People belonging to the Toda community take part in a ritual to welcome the New Year at Ooty in Nilgiris district. Image for representation purpose only. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Indigenous groups in the Nilgiris have raised concerns that the Census of India, which is to be undertaken soon, will not document important distinctions such as language and religion that distinguish the culture of their communities. Such omissions are equivalent to erasure of their unique identities and will diminish the goals of the exercise, they warned.

Elders and activists from the Nilgiris’ Adivasi groups, such as the Todas, Kotas and Kurumbas state that their cultures are often pigeon-holed into conforming to labels that the groups are not comfortable with adopting.

Sobha Madhan — an Adivasi rights activist from Gudalur and the district co-ordinator for the Nilgiris Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups Federation — said that Adivasis like the Kurumbas have no formal religion, but instead only worship their ancestors. “Even the temples near to where I live in Ayyankolli, the spirit we pray to is called Ajji, or grandmother. How can we identify as Hindu, Christian or Muslim?” she wondered.

She added that Adivasis took great pride in their culture, and it was wrong for the government to try to force them into identifying themselves with a religion and language that they are not a part of.

Denying basic rights

The Badagas of the Nilgiris, the single largest distinct ethno-linguistic community in the Nilgiris also want changes made to the way in which the Census is undertaken. Though the community is not classified as a Scheduled Tribe (ST) by the government, Venugopal Dharmalingam, honorary director of the Nilgiri Documentation Center (NDC), said the Badagas are among the few communities in India which follow ancestor worship as their main religious belief and ritual.

“By limiting the religious affiliation of the responding citizens to six major religions, the Census has denied the basic rights of a large chunk of the indigenous people to register their age-old religion and mode of worship,” he said.

Separate Badaga dictionaries

According to Mr. Dharmalingam, the Badagas will also be asked to put down their language that they speak as “Kannada” despite the fact that the Badaga language is independent as made clear by publications of grammars and dictionaries by R. Balakrishnan, C. Pilot-Raichoor and Professor Paul Hockings. Mr. Dharmalingam has written to Nilgiris MP A. Raja to ensure the due rights of indigenous communities in the Census.

“The Census of India had already denied the rights of the Badagas by not enumerating their language separately as in the past and clubbing it with the major neighboring language. When the Indian advance in science, technology and computing has surpassed global levels, it is disappointing that a section of the 140 crore citizens cannot be enumerated according to the religion and language they have inherited over hundreds of generations,” he added.

Original inhabitants

Northay Kuttan — a member of the indigenous Toda Adivasi community and president of the Nilgiri Primitive Tribal People’s Federation — said that indigenous groups such as the Todas, Kotas, Irulas, Kurumbas, Paniyas and the Kattunayakans already feel neglected. “The Nilgiris district administration and State government celebrate 200 years since the first British colonists arrived in the Nilgiris, but the Todas have a proven history dating back thousands of years, and so do other indigenous communities. We are treated as exhibits and are only asked to dance at government events, while our culture and identities are never respected,” he said.

During the last census, Mr. Kuttan said entire villages of the Todas and Kotas were not enumerated properly due to the lack of accessibility. “Communities like the Paniyas also regularly move between Kerala and Tamil Nadu, so the Census, unless done with the help from local community leaders who have the trust of the community, will be completely ineffectual,” he said.

Mr. Kuttan also said that the Todas, like the other indigenous groups of the Nilgiris, do not just have their own religion but also distinctive clans. “There must be provisions made in the Census that identify the distinct religion of indigenous communities,” he said.