Injustice in god’s country: the adivasi uprising in Kerala

'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.