Diversity as a livelihood strategy near Mudumalai, Tamil Nadu: An inquiry

Abstract

Chembakolli is a predominantly Kattunayakan (also called Kattu Naiken, Nayaka or Naiken) settlement in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu that almost exactly fits the definition of a 'fringe village'. To its immediate north is the 'core zone' of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) and to the south is a large company-owned tea estate and other small family-owned estates. Like most peripheral communities, while the community is still dependent on the reserve for a significant part of its livelihood, it regularly partakes in wage labour in the neighbouring estates to augment its income. With increasingly limited access to the reserve and reluctance to fully embrace the estate work routine, the village seemed ideally situated for a 'conservation and livelihood' intervention.