Why Adivasis from Tamil Nadu are turning to red sanders smuggling again

Forty-five-year-old R Unnamalai and her 50-year-old husband R Raman were anxious as their meagre savings were fast depleting. It had been nine months since they returned to Tamil Nadu’s Dharmapuri having worked as daily wagers at a coffee plantation in Karnataka’s Mysuru. The work earned the couple about Rs 1,100 per day.

Unnamalai and Raman tried to grow saamai (little millet) and turmeric on their half an acre of farmland on Sitheri Hills in Dharmapuri district. They invested most of what they had managed to save on farming. Three months ago, however, when their crop was ready for harvest, a gaur destroyed it all. With no more money to invest in farming and no employment opportunities in their village, Mithikadu, and nearby towns, the couple decided to return to Mysuru in January after Pongal celebrations.

But in November, Raman told Unnamalai that he was going to Karnataka as he had found a lucrative job through a neighbour. In their 25 years of marriage, the couple had always gone out to work together. The new job, however, was only for men. Hesitant and uncertain, Unnamalai let Raman accompany three of his friends from their neighbourhood.

Dreams to death

On November 21, Raman left the house along with the other men with hopes to return with money. A week later on November 27, his body was found in front of a shop in Sitheri instead. While two of his friends–R Palaniappan and L Madhaiyan–returned a few days later with injuries, another friend R Murugan was arrested by Andhra Pradesh police for allegedly felling red sanders trees in Proddatur forest range in Kadapa.

“A fellow villager, well known to us, told us about a job opportunity in Karnataka. He assured us that the job will be for a month and the wage would be Rs 500-Rs 600 per day. As we had been struggling financially, we agreed to join. From Sitheri, we reached Hosur in a bus. In Hosur, we were asked to get into a lorry covered with tarpaulin sheet and made to join dozens of people who were already sitting cramped in the vehicle,” Palaniappan told The Federal.

“We don’t know how long we were in the vehicle but were asked to get down near a forest area. There, each of us was given a bag which had an axe and a bedsheet. They also gave us some rice. It was only then we came to know that we were brought to Andhra Pradesh to cut red sanders,” said Madhaiyan.

The group had walked for over a day and a half without any break when it was suddenly asked to retreat. Information trickled in that forest officials were patrolling the area. “We walked our way back out of the forest for another day and a half and found a vehicle waiting for us. We requested the in-charge to let us go home but he refused and said that we would be taken to another forest range. While we were on our way to another forest, the forest officials surrounded us,” he said.

“The driver jumped out of the vehicle and fled. Many people followed. I too ran for my life and managed to reach home after six days,” he added.

Palaniappan said he does not know what happened to others as it was dark and he was in a hurry to escape. “Both Raman and Murugan were with me in the vehicle but I don’t know what happened to them,” he added.

It was only days later that Murugan’s family came to know that he was booked under the Andhra Pradesh Act, 1967 , along with four others for cutting red sanders in Proddatur forest range and lodged in Kadapa central prison.

While in this case, the four were allegedly taken for red sanders woodcutting without their knowledge, in most cases, Adivasis, especially Malayali tribal villagers from Sitheri, Jawadhu (Tiruvannamalai and Vellore districts), Kalvarayan, Shevaroy, Arunuthumalai (Salem) and Kallakurichi Hills travel to Chittoor and Kadapa districts in Andhra Pradesh to cut red sanders trees as the illegal exercise promises up to Rs 50,000 a week.

Red alert

Red sanders is a rare sandalwood that grows on the Palakonda and Seshachalam hills. Red sanders trees are also found in the forest areas of Kurnool, Nellore, Prakasam and Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh. The wood from the tree is not rampantly used in India, but is highly valued in South East Asia and in the Gulf countries, where it is used in traditional medicine and in the manufacture of musical instruments and expensive furniture.

A tonne of ‘A-grade’ quality red sander logs can cost about Rs 1-1.5 crore. The price of the lower grade wood ranges between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 50 lakh.

Since the species is endemic to India and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has classified red sanders as ‘near threatened’, its global trade thrives mostly on smuggling. The Foreign Trade Policy of India doesn’t allow its export.

