The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Rs. 3 crore for developing extremism-prone villages

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 20, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Rs. 3 crore for developing extremism-prone villages

By S. Prasad

KRISHNAGIRI, JAN. 19. The State Government has sanctioned Rs. 3 crores for the socio-economic development of 40 villages in this district, where extremist activities were reported in the recent past.

The programme will focus on tribal villages in the Denkanikottai and Tali blocks to generate employment and thereby wean the youth away from extremism, said the Collector, Mangat Ram Sharma.

The Health, Rural Development and Forests Departments would implement the programme. Forty villages in 15 village panchayats would be given special attention in the first phase. One hundred groups would be formed to keep the youth engaged in sports by providing volleyball and other infrastructure. They would also be trained in skills development and put through coaching camps for joining the Army and other uniformed services.

The major activities include establishment of pongan oil and jatropha cultivation and extraction units and a medicinal plant garden, fodder development, bamboo cultivation and tree plantation, alternate cropping and sericulture.

A majority of the villages such as Kodakarai, Betamugilalam and Kempakarai are tribal-dominated, and development was difficult for lack of basic facilities. The Hosur forest division chose 10 villages in the Denkanikottai forest range for various programmes aimed at sustaining the livelihood of tribals.

The District Forest Officer, S. Paulraj, said the Forest Department was working closely with the police and the district administration to wean the youth away from extremism and monitor their activities. Thanks to the sustained efforts, the Government could establish rapport with the people who were now willing to share information about extremists.

Rehabilitation programmes were taken up at Garetti, Kamagiri and Kempakarai by grouping the tribals who were hitherto leading a nomadic life and resettling them by providing infrastructure. Under the Tamil Nadu Afforestation Project, tribal habitations would be taken up in all these villages. Each tribal family was provided a milch animal and arrangements were made to link them with the local cooperative society for easy marketing of milk. The department undertook construction of group houses, agricultural development and education of tribals through the Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS), besides conducting free medical camps, issuing identity cards to all adult members and forming tribal societies.

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