Working Paper No. 104 RULNR Working Paper No. 12 September, 2011

Out of the 35 Scheduled Tribes notified in the state, Paniyan is the most populous tribe with a population of 81,940, forming 22.5 percent of the total tribal population of the state. [...] Increase in wages of rural labourers, a range of anti-poverty measures undertaken by the Central, State and Local Governments, and the growth of the general economy are the major factors for the decline in poverty among the tribal population. [...] The VSSs and EDCs are the major social organizations of the tribal people in the forest habitations in the fringe areas of forests. [...] Tribal Women under Kudumbasree: The tribal special project is an initiative of Kudumbasree in collaboration with the Tribal Department to address the special issue of the tribal population of the state, in a systematic manner. [...] The result shows that the MPCE varies across social groups: while Rs.889 was the mean MPCE of the households in the study village, the highest MPCE was found among the Christians (Rs.1,407) and Ezhavas (Rs.1,340), and the lowest MPCE was found among the tribal communities in the village.