Government of Tamil Nadu - Archives

The statistics of 1991 census reveals that still 53.24% of the Scheduled Caste people and 72.11% of the Scheduled Tribe people are illiterate. Therefore, the main thrust continues to be on education.

70% of the total allocation made to this Department is earmarked for primary and higher education. At present the department is running 1017 schools and 245 Tribal Residential Schools for the welfare of Adi Dravidars and Scheduled Tribes respectively. 1076 Adi Dravidar student hostels and 26 Tribal Student Hostels are being run by this Department.

Apart from construction and maintenance of schools & hostels, Central and State Government are providing cash assistance besides providing free uniforms, textbooks and notebooks for the students upto Tenth Standard. Postmatric and loan scholarships, different kinds of assistance, special loan assistance, awards and incentives are provided. There are schemes of Book-Bank and scholarship to enable the meritorious students to pursue higher studies abroad. Special coaching to professional courses, entrance examination and various other examinations are being provided. Imparting Computer training in Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Schools has been an integral part of the education policy. The computer education has been introduced in 87 High/ Higher Secondary Schools functioning under Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department and computer training is being imparted to the teachers working in 58 High Schools and 65 Higher Secondary Schools.

In 15 Higher Secondary Schools, Laboratory Buildings at a cost of Rs. 78 lakhs have been constructed with provision of Laboratory equipments worth Rs.26 lakhs.

In 51 High Schools, Laboratory buildings have been constructed at a cost of Rs.2.24 crores with the provision of laboratory equipments worth Rs.21.50 lakhs.

Two sets of uniforms are being supplied free of cost every year to all the students’ upto 12th standard. During the current financial year, a sum of Rs.5.74 crores is allocated for this purpose.

Additional class rooms are being constructed at a cost of Rs.40 lakhs in 4 schools. During 2002-2003, a sum of Rs.19.47 lakhs is allocated for construction of additional class rooms and laboratory buildings.

During the year 2001-2002, 15 primary schools were upgraded as Middle Schools, 2 Middle Schools as High Schools, 2 High Schools as Higher Secondary Schools. One Government Tribal Residential School has been opened. Upgradation of schools is being done to avoid drop outs from schools.

Textbooks and Notebooks are supplied free of cost to all students of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. For the financial year 2002-2003 a sum of Rs.10.12 crores is allocated for this scheme.

The Scheduled Caste / Scheduled Tribe / Scheduled Caste convert students selected for admission under the Government quota and studying in Self Financing Colleges whose parent's / guardian's income is below Rs.50,920/- are provided with tuition fee concession to the extent of the tuition fee charged by Government / Government aided institutions for similar courses.

Degree, Post Graduate Degree and Professional Degree Course, students who are staying in the hostels of the respective Institutions and who have to incur more expenditure than what has been provided as educational scholarship, that excess amount is sanctioned as loan scholarship to them. A sum of Rs.6,500/- to Graduate students and a sum of Rs.7,000/- to Professional and Post Graduate students are sanctioned as loan scholarship every year.

Now free education is provided to all the Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe / Scheduled Caste convert students upto degree level. From the year 2001-2002 onwards the Free Education Scheme has been extended to girl students who are pursuing Post Graduate courses.

The prize amount of Rs.2000/-, Rs.4000/- and Rs.5000/- is awarded to the Boys / Girls students who secure 60% of marks and pass the Bachelor degree, Post Graduate and Professional Degree course respectively in the first attempt itself. During the current year, a sum of Rs.18.50 lakhs is allocated for this scheme.

Students who are studying Graduate / Post Graduate courses and graduate and post graduate courses in Professional education have been exempted from the payment of registration and admission fees.

A Model Tribal Residential Higher Secondary School was opened during 1998-99 at Vellimalai in Kalrayan Hills in Villupuram District with the funds of Rs.1 crore allotted for this purpose by Government of India. TAHDCO is entrusted with the construction of the buildings for the above school.

Under Book Bank scheme, amount ranging from Rs.2400/- to Rs.7500/- is being sanctioned for purchase of books to Scheduled caste and Scheduled Tribe students studying Medicine, Engineering, Agriculture, Veterinary, Polytechnic, Law, Master of Business Administration, Chartered Accountancy, Bio-Sciences and Post Graduate Studies in Professional courses and similar other technical courses.

A sum of Rs.9.00 lakhs has been provided for the sanction of Rs.5,000/- as one time grant to 180 Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Law Graduates to carry on their legal profession independently.

