Tribes and Other Communities - An Overview

பழங்குடிகளும் பொது வெளிச்சமூகமும் - ஓர் பார்வை

Abstract

India has one of the largest concentrations of tribal population in the world after Africa. The Tribal areas of India are mostly sheltered and remote, as a result of it a very little is known about their conditions and problems. The tribes are more compared not only in relation to the general population, but also compared with scheduled caste, the other acknowledged backward social group with constitutional protection. Tamil Nadu is one of the major states of the southern zone in India, consists of important tribal groups. The tribal areas of Tamil Nadu can be broadly divided into two major geographical dimensions such as the eastern coastal line and the mountainous regions of the north and west. The average elevation of the Eastern Ghats is 2000 feet and the highest peak is 6000 feet. This range is not continuous in Tamil Nadu. The Indian Sub-continent, in the Indian geographical area of Tamil Nadu covers about 1, 30,000 sq kms, representing nearly four percent of the total geographical area. There are more than 40 different tribes in Tamil Nadu. Scholars believe that most languages are closely related to Tamil and belong to the Dravidian language family.