A struggle to eke out a living

Tribal communities in hamlets around Gudur, the largest division in the Nellore district of the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, have their own distinctive tales to recount. Having endured years of class and caste oppression, they hang on to their lives depending on a range of diversified activities for their subsistence.

Agriculture and allied activities, shrimp farming, cattle rearing, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), seasonal migration and other odd jobs earn them their daily bread during the year.

The Reddy Yanadi settlement at Pidurupalem village in Manubolu mandal is a group of 50 families released from bonded labour, according to the NGO Association for Rural Development (ARD).

The villagers collectively own 35.8 acres of agricultural land where two crops of paddy are cultivated for eight to nine months a year, said P. Venkataramanan, a Yanadi agriculturalist. The irrigation department provides tank water for the crops.

Some of the villagers work on paddy fields of the richer Reddys, earning Rs. 250-300 per day while some of them work on shrimp farms, earning up to Rs. 4500 a month, he added.

ARD employee S. Hussain stated, “The villagers collect rats after the harvest, preserve and eat them. They also catch birds and fish as a means of livelihood. ”

Dairy farming provides the extras

“Cattle rearing is a source of income especially during off seasons. The village has an agricultural co-operative for men and a dairy co-operative for women,” added Hussain.

The mandal’s Lakshminarasimhapuram has a Challa Yanadi settlement, which is a disjoint ST colony of 14 families away from the main village. During the agricultural season, the Yanadis work on the fields of Reddys and Naidus.

Venkatamma Adipudi, a middle-aged Yanadi woman said, “Women earn Rs. 200 per day while men are paid Rs. 250 as agricultural labourers.”

Agricultural season lasts approximately three months and then up to ten families from the village migrate to Gudur and Nellore for the rest of the year. Labour in brick kilns and groundnut farms, and fishing are their off-season livelihoods. 

For those who prefer to keep it dry, Muni Sekhar and his bullocks are the passage to Madhavapuram

Madhavapuram in Vakadu mandal is an island village on the Pulicat Lake where 70 families evicted from Sriharikota, for the construction of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, have settled. Prior to the construction of the facility in 1971, the inhabitants were given eviction notices and a meager Rs. 1500 per acre as compensation. It has been a struggle for subsistence once they moved to the island. 

K. Valliprasad, Seemandhra State Backward Castes Association Secretary, said, “The villagers own one acre of agricultural land each, but without any title rights. One crop of paddy is cultivated every year with rain fed irrigation. However, shrimp farming is not possible here as the island falls under a protected forest area.”

Y. Balakrishna spraying pesticides on Madhavapuram's paddy fields

“MGNREGA is implemented in the village from January to August every year and the main job involves constructing bunds that prevent the lake’s salt water from entering the village fields,” he added.

According to Subbama, a villager, women work on casuarina tree plantations and are paid insufficiently. Men move to Sriharikota and Naidupet during the off-season for jobs such as woodcutting and construction, earning Rs. 300-400 a day. They fish in the Pulicat Lake for a month between December and January.

Villagers from Madhavapuram working on casuarina tree plantations

Nawabpet is another small coastal hamlet where families evicted from Sriharikota have settled. The village has a Muslim population and fishing is their prime source of livelihood. When they are unable to venture into the sea during cyclones and unfavourable climatic conditions, the villagers sell the casuarina trees to sustain. 

Chellaiah is one of the few non-fishermen in Nawabpet. Climbing coconut palms is his prime source of income and fishing provides for his subsistence.

Chittumaru mandal’s Yellasiri is a Reddy Yanadi settlement with 72 families where ARD has helped them reclaim 150 acres of land and each family was allotted one acre and 20 cents with the help of the District Collector.

A local social worker G. Venkateshwarlu said, “The Government issued them land in 2005 but the villagers did not know how it could be used. An agricultural co-operative was set up and the villagers were trained in locating their lands and reading land documents.”

“The reclamation process was completed in 2012. However, only 15 acres are under cultivation now as the rest of the land is yet to be levelled,” he added.

The allotted land had wild growth and clearing it was included under MGNREGA, fetching them an income.

Since they can work on their rain-fed land for only four months in a year, they earn Rs. 150 a day as labour on other fields. Cattle rearing is an additional source of income. 

A. Challamma earns Rs. 500-600 on a good day, selling dried fish

N. Logesh, presently working at Puttamraju Kandriga, the now famous 'Sachin village', earns Rs. 300 a day.