CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes on Friday issued an advisory against using 'Kuruvan Kurathi Attam' as a term in cultural programmes. It also urged the state government to issue an order in this regard.
Kuruvan and Kurathi denote castes found in the list of scheduled castes, the advisory read. "While Kuruvan is slotted 36 in the list of 76 castes, Kuravar is placed in the 23rd slot. The titles/terminology is being used in a denigrating manner in film songs... They have been used in music and cultural programmes organised during temple festivals as well besides social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram," it noted.
Highlighting that the terms were used to abuse and belittle students and youngsters from these communities, and also to mock others in a demeaning manner, the commission advised to avoid these terminologies denoting the caste names.
Earlier, the commission had issued a similar advisory against using the title 'chandalan'.