The Reclamation of Criminal Tribes in Tamilnadu with Special Reference to Koravas

Abstract

One of the outstanding features of British administration in India was the Reclamation of the criminal tribes.¹ The Reformatory measures taken by the British administration through Criminal Tribes Act was the establishment of Reclamation to the Criminal Tribes or Denotified Tribes. The British Government wanted to change the character and outlook of the Criminal Tribes in general for elevating their status on par with other people.²  The introduction of reclamation scheme for the Koravars formed the major initiative of the administration for effecting social mobility and fraternity. The Reclamation for koravars emphasized the need to make the korava criminals thoroughly unpopular with the members of their own community, to provide them with an alternative occupation, so as to make them economically independent of crime and at the same time
to divert the energies of the younger generation devoid of their parental habits.³