Illegal logging is, in fact, a reason for its declining population, according to the IUCN. “The species has been subjected to historical population decline due to over extraction of trees for timber. These historical declines are anticipated to be large and have been occurring over many generations. However, information is not available to estimate the scale of this ancestral loss,” reads IUCN’s Red List summary on red sanders.

The Foreign Trade Policy allows states to export confiscated timber from illegal sources. Experts believe the policy further encourages illegal trade.

A tonne of ‘A-grade’ quality red sander logs can cost about Rs 1-1.5 crore. The price of the lower grade wood ranges between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 50 lakh.

According to a villager from Kalvarayan Hills, a man felling and carrying a kilogram of red sanders wood gets Rs 600. Once in two days, they transport the wood to a common point, from where they can be transported in vehicles, carrying it on their heads. They call it trips. A person would do about four such trips during his visit and would cut up to 30 kg of wood.

The potential profitability that the trees offer has created a well-entrenched smuggling network. The rampant felling of the trees for smuggling coupled with droughts and wildfires has threatened the species.

Smugglers hire poachers to locate and cut down trees. The logs are then hidden in agricultural fields before they are transported to Chennai via roads using various ways, including luxury cars.

In 2021, the Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF), in joint operations conducted in collaboration with the police and forest personnel, seized 2,554 red sanders logs weighing 50,880 kg in 117 cases and arrested 342 people.

Of the 434 identified smugglers—against whom 104 cases have been registered—150 are from Tamil Nadu, 166 from Andhra Pradesh and rest from other states. All cases pertaining to the red sanders smuggling are non-bailable in nature.

Out of options

According to activists working in the area, the number of Adivasis involved in red sanders felling has increased significantly after the lockdown restrictions were relaxed. Loss of jobs and a failure to find any earning opportunity even after lockdown restrictions were lifted in both states is believed to have pushed hundreds of youth aged between 16 and 25 years into red sanders trade.

“The red sanders that are cut and smuggled from Andhra Pradesh are mostly exported to foreign countries. We are pressed in only as the woodcutters because of our physical stamina to walk for days together, cut the trees without making much noise and survive in forest areas for days without proper food and sleep. A big network runs the racket,” said a resident of Jawadhu Hills on the condition of anonymity.

Locals are roped in as woodcutters mostly by a fellow villager who takes them to Andhra Pradesh. They, however, don’t know who his handler is. The work is not season-specific and the Adivasis are taken to forest areas where the agents know patrolling has been relaxed.

Even though the job pays quick money, it needs special skills.

“We cannot cut all the red sander trees. Only those trees that do not fit in our hands when we hug them are to be cut. After cutting the trees, we have to carry the logs to a common point which usually is several kilometres away. We usually stay in the forest for three to seven days and earn about Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000,” he added.

Since the money is good, even children are dropping out of schools to earn.

A government schoolteacher on condition of anonymity said, “A couple of weeks ago, I happened to meet one of my students who dropped out of school in 2020. His hands were full of cuts and bruises. When I enquired, he confessed that he had gone to Andhra Pradesh to cut red sanders along with fellow villagers and the injuries were the result of constant axing. He is just 16 years old.”

“He told me that they were not allowed to stop woodcutting even when their hands bled. Instead, they were forced to bandage their wounds with a piece of cloth and continue working,” the school teacher said.

They were not allowed to stop woodcutting even when their hands bled.

When this boy went in, there was heavy rain in the forest. “Despite that, he stayed there for almost a week. He ate rotten food for a couple of days and drank dirty water. When I asked why he had to struggle so much, his answer was his family was in need of money. Despite several requests, the boy refused to come back to school,” she added.

His is not an isolated case of dropping out for woodcutting. Many have opted out of schools in these Adivasi settlements in the last one year, the teacher said.

The recent spurt in locals turning woodcutters for red sanders is reminiscent of the trend before 2015 when people in large numbers took up the work for quick money. The flow of workers, however, abated after 2015 when 20 woodcutters, including 12 from Tamil Nadu, were killed in police firing near Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.

In the aftermath of the incident, Tamil Nadu police visited the scene of crime to conduct an inquiry. A top official, who was part of the investigating team, found almost all the people deployed for cutting redwood trees came from Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities.

