India’s tribal cultural heritage – Tamil Nadu

“National development and the development of tribal communities are linked to each other.” – Droupadi Murmu
Speeches by the 15th President of India >>

The tribal population in India is 84.51 million, which constitutes 8.14% of tribal population. There are about 449 tribes and sub tribes in different parts of India. Half of India’s tribal people live in the forests and forest fringes and their economy is linked with the forests. Tamil Nadu has 7.21 lakh tribal populations as per 2011 census which constitutes 1.10% of the total population. There are 36 tribes and sub tribes in Tamil Nadu. Literacy rate of the population is 27.9%. Most of the tribals in Tamil Nadu are cultivators, agriculture labourers or dependent on forests for their livelihood. There are six primitive tribes in Tamil Nadu. The tribal groups in Tamil Nadu are distributed in almost all the districts and they have contributed significantly in the management of the forests.

Source: “Tribal Development” (Government of Tamil Nadu Forest Department, 29 May 2018)
URL: https://www.forests.tn.gov.in/pages/view/Tribal_Development_on-going
Date Visited: 11 October 2021

“We shall first have to give up this hubris of considering tribes backward. Every tribe has a rich and living cultural tradition and we must respect them.” – Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on the constitutional obligation to respect the cultural traditions of India’s tribal communities

Gandhiji at Prayer Time, Parnakuti, Poona (1944) by Chittaprosad, the great advocate of the rights of workers and revolutionary artists. | Learn more in “Gandhi, Secularism, and Cultural Democracy” by Vinay Lal >>
Gandhian social movement | Constitution | Adverse inclusion >>

“Air is free to all but if it is polluted it harms our health… Next comes water… From now on we must take up the effort to secure water. Councillors are servants of the people and we have a right to question them.” – Mohandas K. Gandhi, Ahmedabad address on 1 January 1918; quoted by his grandson, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, in “On another New Year’s Day: Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘khorak’ a 100 years ago” (The Hindu, 1 January 2018)

“The world has enough for everyone’s need but not for anyone’s greed.” – Mahatma Gandhi quoted by Medha Patkar and Baba Amte (Narmada Bachao Andolan)

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Source: About CSE
URL: https://www.cseindia.org
Date Visited: 10 July 2022