India’s Chief Minister Oommen Chandy laid the foundation stone February 25 for a girls’ school in the Palakkad District of Malabar in an effort to demonstrate the government's
commitment to the region. Chandy toured the area to better understand the housing
problems faced by tribal peoples in the region and also set in motion plans for
improving local infrastructure, which he discussed with beneficiaries from the
Attapaddy Hill Area Development Society.
The tribes of the Attapaddy tribal belt, including the Irula, Muduga, and
Kurumba, have been fighting for economic support from the government for several
years. The government created the Attapaddy Hill Area Development Society in
2002 to provide assistance to the region’s tribes. Since then, the organization
has implemented a comprehensive village development program and the government
has agreed to land reforms in which five acres of land were allotted to each
person who previously had less than one acre.
