hospitals. The water stinks. This writer observed dead fish floating below Broken Bridge, on the creek.

Sundar, health coordinator of Montfort Community Development Society (MCDS), which regularly conducts health camps in Srinivasapuram, says fishermen suffer from skin diseases due to contact with sea water. They usually do not bother to get it treated.

People here also fall sick after drinking contaminated water from Metrowater tankers, says Sundar. The MCDS spreads awareness about health by conducting these camps with organisations like Rotary International.

Daisy Rani, a resident from the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) apartments here, says people cannot afford to boil water. Only some can afford packaged water cans while the rest have to depend on Metrowater. The Apartments do not have running water but some of the private houses do.

She says Corporation health personnel only visit during calamities, the tsunami, or for neo-natal care. Only three physicians, all private, frequent the area. Underground drainage has only recently been constructed. “The nearest hospitals are in Santhome and Triplicane (3-6km away).We need to go until there even for a delivery,” Daisy points out.

“The TNSCB flats have toilets but the sanitation in the huts is bad. Still, some residents rent out their flats and live outside. Public toilets are very dirty. There is moss growing in the urinals,” adds Daisy. After the tsunami, Daisy was relocated to a single storey house in Chemmancherry, a southern coastal suburb. Despite amenities like running water, she shifted back to Srinivasapuram for her childrens’ education.

According to Gomathi Manoharan (DMK), former municipal councillor of the ward, there are 1356 TNSCB apartments here, which came up in 1993. They house about 2000 families. 5000 more families live in huts. The government relocated 4000 families to Chemmancherry after the tsunami, but many, like Daisy have come back.

“(TNSCB) Flats residents sleep outside for fear of the roof caving in. The buildings are damaged but the government won’t resettle us in situ as they want to sell the land to Larsen & Toubro. The company doesn’t want us beside the buildings they construct.”

Gomathi says 50 people from Srinivasapuram got killed in the tsunami. That is because the area is surrounded by water on 3 sides. Even the fourth side got flooded and there was no where to run. She believes these could have been avoided if the TNSCB tenements were in neighbouring Pattinapakkam. According to her, this was the original plan, but the Pattinapakkam tenements were given to other slum dwellers in Chennai.

“We need 2000 more flats. 1000 in Pattinapakkam, for the kids and 1000 here, for the elders. There are three families living in my house (single storey private construction, less than 500 square feet) itself.” She adds that the Corporation has an elaborate plan to resettle them in apartments, to be built in Pattinapakkam, with a park and other amenities. But the execution of it would take two years. “Where will we live during that time,” she asks.

According to resident Srinivasan people have complained to the MLA and MP, but nothing seems to get done because people are divided on caste lines. “After the Tsunami, fishermen got boats, but we (non-fishermen) got nothing. Parties can keep winning here by appeasing the fishing community,” says Srinivasan.

According to Srinivasan, the Pattinapakkam dispensary has attenders but no physicians and the nearest government hospital is in Royapettah, 7 km away. The nearest government schools are CMS higher secondary school, Santhome and Pattinapakkam elementary school, yet people spend more and send their children to private schools like PS Senior Secondary School, Mylapore or Santhome High School.

Gomathi Manoharan agrees. She says in the 1970s the government had to raid homes for children not going to school. Now, due to awareness, people are even sending their children to expensive private schools. Government schools are also good and mid-day meals are served. “It doesn’t matter if the fathers are drunk. At least the children don’t go hungry,” says an ageing Gomathi.

She smiles saying how the one child norm is voluntarily followed here. “In 1976, men were forcefully sterilised. Now my son has just had one daughter and he doesn’t want any more,” she boasts.

There are many christians and muslims here and inter-religious marriage is common, says Gomathi. “There are no communal clashes and our girls can roam freely even at 1 AM. That’s because we have known each other for 50 years.”