CENSUS OF INDIA 1961 VOLUME IX . MADRAS PART V - A (i) SCHEDULED CASTES AND TRIBES (REPORT & TABLES) P. K. N AMBIAR OF THE INDIAN ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE SUPERINTENDENT OF CENSUS OPERATIONS, MADRAS. 1964 77" 78" 77' 'Ii E N N MADRAS STATE ANDHRA PRADESH ADMINISTRATIVE D~VISIONS SCALE 40 (Jl Hlk!s 201!!!! 10 ~ I ire; ! : ; ; I j, (Jl 100 rJ ,,_... 20 10 0 40 tel u' MYSORE II' KERALA , REFERENCE 10' Stale Boundary Dislrlct Boundary PALK 'STRA.IT Taluk 'Bounduy Slate Head ~.... » District Head Qu_ -e ~~~\ Tall1l, Head Quarter» • ~ Railway Line (D. G) , ~ IIailway Line 1M. G) ," National Hlqhway. Slate Hiqhwa.,. ," Rlvar with SIrea.m ~ eULF ~ ,MA.NA-AI I N .... ,- n.., N ..... of the TaM, wher.... dlff<n __ It, Head Qyarcet"S h .I\o~ within bndtou CENSUS OF INDIA 1961 Census Report-Vol. IX will relate to Madras only. Under this series will be issued the following Publications. Part I-A General Report (2 volumes) I-B Demography and Vita] Statistics '" I-C Subsidiary Tab]es * Part II-A General Population Tables "* II-B (I) General Economic Tables B-1 to B-IV * II-B (II) " B-V to B-IX * II-C (I) Cultural Tables II-C (II)-(i) Migration Tables D-I to D-V II-C (II)-(ii) Migration Tables D-VI * Part III Household Economic Tables • Part IV-A Report" on Housing and Establishments * IV-B Housing and Establishment Tab]es t Part V-A (i) Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Report & Tables SCT I and II) V -A (ii) .. .. (Tables) V-B Ethnographic Notes on Scheduled Tribes (2 volumes) V-C Todas V-D Ethnographic Notes on Scheduled Castes V-E Ethnographic Notes on Denotified and Nomadic Tribes '" Part VI Village Survey Monographs (40 Nos.) * Part VII-A Crafts and Artisans (9 Nos.) VII-B Fairs and Festivals * Part VIII-A Administration Report - Enumeration} For official • VIII-B Administration Report - Tabulation use only Part IX Atlas of the Madras State Part X Madras City. (2 volumes) District Census Handbooks on twelve districts Part XI Reports on Special Studies '" A Handlooms in Madras State '" B Food Habits in Madras State C Slums of Madras City D Temples of Madras State (5 volumes) E Physically Handicapped of Madras State F Family Planning Attitudes: A Survey Part XII Languages of Madras State * Already published t Present Volume PREFACE In I961 Census, special tables have been prepared on each Scheduled Caste and Tribe in the State. They cover religion, age, marital status, education, mother tongue, bilingualism and economic activity. In addition, a report has been prepared giving a comparative study of the general characteris­ tics of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes. This volume-Part V-A (i) presents the general report and two tables of the series SCT I and SCT II. Both are in two parts-SCT I Part A gives the industrial classification of persons at work and non·workers by sex for Scheduled Castes. Part B gives similar information on Scheduled Tribes. SCT II Part A gives age and marital status for Scheduled Castes and Part B for Scheduled Tribes. Other tables will be found in the companion volume Part V-A (ii). I wish to express my gratitude to Sri T. B. Bharathi, my Deputy Superintendent of Census Operations who has devoted great attention to the analysis of the data relating to Scheduled Castes and Tribes. I also add my tribute to the following members of my staff for their assistance in bringing out this volume: Sri N. Rama Rao, Tabulation Officer Sri A. Sebastian 1 Sri M. A. Rayappan >- Lower Division Clerks Sri R. Srinivasan J P. K. NAMBIAR CONTENTS .,. Chapters Pages I Introduction 1-16 II Population Trends 17-27 III Age and Marital Status 28-36 IV Literacy and Education 37-58 V Workers and Non-Workers 59-75 VI Migration 76-90 Tables Fly leaf for SeT Tables 93-97 SCT I Fly Leaf 101 SCT I Part A Industrial classification of persons at work and non-workers by sex for Scheduled Castes - Rural .. - Urban SCT I Part B Industrial classification of persons at work and non-workers by sex for Scheduled Tribes ~ Rural 218-241 - Urban 242-261 " " SCT II Fly Leaf 265 SCT II Part A Age and Marital Status for Scheduled Castes 266-393 SCT II Part B Age and Marital Status for Scheduled Tribes 394-433 Appendices I to IV 436"455 Map Administrative Divisions of Madras State Frontispiece Charts Facing page I Scheduled Caste population in Districts 20 II Age Pyramids 28 III Age and Marital Status 30 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION No general or standard definition of either Sche. of caste system as can be gatbered from previous Cen· duled Castes or Scheduled Tribes can be found in any sus reports of this State. I have attempted to .repro· literature