Primitive Tribal Groups in the Nilgiris District with Special Reference to the Kattunayakan Tribe

Abstract

The Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu is home to all six of the State's Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs): the Todas, Kotas, Kurumbas, Irulas, Paniyans and Kattunayakans. This paper examines these groups with special reference to the Kattunayakans, a forest-dwelling community concentrated in the Gudalur and Pandalur taluks along the Mudumalai forests. Kattunayakans are traditionally honey gatherers and collectors of non-timber forest produce, and they hold a deep ecological knowledge of plants, bees and elephants. The study is descriptive and analytical and draws on Census data, Government of India and Government of Tamil Nadu reports, records of the Tribal Research Centre, Udhagamandalam, and published ethnographic and public-health studies. It describes the geography and administration of the district, the place of PVTGs in national policy, and the settlement pattern, livelihood and ecological knowledge of the Kattunayakans. It then identifies the main obstacles the community faces: insecure land and forest rights, conservation-related relocation, a shift from forest livelihoods to insecure wage labour, low educational attainment, a heavy burden of disease and weakening customary institutions. Finally, it assesses major welfare measures, including the Forest Rights Act, 2006, and the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN) launched in November 2023. The analysis finds that welfare programmes have widened access to housing, schooling and health care, but uneven implementation, weak awareness of entitlements and the remoteness of settlements limit their reach. The paper argues that development for the Kattunayakans should be culturally sensitive and participatory. It should recognise their customary rights and their relationship with the forest, so that heritage conservation and stable social and economic progress advance together.

Keywords

• Kattunayakan
• Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups
• Nilgiris
• forest livelihood
• traditional ecological knowledge
• education
• tribal welfare
• PM-JANMAN