In the academic year 2001-2002 free Bicycles have been given to all Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste convert Girl students studying in Standards XI and XII. This scheme will be implemented in the current year also. A sum of Rs.6 crores have been allotted to this scheme.

The food charges paid to the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe school students who stay in hostels has been increased from Rs.225 to Rs.300/- per boarder from 5.12.2001.

I. EDUCATION

Inspite of Government’s earnest efforts, there is still 16% gap in the literacy rate of others and that of Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes. With a view to bridge this gap, steps have been taken to provide adequate infrastructure facilities like School buildings, lab equipments, play materials etc. Also, with a view to ensure 100% enrolment of Adi Dravidar Girl students in primary schools and to avoid school dropouts, an incentive of Rs.500/- at Rs.50/- p.m. for 10 months for 60000 students in 3rd to 5th standards is being given. For this purpose provision has been made for Rs.3 Crores. Similarly with a view to encourage their continuous schooling incentive of Rs.1,000/- @ Rs.100/- p.m. from 6th standard to 8th Std is being given. 30,000 students stand benefitted under this scheme. For this purpose also a sum of Rs.3 Crores has been provided.

The infrastructure facilities are still inadequate and the following are the drawbacks:

The number of schools without school buildings are 29, the number of schools without lab equipments are 21. The number of schools without furniture are 1139 and the number of schools without play materials are 98. The number of schools which require additional class rooms are 56. Steps will be taken to provide the above infrastructure facilities through Sarva Shiksha Abhyan / Special Component Plan / Tribal Sub Plan.

The infrastructure facilities available in schools are not adequate as already stated. It is proposed to fully equip the schools with the required infrastructure within a period of two years with the funds available under Sarva Shiksha Abhyan / District Primary Education Programme.

At present there is no training programme for upgrading the teaching skills of the teachers appointed in the schools - both in primary and high / higher secondary schools. It has been proposed to improve their teaching skills through training atleast once in three years with the funds available under Sarva Shiksha Abhyan / District Primary Education Programme.

The present system of inspection of schools of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department by the Assistant Educational Officer / District Educational Officer of the Education department are quite inadequate. Throughout the year there shall be continuous monitoring and evaluation. The Deputy Director (Education) of the Adi Dravidar Welfare department will be in charge of receiving and scrutinising reports from/of the Assistant Educational Officer / District Educational Officer of Education Department inspecting the Adi Dravidar Welfare schools.

D. Higher Education

The loan scholarship provided by the Government will be converted into Grant and a sum of Rs.5 crores will be allotted during the current financial year.

2. Construction of Hostels

There are 1076 hostels run by Government for scheduled caste students in the State. Of this 501 hostels are in Government buildings and the rest, viz., 575 hostels are in rented buildings. It has been proposed to construct Government buildings in a period of 2 years for the hostels now functioning in rented buildings and the Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing and Development Corporation has been entrusted with the task. The Government have accorded administrative sanction to the Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing and Development Corporation to construct 143 boys / girls hostels by availing loan assistance of Rs.31.37 crores from HUDCO and also by utilising the MLAs' Constituency Development Fund.

The scheme of construction of houses is implemented for the provision of free houses to Adi Dravidar and Scheduled Tribe families, who do not have sources to find own shelter for themselves. This scheme is implemented through the Rural Development Department. Under the scheme the unit cost is estimated as Rs.20,000/- in ordinary soil and Rs.22,000 in claye and rocky soil. The cost is shared by Central and State Government in the ratio of 75 : 25. In addition to its share, the State Government provides a grant of Rs.12,000/- per house for concrete roofing. In 2002-2003 it is proposed to construct 31,000 free houses. Out of this, 26,350 houses will be reserved for Adi Dravidar and Tribal people.

In the current year, through Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department it has been proposed to convert 10,000 hand pumps into mini power pumps at an estimated cost of about Rs.26 crores. Out of these, 4000 mini power pumps will be exclusively reserved for Scheduled Caste / Scheduled Tribe habitations.

In the current year, the scheme for electrification and improvement of distribution system in Tribal and Adi Dravidar areas of Nilgiris, Vellore, Dindugul (Kodaikanal area) at a cost of Rs.29.39 crores will be taken up under Prime Minister's Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY) during 2002-2003.

6. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF SCHEDULED CASTES

For the economic development of Scheduled Castes the following schemes are implemented and the target will be achieved.

