Welfare programmes and schools functioning under Tribal Welfare Department – Tamil Nadu

Scheduled Tribes of TamilnaduADI DRAVIDAR AND TRIBAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT POLICY NOTE 2018 – 2019 INTRODUCTION:  As per the census of 2011, the population of Tamil Nadu is 7.21 crore [72,1 million] of which Scheduled Castes (known as Adi Dravidar in Tamil Nadu) are 1.44 crore (20.01%) and Scheduled Tribes are 7.95 lakh [795.000] (1.10%). The mandate … Read more

In search of a development that preserves the best parts of Adivasi culture and collectivity: Imagining an alternative “Discovery Of India”

Call us adivasis, please If Adivasis were to start writing their own Discovery Of India, it would be something like this: There are those who talk of India’s “5000 year-old culture,” there are those who talk of its “timeless traditions.” If India has a timeless tradition, it is ours. The cultures running back for tens … Read more

Role models for members of “hill-tribes” forcibly brought down to the plains: Irulas in pursuit of higher education – Tamil Nadu

How Tamil Nadu’s Irula students are struggling to pursue higher education | To read the full story in the New Indian Express, click here >> As [the correspondent] travels across the northern districts of Villupuram, Kallakurichi, Vellore, and Tiruvannamalai, it becomes clear that hundreds of Irula students, like Dhanalakshmi, have been struggling without a community … Read more

A balanced curriculum that helps children “retain the tribal values that have relevance even today and accept the good brought in by modernization”: Interview with the founders of the Vidyodaya School for Adivasi children – Tamil Nadu

The Vidyodaya School Tucked away in the Blue Mountains, close to Ooty, the tourist destination of Tamil Nadu in southern India, is the small sleepy town of Gudalur, the home town of Rama and B. Ramdas. Gudalur is a land of tea, coffee and pepper. The region is home to the Betta Kurumba, Mullu Kurumba, … Read more

Higher education no longer a distant dream for Irula youth: “Every single rupee we earn could be used for our education” – Tamil Nadu

Irula boy chases a dream from brick kilns to Anna University […] Karal Marx L, The New Indian Express, 7 August 2017 | To read the full story, click here >> An Irula tribe member, Thirumurthy is the first person from his community in the district to pursue engineering education. But things were quite different and difficult for … Read more