Hooraja and Chandasi, a Hakki-Pikki couple from Angadihalli in Belur taluk, have been chosen by the State government to attend the Republic Day programme in New Delhi. The couple will get a chance to meet the country’s President, Vice-President and Prime Minister during their stay in the capital.
Every year, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs invites representatives of tribal communities to witness the Republic Day programme. This year, the State has picked Mr. Hooraja and Ms. Chandasi.
When The Hindu met the couple at Angadihalli, both were excited about their visit. They are among the 350 Hakki-Pikki families living in the village. The community has many special practices, including that of naming their children after the place, country, things and personalities — like Mysuru Pak, Cycle, Thirthahalli, and Madenur. A majority of them collect plant extracts to prepare medicines. They travel to sell their medicines and some have gone abroad. Their ancestors used to live in forest areas and shifted to this place in the early 1960s.
For the past two decades, the community has been fighting for land to till and construct houses. “We do not have a burial ground. For some years, we used to bury the dead in a vacant plot of land, but that led to clashes with others in the village,” said Mr. Hooraja. In February 2016, some of them were arrested following a clash with upper caste people who objected to the tribals using vacant land for defecation.
Mr. Hooraja, who has been working as convener of the Karnataka Aranya Moola Budakattu Samudayagala Okkoota, wants to raise the trial community’s issues with the Prime Minister. “The Forest Dwellers Act guarantees forest land of up to 10 acres, but no one in Hassan district has got this,” he said.
