Irulas' plight: Sans livelihood security, child marriages, malnutrition rule

Krishnagiri: Though many reasons are cited for this custom, here the major reason for early marriages being in vogue among the Irula tribals, is that getting the girls married off reduces the family’s food requirement. 

“I married off my daughters to get rid of the responsibility of feeding them,” confides Mallamma, an Irula woman of Kurumbattai village, near Beelalam in Denkannikottai taluk of Krishnagiri district. Poor Mallamma, though 53 now, was also the victim of this custom, admitted of marrying off her daughter when the girl was just 12 years old. 

The woman added, “we marry off the girls in the big hope of our daughter getting enough food at her in-laws house. This also reduces the amount of ration required by the girl’s family.”

Mallamma continued to explain philosophically: “If not, she has to struggle with us for few more years if we go by the rule book for the marriage.” 

The lady also candidly explained how ‘Aadhar’ card helps them to get over the age difficulty, when confronted by officials while solemnizing marriages of minor girls. They are aware though that marriageable age for girls is 18. 

But, their fight for food with no regular income, not covered under the household food security programme or the employment guarantee scheme have forced them to break the rules. This leads to many issues including infant deaths as in the case of Mallamma’s daughter Maadevi Amma.

In July 2018, 25-year-old (as mentioned in the hospital discharge summary) Maadevi Amma was admitted in the Hosur government hospital after the pregnant woman experienced labour pain.

Her worried relatives admitted her in the Hosur government hospital because Maadevi Amma had already lost her first child that was declared as born dead.

Giving birth to the second child too was complicated for the poor Maadevi Amma. The woman had to undergo caesarian procedure as the government doctor's effort to help her with normal delivery was in vain after a long wait.

Unfortunately, the new born mother, returned home without the infant. Her second child, as in her first delivery, was also declared as ‘born dead’ because of the endemic malnutrition faced by such tribal women. 

“In very few cases, a project against this malnutrition issue was not effective because of migration. This can be solved if the pre-natal or post-natal care was continued by the State where the pregnant woman stays with her family for livelihood,” Joseph Stalin of Rural development council told DC.