At the time of the retirement of her father, Pushpa Rani was working as a nurse in a private hospital in Sullia – one of the few among the Sri Lankan repatriates to find qualified outside the rubber plantations. However, the retirement left her with a dilemma and the decision she took still brings her to tears.
“I had no choice. I had to leave my job so that we can still keep our house,” she said. Her house, like every other house in Kalloni colony at Sullia Taluk, is allotted based on the rules of the Karnataka Forest Development Corporation which runs the rubber plantations.
With her husband working as a labourer in a private company, their family would have been asked to vacate the quarters if no family members were working for the corporation. Now, at the age of 42, and crippled with ill-health, Ms. Pushpa Rani taps rubber sap to ensure the house is not taken away. “I barely earn Rs. 3,000 a month. It is a humiliating job for someone with a degree. I don’t want to do this anymore,” she says.
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Her dilemma reverberates through the community. Though holding a postgraduate diploma in computer applications, Ramar, a resident of Peralambadi Colony, was forced to work for years in the plantations to ensure his retired parents had a roof over their heads.
A total of 926 families-now totalling to around 6,400-from Sri Lanka were repatriated to KFDC rubber plantations of Sullia and Puttur taluks in the 1970s.
After seeing the fruits of a 15-year-long series of protest for caste certificates for the repatriates, the community will now focus on the working conditions of the families.
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“There are a lot of rules that we find unfair. For instance, there are no recruitments for rubber tapping. So, people are taken on contract and given money without bills or receipt,” said Muralidhara, secretary of the Dakshina Kannada Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribe and Repatriates Welfare Association, Bellare.
He added that the association would wait for a few days for the process of issuing caste certificates to take place and then approach the KFDC.
The activists also want an amendment scrapping the “two-generation” rule that allows for only two generations of a family to work in the company, permanent employment and increased wages.
KFDC officials said the change in rules for recruitment can only be mandated by the State government.