7. CONSTITUTIONAL SAFEGUARDS FOR SCHEDULED CASTES / SCHEDULED TRIBES

With a view to prevent atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, a separate wing to protect human rights to enforce Social Justice and detect crimes, functioning under the direct supervision of Director General of Police and under the control of an Additional Director General of Police, with head quarters at Chennai. In the districts he is assisted by 7 Deputy Superintendents of Police and 34 Inspectors of Police. Under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister, a Vigilance and Monitoring Committee is functioning at the State level. This Committee reviews the implementation of the Prevention of Atrocities Act in this State effectively.

In the district level, a Vigilance and Monitoring Committee has been set up under the Chairmanship of the Collector to review the implementation of the Act, providing relief and rehabilitation assistance to the victims and other matters connected therewith. The District Level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meets once in three months. The Committee discusses in greater depth about the implementation of the provisions of the Act and the need for eradicating the stigma of untouchability. While examining the atrocities it is found that they are done due to economic conditions. The Collectors have been requested to identify untouchability prone areas in their districts and to prevent occurrence of Communal clashes in those places. The Collectors have also been requested to take necessary preventive steps in this regard and to provide financial assistance to the victims.

In G.O.Ms.No.91, Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department, dated 28.11.2001, orders have been issued reviving the implementation of the orders issued in G.O. Ms. No.44, Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department, dated 20-5-1998. For this purpose a High Level Committee under the Chairmanship of Minister (Adi Dravidar Welfare) has been constituted. Secretary, Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department, will be Convenor of the Committee. The Secretary, Personnel & Administrative Reforms, Secretary, Law and the Secretary of the Administrative department concerned will be the member of the committee.

The State of Tamil Nadu is evincing keen interest in the abolition of bonded labour and rehabilitating them. The District Collectors have been empowered to release and rehabilitate the Bonded Labourers. Review meetings are conducted at the State level. While reviewing the schemes of this Department, Hon’ble Chief Minister has stressed immense need to take immediate action in the cases where existence of bonded labour has been identified with no follow up action at all to rehabilitate them. Based on this, suitable instructions were issued to all Collectors from the Chief Secretary. The Government of India have released a sum of Rs.8.78 crores for release and rehabilitation of Bonded Labour. During 2001-2002 a sum of Rs.4.20 crores has been allotted for the release and rehabilitation of bonded labourers. The balance amount will be released during this financial year.

9. SPECIAL COMPONENT PLAN

To review the implementation of the Special Component Plan and Tribal Sub-Plan for the welfare of the Adi Dravidar and Tribals, a High Level Committee has been formed to prioritize and advise implementation of schemes based on specific requirements of the Adi Dravidar and Tribals.

The basic reason for the communal clashes and atrocities against Adi Dravidars are due to disparity in economic and cultural conditions. The firm economic policy and cultural activities of the Government plays pivotal role to create a conducive atmosphere. As the Adi Dravidars had literacy awareness belatedly they could not make any impact in the filed of art and culture. Only after 50 years of hard work in the field of education, the society has produced eminent writers and artists in more number. As the time felt to be opportune to recognise their ability and develop their creative skills it has been decided to take the following steps:

An archive will be setup to collect the various periodicals/journals/medical books and other books published by eminent Dalit scholars like Ayothi Dasa Pandithar, Rettamalai Srinivasan, M.C. Raja and other scholars. Their collections will be preserved in this archive in the form of Microfilms & Compact Discs.

11. TRIBAL WELFARE

The population of Scheduled Tribes in Tamilnadu is 5.74 lakhs constituting 1.03% of the total population as per 1991 census. There are 36 Scheduled Tribe communities living in Tamilnadu. For the overall development of the Tribals, Tribal Sub Plan is implemented by mobilizing the resources available in the various Departments. For implementing the Tribal Sub Plan, the following areas of Tribal concentration were identified and these areas receive more attention:

Sl. No.	District	Name of the Tribal Area
1.	Namakkal	Kolli Hill
2.	Salem	Yercaud Hills
3.	Salem	Kalrayan Hills
4.	Salem	Aranuthumalai
5.	Salem	Pachamalai
6.	Thiruvannamalai	Jawadhu Hills
7.	Villupuram	Kalrayan hills
8.	Dharmapuri	Sitheri Hills
9.	Thiruchirappalli	Pachamalai

For the Economic Development of Tribal people and to help tribal families to cross the poverty line, a package of services are provided to them. Specific programmes have been drawn up under Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Swarna Jayanthi Gram Swarozgar Yojana, Khadi and Village Industries, Sericulture and Agricultural Engineering. Under the proposed integrated approach, the Scheduled Tribe farmers are given saplings, beehives, plant protection chemicals, fertilizers etc. free of cost besides extension service and also soil conservation measures covering the holdings of tribals. Wherever necessary, responsibility for providing short-term loans and marketing of agricultural products are shouldered by the LAMPS created for the benefit of tribes. At present 19 LAMP Societies are functioning. It will ensure the Scheduled Tribe farmers to get substantial benefits and enable them to cross the poverty line.

