Years of hectic involvement with the people through various programmes such as training for women, men, and youth on different issues, exposure trips of our target groups to different movements and associations kindled them to form a people’s movement of their own; and so they founded “Kodai Hills Ambedkar People’s Movement (KHAPM)” in 1998. It acted as the fulcrum of co-ordination among the dalits, Tribes and repatriates to forcefully demand their social and economic rights in unison. This movement was present in many of the remote villages of Kodai hills. Lots of rights based issues were addressed by this movement. The Movement organized four major ‘protest marches’ in Kodaikanal, each mobilizing around 3000 people from the remote villages of lower hills and upper hills demanding the basic needs of the individuals and communities to be fulfilled.
These marches were a great success not only in terms of the numerical strength of the people who participated and the way they were organized but, more importantly, because of the benefits the people were able to enjoy. We could cite a few fruits of the protests:
- The Tamil Nadu Government has given 3% reservation to Arunthathiyars in 2009.
- Untouchability practices such as the two tumbler practice of serving tea/coffee/water in hotels/eateries and the removal of slipper while walking through the streets of dominant caste people have been abolished.
- Puthuputhur Dalit people have even acquired a separate water supply system from the panchayat.