'God's own country' is how the southern Indian state of Kerala packages itself for international consumption. A serene mountain range, the Western Ghats, runs along the state's eastern border with Tamil Nadu, though the hills quickly drop off on approach to the western coastline along the Arabian Sea. Like its topography, Kerala's political economy is characterised by extreme variation. The first place in the world to elect a communist government, Kerala simultaneously ranks highest among Indian states in the provision of basic needs, at measures comparable to those found in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, and displays per capita production levels well below the national average. The state has defied conventional notions of development, improving human index measures even at times of economic stagnation.
But glossed over in these impressive averages and unorthodox development strategies lie the stories of Kerala's downtrodden adivasis (indigenous peoples). Numbering 320,967 in the 1991 census, the state's 35 adivasi communities constitute about 1.1 percent of Kerala's population and 0.47 percent of India's scheduled tribe population. The benefits of the state's human development gains have not been universally enjoyed by all of its residents, especially not by adivasis, who are still fighting for basic rights, including ownership of land. The community's depressed condition, and the failure of the state to provide meaningful upliftment or to honour its agreements, provides the backdrop of a tribal uprising for control of land.
Showdown in Muthanga
On 17 February 2003, adivasis occupying tracts in the Muthanga forests of the Wayanad wildlife sanctuary within the Nilgiri biosphere reserve took captive 21 persons, mostly state policemen and forest department officials. The adivasis, who had been squatting on the land for six weeks as part of a land redistribution campaign, alleged that the group was setting fire to the forests in order to pin arson charges on them as a pretext for eviction. The next day, the adivasis handed over the captives unharmed to the Wayanad district collector, putting their statements on record, and were given assurances that there would no further attempts at eviction.
On the morning of 19 February, about 1000 heavily armed police and forestry officials moved in, assaulting and injuring many adivasis. Huts were set on fire, and many saw their property ransacked and destroyed. Nonetheless, they refused to be driven away. During the operation, members of the media were waylaid, and footage of the violent action was destroyed. With the fall of dusk, some policemen made use of their weapons; 18 shots were reportedly fired in addition to teargas shelling. For the next 16 hours or more, the area was cordoned off from the outside world while police continued their operation.