The Tribal Research Center (T R C) was constituted on second October 1983 at Udhagamandalam and is functioning on its own 25 acres of hill terrain at M Paladin, 10 Kms away from Ooty bus stand. His Excellency, the then President of India, Thiru Gyani Zail Singh had very kindly laid the foundation stone for the Tribal Research Centre, listed at present with Ministry of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfa
re, Government of Tamil Nadu, Chennai. This center is funded by both State and central Governments on 50:50 basic and it is the youngest of the 14 Tribal Research institutes in the country. The relevance of Tribal Research Centre is very much identified as 'Tribal Essential Institute' for the welfare of the 36 Scheduled Tribes of Tamilnadu. Major objectives of the Tribal Research centre are:
To conduct studies on tribal Communities
To import training and proper orientation on tribal cultures and development. To record Social, Economic, Religious, political and Psychological changes among the Scheduled Tribes. To recommend weaker communities for inclusion in the list of SC/ST of Tamil Nadu. To publish monographs on the life and culture of the tribal communities
To develop tribal Museum with the concept of culture preservation
To prepare perspective plans for the uplift of the tribes
Thus the Tribal Research Centre is acting as an integral part of the planned Development of the Tribals. It is concentrating more on Nilgiris district because all the six Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) identified by the Government of India like Todas, kotas, Irulas, Kurumbas, Paniyans and Kattunayakans are exclusive inhabiting since ages in Nilgiri hills.
