Kodagu needs freedom from landlords
A video of a young boy addressing the Chief Minister, while emphasizing on the tribulations of Kodagu has been making rounds on WhatsApp. “Though the state uses all the resources Kodagu has to offer, no one is paying attention to Kodagu. The Chief Minister has completely ignored the cries,” the young boy has said in the video that lasts about half an hour. The speech, obviously, is not something that comes naturally to his age. But since this has caught the attention of the CM, he has responded to his request positively.
However, it is important to note that the comments the boy has made have been referred to on many instances since the last four or five decades, pertaining to Kodagu. Sometime ago, one Nachappa had made similar comments and had consolidated people of Kodagu against the state. He had started ‘Kodagu separate state’ campaign.
The accusations of Kodagu losing its green cover, Malayalis sneaking in, the injustice meted out to Coffee growers, mismanagement of Cauvery water – all of them have been made since ages. The Kodava leaders are upset that people from Mandya and Bengaluru who use their natural resource such as Cauvery water, never have the interest of Kodavas on their minds. All the leaders are directly and indirectly responsible for the plight Kodagu is in, today. Sangh Parivar is witnessing fast growth in Kodagu and is spreading the tentacles of Hindutva. And the upper caste Kodavas are shouting at the top of their lungs that Kodagu is being treated unfairly.
The facilities offered by government have reached Cardamom growers more effectively than paddy farmers because the hinterlands coffee planters can wield better political power than farmers on the mainland. The benefit of good rains in Kodagu is never passed on to Kodavas. If the river Cauvery flows energized by copious rains, Mandya and Bengaluru use up the water. At the same time, Kodavas lose their paddy crop. False smut disease bothers the crops around the area every monsoon. Not just that, people live in constant fear of deluge every year because connecting roads disappear under water owing to rains.
Every year the government does release water, but those funds never reach the deserving people, and are swallowed by middlemen. And this is the same middlemen that are sending out loud cries about Kodagu being treated unfairly. But then we often forget the fact that there is another version to this issue and assume that only surficial issues are some sort of stumbling blocks for the progress of Kodagu.
The first mistake that we make is to assume everyone that lives in Kodagu is a Kodava. There are more than 14 native tribes in Kodagu. Most of them are living a very frugal life, deprived of most basic facilities. They live in the plantations of big coffee growers. The facilities and support offered by the government has hardly reached them.
Kodagu still has a thriving bonded labour system. Labourers that work in one plantation cannot move to another place before they repay the loan with their earlier landlord. And the men do not even have any voice to raise against the Coffee planters. Thousands of landless labourers are tribal and native Kodavas. They cannot exert political prowess unlike upper caste affluent Kodavas. Even if the government plans for their empowerment, the upper class Kodavas will never let it pass through to the real deserving people.
So long as the poor remain poor, the rich can reap the profit. The upper caste Kodavas have a huge role to play in Kodagu remaining without basic facilities and the tribes living a life in difficult conditions; but none of the politicians have the political will to get past the wealthy affluent Kodavas who have been demanding separate state, and reach the poor deserving people. The rich Kodavas have been asserting on statehood demand are using it like a threat. They refer to Malayalis sneaking in and destroying the green cover of Kodagu. At the same time, they never mention about Kodava youths migrating to cities for better lifestyle.
Huttari is the main festival of Kodagu, which celebrates the growth of paddy crop. But most of the fields in Kodagu now are used to grow ginger. Ginger is a cash crop and needs less time. Kodavas have switched over to this and blame it on Malayalis for destroying the paddy crop. They chop trees in their plantation, sell it to Malayalis and then blame it on those ‘immigrants’. Kodavas are making money in myriad ways.
And yes, Kodagu needs to progress well for sure but then the government should also think about the betterment of poorest of the poor natives as much as it thinks about the Coffee planters. Also, government needs to pay attention to the native dwellers of Kodagu who do not even possess land to build a small house or own a small piece of agricultural land, and continue to live as bonded labourers in rich Coffee planters’ sprawling properties. They need to be politically and culturally represented as well. Every year, Kodagu receives flood relief funds, and this has to reach the affected parties. Kodagu does need freedom, but from the forces that are keeping it chained to economic distress. Only when the landlords free the Kodagu people from their shackles, the place will gain its true freedom.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Nitish Reddy, Head's fifties power SRH to 201/3 against RR
Hyderabad, May 2: Nitish Reddy (76 not out) and Travis Head (58) scored half centuries as Sunrisers Hyderabad posted 201/3 against Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League here on Thursday.
Opting to bat, SRH were unable to capitalise on the Powerplay, losing the wickets off Abhishek Sharma and Anmolpreet Singh.
However, Head and Reddy scored 96 runs off 57 deliveries to resurrect SRH's innings while Heinrich Klaasen (42 not out of 19) provided the final flurry.
Brief Scores:
Sunrisers Hyderbad: 201 for 3 in 20 overs (Nitish Reddy 76 not out, Travis Head 58; Avesh Khan 2/39).