The inputs including manures and fertilizers are distributed free of cost through Horticulture Department. The families depending on agriculture for their livelihood are assisted by Animal Husbandry Department by providing sheep units, milch animals and broiler hens, heifer calf to supplement their income. Adequate health care is also being provided through Veterinary Dispensaries / Sub centres with facilities for immunization or artificial insemination for the animals supplied to the tribes.

As irrigation is a way of ensuring increased income level to the Scheduled Tribe farmers, priority will be given to minor irrigation projects like construction of check dams, percolation ponds. While selecting these areas for works, care will be taken to see that 75% of the beneficiaries in these areas are Scheduled Tribes. Likewise in soil conservation, Agricultural Engineering Department is also helping the tribes in conservation methods. Sericulture, which is remunerative for the tribes is highly labour oriented. Likewise, village industries provide training in Bee keeping. Distribution of Beehives is undertaken at free of cost to Scheduled Tribe families. 245 Government Tribal Residential Schools in Tribal areas with the strength of 30931 students are maintained and 26 Tribal hostels are run by Tribal Welfare Department. Civic amenities such as provision of drinking water facilities, streetlights, primary health centres and road facilities are provided by the respective departments.

Four Vocational Guidance Centres at Udagamandalam, Sankarapuram, Kolli Hills and Jawadhu Hills are functioning in the State. There is also a mini ITI functioning at Sankarapuram, Villupuram district so as to provide training to 80 Scheduled Tribe boys per batch. Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs are assisted for establishing their own trades/industries. This scheme will cover Doctors, Engineers, Contractors, Drivers, Mechanics, Technocrats and other Tradesmen. As there were practical difficulties while implementing the Individual Entrepreneur Scheme for Scheduled Tribes, loans are now proposed to be sanctioned to the eligible Tribes even for an amount of Rs.6,000/- (as against Rs.50,000/- earlier) upto Rs. 7.50 lakhs as per the revised guidelines under the scheme of Financial Assistance to Scheduled Tribes Economic Development (FASTED).

The Government of India has allotted two Residential Higher Secondary Schools to Tamil Nadu, with sanction of grants under proviso of Article 275(1) of the Constitution. They have also released a sum of Rs.1 crore for the Model Residential School at Vellimalai, Villupuram District. This Model Residential school is functioning and School buildings are being constructed by TAHDCO. Necessary steps have been taken to form another Model Residential Higher Secondary school at Karumanthurai of Salem District. For the economic development of Primitive Tribes and Dispersed Tribal groups, family oriented programmes like supply of sheep units, milch animals and construction of houses were implemented during 2001-2002. Besides, every year funds are provided for Drinking Water facilities and provision of Electricity in Tribal hamlets, with the availability of funds, priority can be given to provision of electrification and Drinking Water in a phased manner to cover the needy Tribal areas.

Resources available under various sources like State Plan, Centrally Sponsored Schemes, and Special Central Assistance are converged and programmes are drawn up and implemented for the over all development of Scheduled Tribes. The Special Central Assistance released by Government of India is used for the economic and educational development of the Tribals.

To undertake systematic studies on Tribals and also to formulate schemes for their development, a Tribal Research Centre is being run from 1984-85 in Nilgiris and the expenditure is met by the Government of India and State Government on 50:50 basis.

The Tribal communities called Toda, Kota, Kurumbas, Irular, Paniyan and Kattunayakan are Primitive Tribes, the population of which is 1.58 lakhs. For the economic upliftment, sheep units and Milch animals are distributed at free of cost. Houses are constructed and provided to them at free of cost. The tribals who are living outside of Integrated Tribal Development Programme areas and who are not classified as Primitive Tribes are covered under Dispersed Tribes Programme and they are provided sheep units, milch animals etc. and houses are provided to them at free of cost.

For the year 2001-2002, the Tribal Sub Plan was prepared to the tune of Rs.72.95 crores, The Schemes like electrification, drinking water, programme for dispersed tribes, housing in ITDP areas and schemes under Co-operation Department are implemented.

For the development of Scheduled Tribes the following goals can be achieved in a phased manner: -

Improving the coverage and quality of education by strengthening the infrastructure, providing basic amenities to the habitations, to impart skilled training and to provide free houses.

