Mullaikulathur has its share of Caste politics and policies. What is not apparent when you casually visit a village becomes clear when you start regularly interacting with people and understanding the social setup.
The Village as such does not seem to have any caste based tensions, but the social demarcations are pretty stark, a legacy that continues in this age and time. This is also not unique to a single village but pretty prevalent all through the country.
The main streets are occupied by the upper caste. They are the well to do farmers who own land and property. The houses are well built concrete structures with all modern amenities. The poorer families have smaller houses in the same street.
The schedule castes have their own colony, a little removed from the main village. The social discord is apparent as you enter the area. The roads are not well laid. The houses have thatched roofs.
Few houses have proper sanitation facilities. Thanks to the Tamil Nadu CM, even if houses don’t have toilets, they definitely do have TVs. There are nearly 50-75 families living in the SC colony.
They work as daily wage labourers with no fixed incomes. The typical problems of irregular income, alcoholism and lack of development exist here. While some work in the farms, the rest work as construction workers –masons, plumbers, electricians etc.
The Irula tribe members have their own settlement on the other side of the village. The settlement consists of about 10-15 families. Traditionally the Irulas have been snake charmers, but now have turned to labour for their livelihood. The members of this tribe normally work as woodcutters or as helpers in rice mills.They are one of the most backward groups in the village. Some families apparently do not even send their children to school.
What is heartening is that most of the other families send their children to school. The villagers are aware of the need for literacy. Some students go on to pursue their higher studies while others get to working after their 10 standard.
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