Tribal organisations in Attappady have opposed the government move to hand over tribal development schemes to private agencies bypassing the people’s participatory development model implemented during the last 10 years by the Attappady Hills Area Development Society (AHADS).
S. Pazhaniswamy, chairman of AHADS Tribal Employees and People’s Welfare Society, said there was a move to hand over to NGOs five projects that were submitted by AHADS before its closure in March this year.
The AHADS had implemented Rs.219-crore Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funded projects in Attappady with the active involvement of Oooru Vikasana Samithies, Mooppan Councils, Joint Forest Management Committees, User Associations, etc.
The AHADS had prepared a Rs.253-crore total hamlet development programme for the entire tribal population in Attappady.
It had also submitted to the government a Rs.159.34-crore agriculture package to sustain the gains of the project and to make
Attappady the organic food hub of Kerala, said Mr. Palaniswamy in a statement here on Tuesday. Sources said there were 310 registered people's institutions with the active participation of tribespeople.
The government should implement the special agriculture package for tribespeople through various organisations created under AHADS.
Girijan Sevak Samithy president U.C. Kunchan said organisations such as the Ooru Vikasana Samithy and Thaikula Sanghom created under AHADS, had assisted the tribespeople.
The contract system for implementing tribal development programmes would strike at the very root of social capital generated by people's committees and the empowerment of weaker sections, he said.
P.R.G. Mathur, former Kirtads (Kerala Institute for Research, Training and Development of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) director, said the assets and infrastructure created by AHADS should be preserved and used to implement tribal empowerment schemes.
