Post 2009, govt. arts colleges record steady rise in Arunthathiyar students

Tamil Nadu law increases Arunthathiyar student admissions in government colleges, especially in districts with a large community presence.

A 2009 special law, enacted in Tamil Nadu to provide the Arunthathiyars with 3% internal reservation within the 18% quota for the Scheduled Castes (SC), has resulted in the admission of a greater number of students of the community to undergraduate courses at government arts colleges than in the past. This increase is evident even in areas not known for the concentration of this category. 

To cite an instance, the Government Arts College, Thanthonimalai, Karur, which has been in existence for nearly 60 years, recorded an annual intake of SC (Arunthathiyar) students, from the lowest of 53  in 1994-95 to 98 in 2008-09. Though the first year of the implementation of the Tamil Nadu Arunthathiyars Reservation Act saw a marginal increase of three students, the very next year (2010-11) saw a jump in the intake to 234. In the next 14 years, the number of admitted students rose to 410 each during 2021-22 and 2022-23.  From 1993-94 to 2023-24, a total of 5,112 SC (Arunthathiyar) students were admitted. The number included 4,077 students admitted after the law came into force. 

This was not an isolated case. Take the case of the Kalaignar Karunanidhi Government Arts College for Women in Pudukottai. The highest number of SC (Arunthathiyar) students admitted in any year between 1993 and 2008 was only five, which was in 2008-09. But, since 2014-15, the figure touched double digits, the highest being 19 in 2020-21.   Another example was the Nandanam college in Chennai, where the annual intake between 1993 and 2008 was in single digit in 12 out of 16 years.  The highest was 19 in 2008. After 2009, the position changed completely. Except in 2009 and 2019, when the intake was in single digit, the strength of SC(Arunthathiyar) students was in double digits, the highest being 39 in 2014. 

Understandably, the reception to the internal quota in the districts with a large presence of Arunthathiyars has been equally good or, if not, better than in the rest. In the 56-year-old Namakkal Kavignar Ramalingam Government Arts College for Women in Namakkal, the annual intake between 1993 and 2009 varied from two in 1996-97 to 32 in 2008-09. Since the law came into force, there has been a steep rise, the highest being 131 in 2020-21. In the same district, another long-standing institution, Thiruvalluvar Government Arts College in Rasipuram, the admission of SC(Arunthathiyar) students saw a gradual improvement since 2011-12. As many as 316 students were admitted In 2023-24. 

These details and more are evident after an examination of responses from about 80 government arts and science colleges to an RTI Act question by The Hindu on the efficacy of the law.  Constituting about 16% of the SCs in the State, the Arunthathiyars, the term of which covers legally the Arunthathiyar, Chakkiliyan, Madari, Madiga, Pagadai, Thoti and Adi Andhra castes, mostly live in the districts of Thiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Vellore, Tiruppur, Erode, Salem, Namakkal, Coimbatore, and Udhagamandalam, according to veteran academics K.A. Manikumar and S. Anandhi.