The flow of funds under Tribal Sub Plan has to be proportionate to the tribal population catering to their health, education needs and other basic amenities.

The following are some of the thrust areas to which the Government of Tamil Nadu will take necessary action to uplift the standard of living of the tribal population.

The tribal habitations have not yet been effectively brought into the main stream of the national life. Therefore, proper infrastructure facilities will be provided so that they could be linked with the national main stream, which will go a long way to develop their socio-economic conditions. The source of funding would be from Tribal Sub Plan and Special Central Assistance from Government of India.

Most of the tribals are small and marginal cultivators and agricultural labourers. Their income depends upon agriculture. Hence, legislative protection of land rights, consolidation of land holdings and provision of land to the landless, the small and marginal tribal farmers along with a development strategy to make the lands self-sufficient through watershed management, inputs focussed on food and vanishing traditional crops with a support component in terms of land development and wages are needs of the hour.

The Tribal Sub Plan consists of two types of programmes such as area development programmes and beneficiaries development programmes. This year it is proposed to cover 1000 tribal women self help groups consisting of 10,000 beneficiaries under income generating activities through Tribal Sub Plan and Special Central Assistance funds from Government of India.

d. HEALTH AND SANITATION

Tribal groups have developed strong magical / ritual health care systems and they wish to live in their own life style. They interact within their own homogeneous and culturally firm system wherein common beliefs, customs and practices connected with health have been found to be intimately connected with the treatment of disease. An integrated approach to make the best use of traditional health practices and modern health care in terms of knowledge and skills and human resources would be adopted. ICMR project is being implemented in three districts namely Kancheepuram, Thiruvallore, and Nilgiris covering the primitive tribal groups for creating a cadre of Tribal Welfare Volunteers and Dais and impart continuous training programme on capacity building. Under this programme Medical kits and Dais kits are provided. On the recommendation of ICMR, corpus fund of Rs.50 lakhs for all the three districts will be created in the Budget allocation of Health Department from this year. The corpus fund will enable the District health officials to meet emergency cases among Primitive Tribal Groups.

15. TAHDCO

Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing and Development Corporation (TAHDCO), since its inception from 1974 implements various economic development programmes for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The technical wing of TAHDCO undertakes the construction of various infrastructure projects such as Schools, Hostels, Community Halls, Science Labs etc. for the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department. A special project has been taken up to construct Government buildings where hostels are run in private buildings. It is proposed to construct 143 Government hostel buildings during the next two years by availing loan from HUDCO.

For the first time separate provision will be made from the Special Central Assistance of Government of India, for undertaking major repair and maintenance works in the hostels and also to provide basic utility facilities like fans, furniture etc.,

The Development wing of TAHDCO also implements income generating economic development schemes for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Promotion of micro-enterprises as a measure of poverty eradication will be primarily focussed on the Women Self Help Groups. During the year 2002-2003, 30000 women members of Scheduled Caste Self Help Groups will be given Entrepreneur Development Programme training and suitable vocational training. Separate lending norms have been formulated for Self Help Groups to facilitate easy lending.

A new scheme called Financial Assistance to Scheduled Tribes Economic Development (FASTED) has been launched in order to have a special focus on the economic development of Scheduled Tribes by taking into consideration of their unique characteristics. TAHDCO will source term loans from the NSTFDC funds exclusively for Scheduled Tribes. A special cell in TAHDCO will monitor the FASTED schemes.

As a development Corporation, TAHDCO, unlike in previous years, has taken up vocational training in a major way, throughout the State to give useful skill training of high employment potential. Larger allocations of funds are being provided for such vocational training programmes.

Recognising the economic profile of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes that a vast majority of them are landless labourers, special schemes will be launched this year called ”Land purchase Scheme” wherein financial assistance will be given to the landless to purchase land. To provide irrigation facilities special schemes will be launched for Dug wells and Bore wells for the small and medium farmers.

As a break from past practices, District plans for the economic development of Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes will be formulated by the District Collectors, which will project the specific needs of the Scheduled Caste / Scheduled Tribe population of their districts and formulate specific schemes for each district. A portion of Special Central Assistance fund will also be placed at the disposal of the Collectors to implement these schemes.

Towards improving the delivery efficiency of TAHDCO, a total computerisation programme is being undertaken to computerise all the District Offices and Head Office. This is expected to vastly improve the monitoring of schemes and ensure transparency in operations. Publicity campaigns to reach the programmes to the beneficiaries and evaluation of scheme will be an integral part of every scheme. Regular training programmes will be conducted for staff for proper orientation and motivation.