AMMK founder T.T.V. Dhinakaran on Wednesday demanded that 68 denotified communities (DNCs), including Maravars, Piramalai Kallars, Vettuva Gounders and Urali Gounders, should be referred to as denotified tribes (DNTs) again.
He has raised the issue even as a committee of officials, constituted by the State government in November last to study the loss of concessions suffered by the communities due to the change in nomenclature, is expected to submit its report by the middle of March. The government’s action was in response to representations from S. Muthumani, ex-MP, and M. Jebamani, president, Denotified Tribes Welfare Association, Madurai.
As per the Citizen Charter of the Backward Classes (BC), Most Backward Classes (MBC) and Minorities Welfare Department for 2018-2019, other DNCs include Oddars, Urali Gounders, Boyas and Koravars.
The provision of the status of DNCs to these communities is district-specific. For example, Piramalai Kallars have been accorded the status in Sivaganga, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Pudukottai, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur districts, while they have been brought under the category of ‘Kallars’, and are called BCs in the remaining districts of the State.
Maravars enjoy the status of DNC in Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Pudukottai, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts, whereas in other districts of the State, they fall under the list of BCs.
The change in the nomenclature from DNTs to DNCs was effected in July 1979 through an executive order in the light of a recommendation made by a working group on Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes. Subsequently, the communities were called ‘Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-nomadic Communities’.