including the Constitution of India. For duce the relevant observations in the language used the purpose of this volume, Scheduled Castes mean by the respective Superintendents from 1871 to 1951, such castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within wherever it is not an exact quotation from the text. such castes, races or tribes as are dec1ared to be 1(171 Census Scheduled Castes by the President of India, by pub. lie notification under Article 341 (1) of the Constitu. Dr. Cornish, as early as 1871, in an interesting tion of India. Similarly, Scheduled Tribes mean trio preliminary dissertation on caste has stated as follows:- bes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within " The subject of caste divisions among the Hindus such tribes or tribal communities as are declared by the is one that would take a lifetime of labour to eluci· President to be Scheduled Tribes under Article 342 (1) date. It is a subject upon whioh no two divisions, or of the Constitution. A list of Scheduled Castes and sub·divisions of the people themselves, are agreed, and Scheduled Tribes in Madras State with areas con· upon which European authorities, who have paid any tained in the Presidential Order which forms the basis attention to it differ hopelessly. of 1961 Census is reproduced in Appendix I. In the The operation of the caste system is to Isolate list are added the synonyms by which these tribes or completely the members of each caste or sub-caste; C.'l.stes are known in different parts of the State. and whatever a native may know of the customs of It Is not the policy of the Government of India his own peculiar branch, he is, as a rule, grossly Ignorant to associate untouchability In any form with the Sche· of the habits and customs, or the origin of those duled Castes and/or Scheduled Tribes. Article 17 of outside the pale of his own section of the community. the Constitution has expressly abolished untouchabl. The subjeot of caste development, so far as I know, lity and forbidden Us practice in a.ny form. The has never been investigated scientifically and the enforcement of any disabUity a.rlslng out of untoucha· attempts of European writers to describe the castes bility has been made II.n offence punishable in accor· of India have generally tended to make confusion dance with law. The procedure adopted by the Presi· worse confounded." dent in declaring any particular caste or tribe as sche· Previous to the 1871 Census, a Committee of native duled does not have any dlreot reference to untoucha· gentlemen met In Madras and discussed the question bility in any form, but the fact remains that Schedu· of caste-classification and decided upon the grouping led Castes represent those communitIes which suffer or subsequently adopted in the Census Report. The have suffered from untoucha.bility in one form or other details of classification in 1871 were as follows :- chiefly by birth or caste Or by the profession which they practise and have been subjected to social disabilities. "It is not perfect, but it is, at any rate, an Similarly. Scheduled,Tribes represent simple folk, living attempt at simplifying the abstruseness, which now in hills and forests in seclusion representing relics of surrounds the whole question, and which simply repels past civiliza.tion more or less untouched by the passage the student of Indian Sociology from diving beneath of time. The classification of both tribe and caste is the surface in search of historical truth. The Commi. based on the concept of caste as practised in India. ttee started wIth the assumption that the present Though, on principle and policy, no direct reference Hindu castes must all have branched out from a few is made to caste in official records, it remains a parent stems; that from the first there must have reality ofIndian Ii fe that caste is still a dominating been a primitive division of labour, hence of caste, influence, more so in rural areas of India. Before we corresponding to the great divisions of labour now discuss the history of the c1assificatio~ of Scheduled . existing, i.e., Professional, Personal service, Commer. Castes and the principle on which this classification cial, Agricultural, Industrial and Non-productive. They is based l it will be of interest to examine the history are probably correct in stating that in ' early times the 1 present almost innumerable sub-divisions of castes did yed to classify the sub-divisions than any other test not exist, and that a large number 'are mere repetitions that suggests itself. These afe the disability to eat toget­ of castes in an'other' tribe and language.' Long separa­ her, and the disability to intermarry.