Minister for adi dravidar and tribal welfareN Kayalvizhi Selvarajinaugurated a two-day national seminar on of Tribal Communities: Issues and Challenges at the Research Centre for Tribal Culture in Ooty.
Of the 36 tribal communities inTamil Nadu, Toda, Kota, Kurumba, Irula, Paniya and Kattunayakan are on verge of degeneration, the minister said. The government is taking all possible efforts to enhance the livelihood of tribal communities.
Tribal communities comprise only 1.1% of the total Population of the state. Their Literacy rate stands at 54.5%, while the states literacy rate is 81%. Thanks to the governments special focus on 320 government tribal residential schools and eight Ekalaiva model schools last year, 4,000 more tribal students joined government tribal schools this academic year, compared to last year, she said.
The government allocated 45.79 crore to develop infrastructures in government tribal schools and sanctioned 50.5 crore towards scholarships that benefitted 35,953 tribal students in the last academic year,Kayalvizhisaid.
Earlier, Kayalvizhi inaugurated the information centre and photo exhibition organised at a cost of 21 lakh at the Tribal Research Centre in Muthorai Palada near Ooty.