Tamil Nadu tribes face extinction

Chennai: Tamil Nadu has 36 types of tribes of which six are on the endangered list. The total population of all these six tribes has plummeted to less than 2,000. Of this Koduvelan, Melakudi and Mahamalasar tribes are on the verge of extinction with their population less than 160, confirmed a highly placed state official. The state has been monitoring the tribal population and it is static in more than 80 per cent of the ethnic groups.

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The irony is that of the total 7.95 lakh tribal population about 54,000 are tribes by genetics, but now they do not know which group they belong to, the official said adding of the 36 tribal communities in Tamil Nadu, the population of 6 major tribal communities Toda, Kota, Kurumba, Irular, Paniyan and Kattunayakan has neither decreased nor increased and it remains static. Now they are known as particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs), the official said.

“Tiruvannamalai supports close to 91,000 tribes and now there are new individuals claiming to be kurumans. Inter-caste marriage, religious conversions, migration and lack of genetic or anthropological data are issues that affects the identification of tribes”, admitted a tribal welfare officer. As on date, less than 20 per cent of tribes now do their ethnic occupations like rearing sheep, collecting honey, harvesting timber and other forest produce. Another major issue is that large number of Irulas, who no longer catch snakes, have ended up as bonded labour in brick kilns. In the past three years more than more than 600 Irulas were rescued from brick kilns in Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur and rehabilitated, the officer added.

“On the health front there is a remarkable improvement when it comes to tribal settlements. Tribal people in Nilgiris suffer sickle cell anemia and tuberculosis and those in Krishnagiri district suffer a kind of Thalassemia. Sickle-cell disease (SCD) is a group of blood disorders typically inherited from parents. The genetic disorder results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying protein haemoglobin and reduces the average age of tribes,” explained Dr Gangadevi, director, Dr G’s Health Clinic, who has been working on diseases and disorders related ethnic people of Nilgiris and Coimbatore. With medical intervention the average life span of sickle cell anemic patients has now become normal like other people. Usually those with SCD life between 40 and 55 years, adds Dr Ganga.