Lok Sabha Debates
Need To Include Lambadi & Kurumbas Tribes Of Tamil Nadu In The Scheduled Tribes ... on 13 March, 2007
> Title: Need to include Lambadi & Kurumbas tribes of Tamil Nadu in the Scheduled Tribes list by amending the Constitution - laid.
SHRI D. VENUGOPAL (TIRUPPATTUR): After we won independence, in order to ensure social justice our Constitution provided for reservation to deprived and depressed sections of the society who were socially backward for many centuries. In 1950 they were identified as Scheduled Castes and Tribes. Almost 50 races have been further identified as STs in all these years. But Lambadi and Banjara tribes have not got this benefit as yet. They are backward class in Karnataka and tribes in Andhra Pradesh. There are about 2 crores of Lambadis and Banjaras living in several States of the country as Lambadi, Lambani, Sukali, Banjara, Kuwar, Badi, Nete, Chigligar, Chirgibandh, Baazigar, Kuwaria, Maru, Banjara and Labana speaking a common language Khor Boli. In Tamil Nadu in their total population of about 2 lakhs of Lambadis, nearly 15 thousand Lambadis live in Thiruppathur and Thandarampattu that come under my constituency. They all live in about 60 villages spread over the districts of Tiruvannamalai, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Salem and Periyar. Their upward mobility in the society is yet to gain a pace in Tamil Nadu where they are recognized as Backward Class. In 1994 a high level committee constituted by the National Scheduled Castes and Tribes Commission had recommended that Lambadis may be declared as Scheduled Tribes through a suitable amendment in the Constitution. Hence, I urge upon the Union Government to include as recommended by the Government of Tamil Nadu both Lambadis and Kurumbas in the Scheduled Tribes list by way of a suitable Constitutional amendment.
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