A villager from Kalvarayan Hills said, “After the 2015 encounter, people were reluctant to visit the Andhra Pradesh forests as they were scared and most of them refused to join the touts. But the trend remained so only for six months and the numbers started to increase gradually. Now, at least 200 to 250 people from a district go to Andhra forests to cut red sanders. In 2015, the number was less than 50 per cent of the current numbers. At any point in time, at least one or two persons from the hilly Tamil Nadu villages would be in Andhra Pradesh for the illegal woodcutting.”

The Adivasis of Tamil Nadu turned away from illegal woodcutting and started visiting neighbouring states like Kerala and Karnataka to work in coffee or pepper plantations or at construction sites in neighbouring districts. “Lack of jobs worsened by the lockdown has again forced them to turn to such activities,” the teacher said.

They are taking a huge risk to earn money. “Even though many of them are returning home safely, there have been several instances when men who had gone to Andhra, went missing without a trace, got killed or arrested by police. About three years ago, a 29-year-old man went to Andhra with his friends. His wife was three months pregnant then. He never returned. Nobody knows what happened to him.”

The family fears filing a complaint with the police woulde increase their troubles.

So, why are woodcutters from Tamil Nadu so sought after?

The fear of repercussion keeps Andhra woodcutters away. So, touts scout the hilly terrains of Tamil Nadu in search for indigent Adivasis and bundle them to the forests for the illegal activity.

Most Adviasis are living in debt. A local resident from Kalvarayan Hills explained that the agents offer the Adivasis an advance amount of up to Rs 10,000 and provide them food, clothes and liquor for at least a week to lure them to woodcutting.

“These men become an easy prey. If at all, the woodcutters are arrested by the police or forest department, the agents just abandon them. The family will have to borrow money again to fight the case. Under pressure to repay the interest, they will send their children to work and sometimes, to cut red sanders. It is a vicious circle,” he said.

According Andhra-based advocate and civil liberty activist Kranthi Chaithanya, at any given time over 100 people, mostly Adivasis from Tamil Nadu, are lodged in Kadapa and Chittoor jails for cutting red sanders.

“These people are brought to Andhra Pradesh through agents. It is only woodcutters who get caught in at least 90 per cent of the cases while the smugglers and agents escape. The agents mostly abandon the woodcutters when they are nabbed. One of the major difficulties in getting them out of prison is that they lack local surety. By the time local surety is arranged, the woodcutters end up spending several months in the prison,” he said.

Tribal rights activist and CPI (ML) leader A ChandramohanI said it is the responsibility of the state government to create employment opportunities for the tribal villagers as it is only because of lack of employment that they end up getting involved in such illegal activities.

Unlike in the plains, transportation is very difficult in these hilly areas which makes finding jobs even more difficult. “As they don’t have any employment opportunities in the hills, they are forced to visit neighbouring states or districts for jobs and they will have to stay there for months together to earn a considerable sum,” Chandramohan added.

“After the 2015 encounter, the Andhra government had intensified its efforts to curb the illegal trade. They started arresting the woodcutters in large numbers. But their resolution dissolved within a couple of years.”

M Govindammal Shanmugam, president of Sitheri village panchayat, said, “The Adivasis have been cultivating millet depending upon the availability of water and selling the produce in nearby districts for just Rs 30 to 40 per kg. But farming is not a viable means for sustenance since we need to travel 3-5 km on muddy roads to reach most of the settlements. There are no bus facilities as well.”

Farming is not a viable means for sustenance since we need to travel 3-5 km on muddy roads to reach most of the settlements.

“If the government takes steps to improve the transportation facilities and provide training to market their products, it would be of great help. The state should also provide loans to start businesses,” she added.

When contacted, a senior official from Tamil Nadu tribal welfare department said they have multiple schemes for the welfare of tribal communities. “We are providing loans both to individuals and clusters from tribal communities to start businesses among other welfare measures.”

She, however, claimed that despite creating awareness the villagers are not coming forward to avail these schemes.

“If they submit an application at the district-level office, we would ensure that the scheme reaches them,” she added.