The Kadar living in the Anakkayam Colony had to flee for their lives last August 16 when a huge landslide swept everything away right next to their homes. They’ve been homeless ever since, according to a news report published in the New Indian Express last week. A good review of… Continue reading…
Last week The New Indian Express sent a reporter into a Kadar colony in Kerala to see how the tribal people there were reacting to the prospect of voting. The third phase of the Indian General Election was scheduled to include the state of Kerala on April 23. The Kadar… Continue reading…
Ms. Geetha, the leader of the Kadar community at Vazhachal, never seems to be at a loss for words. In an interview with The New Indian Express two weeks ago, she says, “We used to preserve the forests. That was how we lived. Now the government owns the forests.” She… Continue reading…
A report prepared by some tribal activists accuses the government of Kerala of undermining the rights of the scheduled tribes living in the state. To judge by an article published last week in the Deccan Chronicle, a major South Indian newspaper, the report appears to have focused on two of… Continue reading…
An odd story appeared in a reputable Indian newspaper at the beginning of last week alleging that the Kadar have deeply rooted superstitions about the spirits of their dead. The newspaper account was based on supposedly reliable government agency information, not on a reporter’s speculation. The essence of the story… Continue reading…
A couple months ago, some Kadar were working to restore one of their worship sites in Kerala’s Vazhachal Forest when forestry department officials going past asked them to stop. They politely refused, citing their rights under India’s Forest Rights Act (FRA). According to a report last week by Sibi Arasu… Continue reading…
The government of Kerala has made it clear that they do not plan to give up on the Athirappilly project, despite opposition from experts, conservationists and the local Kadar people. A news report last week in The Hindu, one of India’s leading newspapers, described the latest government maneuvers that they… Continue reading…
The state of Kerala has apparently not counted on the strenuous opposition of the Kadar to government plans for proceeding with a big hydroelectric power project on the Chalakudy River. The small, peaceful tribe of about 2,000 people staged a demonstration in March to show the importance of forests to… Continue reading…
Last week, V. K. Geetha, a very active Kadar woman leader, wrote an eloquent appeal for saving their forest from a hydropower dam. Instead of focusing on the potential destruction of two Kadar communities posed by the threatened Athirappilly Dam, as numerous past news reports have done, her letter was… Continue reading…
Ten years ago, during the first full year of this website, almost nothing was reported in the Indian news about the then obscure Kadar society. The situation has changed dramatically since then. Three news reports on the Kadar were published last week alone. This society and its problems seem to… Continue reading…
