Jayalalithaa thanks PM Narendra Modi for including 3 communities in Scheduled Tribes list

CHENNAI: Welcoming the Centre's decision to include three communities from Tamil Nadu in the Scheduled Tribes' list, a demand made by the state in 2012, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today expressed joy over her government's efforts in this regard yielding result.

She thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his cabinet approving the state's pending demand.

Jayalalithaa recalled that her government had in 2012 written to the Centre, seeking to implement the Lokur Committee recommendation that Narikoravan, Kurivikkaran and Malayalee Gounder be included in the ST list.

In a statement, she said she had in 2013 wrote to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Narikoravas should be included in ST list to ensure that the nomadic community lives a life of dignity.

Today's Union Cabinet approval "will pave the way for the Narikorava, Kuruvikkaran and Malayalee Gounder communities get all the welfare and live a life of dignity", she said.

"I thank the Prime Minister for the cabinet approving the demand of the state government, which had been pending for the last few years," she added.