CHENNAI: The fate of our palm workers’ never-ending battle with the legalities around toddy has come to resemble the phenomenon of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. While this impasse, for you and me, might just mean going the extra mile to get access to toddy during your travels or having to make do with pathaneer instead, it has far-reaching consequences on the people dependent on the palm and its bounty for life and livelihood.
And so, while the rest of the populace gets to return to everyday life, those in the field and their allies have had to wage a constant battle with the powers that be. The latest in their arsenal comes in the form of a book — a handy guide to the panai eri and the public too — titled Kadaimaiyai Seiyungal (there’s no ‘seiyungal’ without kal, of course).
The Tamil Nadu Toddy Movement, an organisation with 10 years of work in the field of palm workers rights, went for the power of the written word too. Its coordinator C Nallasamy released a book, detailing the state of toddy in the state, contrasting it with the developments in the rest of the country and the world outside, and offering the political position around it over the years.
This time around, it’s a much younger organisation, Tamil Nadu Toddy Federation (TNTF) that’s taken up the task. This book has a different focus, says G Ashok Kumar, who has authored the book along with M Selvaraj of Satta Vizhipunarvu Amaippu. “This book will provide all the legal awareness for people engaged in palm, coconut and toddy work. Though toddy has been banned in the state for 34 years, it is available in every region from Coimbatore to Kanniyakumari. While legal provisions do offer some exceptions for the extraction of toddy, all palm workers find themselves subjected to oppression in the hands of the police regularly. There’s a lot of human rights violations in this field. This is why we want to educate them about the rights they have under the law,” he elaborates.
Legal learnings
Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act, 1937, clearly outlines the penalties that come with the extraction of toddy. While it is a bailable offence, palm workers across the state have reported that they are often registered as non-bailable cases. Even as the law requires them to hand over any material evidence to the magistrate, both the Federation and Movement have documented cases of property damage in the hands of the police across the state. With palm workers themselves being unaware of many of these stipulations, the need for such awareness intervention is evident enough.
The information they have presented in the book comes from the practical knowledge from years of kal erakku araporattam (toddy tapping protests), says Selvaraj. “We’ve been doing this since we announced our first protest on August 1, 2009. We have analysed the cases filed against people like us and took them up with the courts and authorities. Most of them were found to be false cases (often of extraction of visha kal or sarayam). We have collated all our experiences as a guide,” he says. Making and selling of sarayam (spurious liquor) is a non-bailable offence and comes with heavy penalties.
Beyond these technicalities, the other problems that palm workers have to contend with are when they are labelled as ‘repeat offenders’. “Usually, the Goondas Act is brought in for repeat offences. But this is a crime that doesn’t affect anybody. We tap toddy in our farm, we drink it there, we sell it there. It’s of no disturbance to the public. So, it won’t apply to us. As opposed to a chain-snatcher who is a repeat offender, then CRPC 110 (where a Magistrate may order the offender to execute a bond with sureties) will be used there,” suggests Selvaraj.
Muting misconceptions
The book also aims to break down the many myths and misconceptions around the traditional food of toddy. While it is likened — by us ignorant folk — to an intoxicating alcoholic beverage, people in the field have long since held that it’s food that even kids in their family consume. Like any other fermented food, toddy too has some amount of alcohol but its level is only 2-3 per cent more than what you find in your dosai maavu or buttermilk, says Ashok. “Tamilnadu Agriculture University has given nutritional information for toddy. We’ve presented that. We’ve attached lab reports from Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology (Thanjavur), and testimonies of doctors as well. The alcohol level in toddy — when stored for 24 hours — is only around 4 per cent; for reference, that of IMFL is 48 per cent,” points out Ashok.
A constant cause
This is another platform for the Federation to present their demand for the removal of the ban on toddy. While the government has time and time failed to legalise the substance, pointing to the difficulty it will present in quality control, the authors argue that there are successful models from neighbouring states and other countries that we can look at for better execution. “When the government has been able to stop adulteration in milk production, why can it not do the same with toddy is our question. Committees constituted under retired judges also suggest that the ban on toddy be removed and it be produced as a value-added product that can be marketed inside and outside the country. For sale within the state, it recommends the formation of a committee that will handle it from the taluk-level,” recalls Ashok. He refers to the Udayabhanu Commission Report on Alcohol Policy that formed the basis of the revival of the industry in Kerala.
All this trouble can be addressed if only the government were to remove the word toddy from the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act, remarks Selvaraj. The question of toddy ban comes up every election season but dies a slow death beyond the victory of the particular party. This time around, with yet another new (but old) government in place, the Federation plans to take up the cause with them again, starting with the book itself. And hope for the best.
Ready for release
The book launch is being held today at 4 pm on Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/fah-qhaj-dcs. Buy it at: popularauthors.in/books/food/law/kadamaiyai-seiyungal/