Socio-ecological Marginalisation of Tribes and Psycho-social Impacts: Reflections from Western Ghats Region of Idukki District, Kerala

The Western Ghats in India has a rich biodiversity with a variety of endemic flora and fauna. The dense forests and hilly lands of the Western Ghats in the Idukki region of Kerala were less populated regions with natural forest resources in ancient times. Aboriginal groups were one of the significant populations during that time. They lived in the hilly tracts and depended on forest resources for their livelihood but never settled down in a specific location for a long time. Later, the state promoted migration and encroachment activities for plantation and agricultural development, resulting in the marginalization of tribes in the Idukki District, hence forcing them to move into the interior areas. Besides, the alcoholic abuse among tribal people resulted in land alienation. The encroachers used alcohol as a tool to grab the mainland from the tribals. During this era, the government-initiated policy level changes in landholding and land rights. The land assignment acts enacted by the state protected the plantation lobbies and settler farmers but did not address the need for land as well as the land rights of these marginalized tribes. These kinds of interventions of different departments like the forest in the government sector led to the ecological marginalization of these groups from the forest resources and treated them as trespassers. The environmental degradation accelerated the marginalization process, especially from the water resources they depended on earlier. These marginalization problems, which have been persisting for a long time in this region, are examined through the lenses of social-ecology, and their psycho-social impacts are discussed in this article.

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