Tribal children of schoolgoing age are being increasingly exploited by employing them for labour in some plantations in the hilly areas of Nilambur. Little children are made to work along with their parents and paid half the wages. Some of them are less than 10 years of age. Many of them did not even take their annual school examinations held in March.
Abuse of tribal children in the name of employment has been found in the Kakkadampoyil, Akampuzha, Vendakkampoyil, Akampadam, Idivenna and Valanthodu areas falling under Chaliyar, Koodarinji and Urangattiri grama panchayats bordering Malappuram and Kozhikode districts. The Hindu spoke to several children and their parents and found that they are being exploited.
Some of the children looked malnourished and admitted that they used to get country liquor from a local bootlegger. They start drinking from the age of six or seven and become addicts before they turn 18. “Liquor is the main factor that makes a section of the tribespeople, including their children, fall prey to exploitation,” said Aju Koloth, chairman, Mithra Jyothi Tribal Development Foundation, an NGO working among the tribal community.
