Struggling for Inclusion as Scheduled tribe: ...

Struggling for Inclusion as Scheduled tribe: a baseline study of Vadanur Pazhankudiyanar Nagar, Puducherry

Author Name : Thanuja Mummidi

ABSTRACT The tribal populations in Puducherry region have not been recognized as Scheduled Tribes by the Government of India and Puducherry state and therefore have not benefitted from the various development schemes available for them. Since 1985, the Pondicherry Scheduled Tribe Welfare Association, formed by representatives of the tribal groups in Puducherry, has been lobbying for their recognition as scheduled tribes. One of its landmark achievements is in getting the tribal populations recognized as backward tribes by the Puducherry government and having a government order passed for the same on 12th April 2010. The paper explores this situation through the concept of social exclusion and attempts to assess the level of exclusion faced by the tribal population in Puducherry in the selected habitation.