The National Commission for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes (NCDNT), headed by Chairperson Bhiku Ramji Idate, began their three-day study of the status of DNT communities in and around Madurai on Saturday.
Kicking off their visit with a consultative meeting here attended by hundreds of people from different DNT communities, Mr. Idate said that the purpose of the visit was to understand the living conditions of the DNT communities through field visits and hearing the grievances from the representatives of the communities.
The consultative meeting, which witnessed pandemonium due to demand for time by different communities to highlight their grievances, was dominated by the representatives of Piramalai Kallar community, who highlighted their demand for removing them from Most Backward Community (MBC) status.
“In 1979, some of the De-notified Communities (DNCs) were clubbed into MBCs because of which the Piramalai Kallar community stopped receiving many benefits they were earlier receiving as De-notified Tribes (DNTs),” said former MLA of Usilampatti P.V. Kathiravan.
Raising similar concerns, representatives of Valayar community demanded a separate reservation for the DNCs, who are presently included in the MBC category in Tamil Nadu.
Representatives of nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes also submitted their grievances as written representations to Mr. Idate during the meeting.
Speaking to the media later, Mr. Idate said that the Commission had thus far visited 25 States since its inception in January 2015. “This is our first visit to Tamil Nadu. We will make further visits at a later stage depending on the need,” he said.
He said that the Commission had so far written about 10 letters to the Tamil Nadu government for knowing the welfare measures being taken for the DNT communities in the State.
“One of the letters was also to the Chief Secretary with a 50-point questionnaire. Our final report to the Indian government will include inputs form the government,” he said.
Mr. Idate said that the Commission would visit select places in the district and representatives of DNT communities could also present their grievances at the Circuit House, where he would be staying, over the next three days.
He was accompanied by Member Secretary of the Commission Shravan Singh Rathore and other officials from the Commission.
