Scheduled Tribes – Kerala – Tribal Cultural Heritage in India

What we are telling to the outer world is that no conservation would be possible without cooperation of the local community, especially the aborigines [Adivasis]. Integrating their traditional wisdom with modern-day scientific approach would definitely yield results.

Source: KH Amitha Bachan (researcher and consultant to Kerala Forest Department and the World Wildlife Fund-India Ecological Monitoring Programme) quoted in “An Adivasi community in Kerala has united to save the region’s dwindling hornbill population”
URL: https://scroll.in/article/948036/an-adivasi-community-in-kerala-has-united-to-save-the-regions-dwindling-hornbill-population
Date Visited: 20 February 2023

Tribals in Kerala (known in Malayalam as the Adivasis) are the tribal population found in the Indian state of Kerala. Most of the tribals of Kerala live in the forests and mountains of Western Ghats, bordering Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Tribals in Kerala are officially designated as “Scheduled Tribes” for affirmative action purposes.[1] Kerala Public Service Commission, Government of Kerala, lists thirty-six of Scheduled Tribes in Kerala.[1] Tribals in Kerala are classified by Scheduled Tribes Development Department, Government of Kerala into three sub-sets (Particularly Vulnerable, Marginalised and Minorities).[2]

According to the 2011 Census of India, the Scheduled Tribe population in Kerala is 4,84,839 (1.5 % of the total population).[2] Wayanad district has the highest number of tribals (1,51,443) in Kerala, followed by Idukki (55,815), Palakkad (48,972) and Kasaragod (48,857) and Kannur districts (41,371).[2] Paniyan, Irula, Kattunaikan, and Adiyan are some of the major “communities” among Kerala tribals.[2]

A. K. Balan, Member of the Legislative Assembly from Tarur, is the current Kerala Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes.[3]

Source: Tribals in Kerala – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
URL : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribals_in_Kerala
Date Visited: 11 December 2021

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The slow erosion of cultural identity, the absence of agency for some sections of society, the increasing erasure of various communities from the supposed democratic space of citizenship, the questionable route ‘modernity’ and ‘development’ take, and the effects they have on men and, differently, on women are all woven into Narayan’s novel. Kocharethi calls upon us to ethically engage with it, to question our complicity in the systemic conditions that produce these lives, to reflect on our own reactions to the tale, to our expectations of the form and genre and to unlearn our frames of understanding. | Learn more >>

“Tribal groups (adivasis) in India have often been excluded, marginalized and oppressed by ‘mainstream’ society. In many ways this exclusion, marginalization and oppression is fostered by the way in which ‘mainstream’ society looks at the adivasis – as exotic, dangerous, or ‘primitive’ others.” – Ganesh [G.N.] Devy in A Nomad Called Thief: Reflections on Adivasi Silence and Voice | Classifications in different states >>

LIST OF SCHEDULED TRIBES IN THE KERALA STATE

Adiyan
Aranda (Arandan)
Eravallan
Hill Pulaya (Mala Pulayan, Kurumba Pulayan, Karavazhi Pulayan, Pamba Pulayan)
Irular, Irulan
Kadar (Wayanad Kadar)
Kanikkaran, Kanikar
Karimpalan
Kattunayakan
Kochuvelan
Koraga
Kudiya, Melakudi
Kurichchan (Kurichiyan)
Kurumans (Mullu Kuruman, Mulla Kuruman, Mala Kuruman)
Kurumbas (Kurumbar, Kurumban)
Mahamalasar
Malai Arayan (Mala Arayan)
Malai Pandaran
Malai Vedan (Mala Vedan)
Malakkuravan
Malasar
Malayan, Nattu Malayan, Konga Malayan (Excluding the areas comprising the Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad and Kozhikode Districts)
Mavilan
Malayarayar
Mannan (to be spelt in Malayalam script in parenthisis)
Muthuvan,Mudugar,Muduvan
Palleyan, Palliyan, Paliyar, Palliya
Paniyan
Ulladan, Ullatan
Uraly
Mala Vettuvan (in Kasaragod and Kannur Districts)
Ten Kurumban, Jenu Kurumban
Thachenadan, Thachenadan, Moopan
Cholanaickan
Malapanickar
Vettakuruman

Source: Kerala Public Service Commission, State Government of Kerala, India
URL: https://www.keralapsc.gov.in/list-scheduled-castes-kerala-state
Date Visited: 11 December 2021

Childhood

Crafts and visual arts

Demographic Status of Scheduled Tribe Population of India (Census figures 2011)

Denotified Tribes, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes – Report and Recommendations (Technical Advisory Group)

Fact checking | Figures, census and other statistics

Human Rights Commission (posts) | www.nhrc.nic.in (Government of India)

Imprisonment & rehabilitation

Search tips | Names of tribal communities, regions and states of India

State wise population of Scheduled Tribes (ST) and their percentage to the total population in the respective states and to the total STs population

“What are the Rights of Scheduled Tribes? – Government of India (National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, NCST)

“What is the Forest Rights Act about?” – Campaign for Survival and Dignity

“Who are Scheduled Tribes?” – Government of India (National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, NCST)

Up-to-date reports by Indian journalists and commentators

To search Indian periodicals, magazines, web portals and other sources safely, click here. To find an Indian PhD thesis on a particular tribal community, region and related issues, click here >>

Search tips

Combine the name of any particular state, language or region with that of any tribal (Adivasi) community.

Add keywords of special interest (music, poetry, dance just as health, sacred grove and biodiversity); learn about the rights of Scheduled Tribes such as the “Forest Rights Act” (FRA); and the United Nations “Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”, “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, “women’s rights”, or “children’s right to education”.

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For official figures include “scheduled tribe ST” along with a union state or region: e.g. “Chhattisgarh ST community”, “Himalayan tribe”, “Scheduled tribe Tamil Nadu census”, “ST Kerala census”, “Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group Jharkhand”, “PVTG Rajasthan”, “Adivasi ST Kerala”, “Adibasi ST West Bengal” etc.

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