Tribals in Tamil Nadu with Special Reference to Tribes of Pachamalai Hills

Abstract

The tribal population is identified as the aboriginal inhabitants of our country. For centuries, they have been living a simple life based on the natural environment and have developed cultural patterns congenial to their physical and social environment. References to of such tribal groups are found even in the literature on the ancient period, right from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata periods. According to L.P.Vithyarthi tribe is a social group with definite territory, common name, common descent, common culture, behaviour of an endogamous group, common taboos, and existence of distinctive social and political system, full faith in leaders and self-sufficiency in their district economy. There are approximately two hundred million tribal people in the entire globe, which means, about 4%of the global population. They are found in many regions of the world and majority of them are the poorest amongst poor. According to India’s most recent census in 2011 Schedule Tribes comprise 8.6% of the total population.  The distribution of ST populations varies widely across India’s state and territories.  In Mizoram and Lakshadweep, STs represent close to 95% of the population whereas in Kerala and Tamil Nadu STs represent only 1% of the population. Among the total ST population in India, the highest populations are found in Madhya Pradesh (14.5%) , Maharashtra (10.2%), and Orissa (9.7%). There are around 700 different tribes living across India, predominantly in remote areas: forest hills, and rough terrain in plateau areas. There is great heterogeneity across different tribal groups, including a sub- category of particularly vulnerable STs known as primitive tribes. After Indian independence, number of policies and programmes were initiated in the tribal areas, which had far reaching consequences.