1891

The British government, on the basis of an 1891 report on the subhuman living conditions of “Pariahs” by James H.A. Tremenheere, Acting Collector of Chengleput, assigned 12 lakh acres of land for distribution to the “depressed classes” of the Madras Presidency to empower them socially and economically. But more than 100 years later, much of this land is in the possession of non-Dalits, and the struggle to reclaim them has seen little progress.

“[They are] always badly nourished, clad, if at all, in the vilest of rags, eaten up with leprosy or other horrible diseases, hunted like pigs, untaught, uncared for…. The British administration has freed this clan of a community from the yoke of hereditary slavery and from the legal disabilities; but they still remain at a low depth of social degradation.”

—James Henry Apperley Tremenheere, Acting Collector, Chengleput, 1891.

Chengalpattu is a town in Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu, India\n\n2010\n\nDalits in Tamil Nadu, are landless. This is clear from the statistics of the Agricultural Census of the Government of India of 2010-2011. The census is taken once in five years and the findings of 2010-11 were released in 2014. It details the extent of cultivable land and its holders and also points out that Tamil Nadu has fewer landholding Dalits than Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. According to the 2005-2006 report, 8,84,000 Dalits owned 5,03,000 hectares of cultivable land, while the 2010-2011 data say that 8,73,000 Dalits possess 4,92,000 hectares. “In just five years, between 2005-2006 and 2010-2011, 11,000 Dalits have been rendered landless, losing about 11,000 hectares of land. The 2010-2011 data show that in Andhra Pradesh, Dalits owned 11,00,000 hectares and in Karnataka Dalits owned 10,74,000 hectares of land. In Maharashtra Dalits owned 13,03,000 hectares of land,” Ravikumar says.\n\n

Tribal Islands of Tamil Nadu