Summary:
The process of survey is all about the population and languages of the vulnerable tribal groups. Then we will have a better picture of the tribal groups in the Nilgiri hills,” he added.“In the meantime, we are creating awareness among the tribal groups by conducting workshops to preserve their languages. But their dialects are strong among them.” He said, “The Census 2011 is authentic as of now when it comes to their population”.According to him, a process of baseline survey of all the tribal groups, particularly vulnerable primitive tribal groups in the Nilgiris, is under way. It had been surviving throughout our ancestor’s time and it will till Nilgiri exists”.Six tribal communities, such as Todas, Kotas, Kurumbas, Paniyas, Kattunayakan and Irular, dwell in the Nilgiri plateau. Among the six tribal groups, Todas and Kotas, considered as primitive tribes and are native to the Nilgiris while other four tribes found elsewhere too.According to Census 2011, the population of Toda and Kota stands at 2,978 and 3,110 respectively..