Samathuvapuram () officially Periyar Ninaivu Samathuvapuram (Periyar Memorial Equality Village) is a

social equality Social equality is a state of affairs in which all individuals within a specific society have equal rights, liberties, and status, possibly including civil rights, freedom of expression, autonomy, and equal access to certain public goods and ...

scheme of the

Government of Tamil Nadu Government of Tamil Nadu is the subnational government for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at Fort St George, Chennai. The legislature of Tamil Nadu was bicameral until 1986, when it was replaced by a unicameral legislature, lik ...

to improve social harmony and to reduce caste discrimination. Under the scheme, villages of 100 houses each are being created to accommodate the various

castes Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

, with one community hall and burial ground to be shared by all. The scheme is named after the social reformer

Periyar E. V. Ramasamy Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy (17 September 1879 – 24 December 1973), revered as Periyar or Thanthai Periyar, was an Indian social activist and politician who started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. He is known as the 'Fa ...

Background

In 1997, the Government of Tamil Nadu decided to change the name of a transport corporation in the

Virudhunagar district Virudhunagar District is a district (an administrative district) of Tamil Nadu state in south India. Virudhunagar is the district headquarters of Virudhunagar district. Virudhunagar district was formed by the separation of Old Ramanathapuram Di ...

to the Sundaralingam Transport Corporation, in honour of 18th-century general

Veeran Sundaralingam Sundaralinga Kudumbanar (died 1799), also known as "Veeran" Sundaralingam Kudumbanar, was an 18th-century CE general from Tamil Nadu, India. Fight against British He was a general of the Poligar Veerapandiya Kattabomman in their fight against ...

. The name change was the long-time demand of the

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

Pallar The Pallar, who prefer to be called Mallar, are an agricultural community from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Pallars traditionally inhabited the fertile wetland area referred to as ''Marutham'' in the literary devices of the Sangam landsc ...

community, which considered Sundaralingam the icon of their community. However,

backward caste The Other Backward Class is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify castes which are educationally or socially backward. It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with General castes, S ...

Thevars opposed the decision since the transport corporation would bear a Dalit name. Thevars torched the transport buses and attacked the drivers. In response, Dalits vandalised

U. Muthuramalingam Thevar Ukkirapandi Muthuramalinga Thevar (30 October 1908 – 30 October 1963), also known as Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar, was an Indian freedom struggle fighter, politician, patriarch of Thevar community and a close accomplice of Subash Chand ...

's statue. Incidents by both

sparked violence in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu.

Scheme

The scheme aims to ease the situation and to integrate the Dalits segregated by the

caste system Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

to begin using the wells and temples of the dominant communities. The

Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu The chief minister of Tamil Nadu is the chief executive of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with th ...

M. Karunanidhi Muthuvel Karunanidhi (3 June 1924 – 7 August 2018) was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He was popularly referred to as Kalaignar (Art ...

introduced the housing scheme to create villages of 100 houses each. Each village is subdivided into 40 houses for Dalits, 25 houses for backward caste, 25 houses for most backward caste, and 10 for other communities. To avoid caste discrimination, the Samathuvapuram would have one community hall for all communities, as well as a common burial ground. The first samathuvapuram inaugurated by M. Karunanidhi on 17 August 1997 in the Melakottai village near

Tirumangalam, Madurai Tirumangalam is a town and municipality in the Madurai District of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu also called as 'Thoongaa Nagarathin Thunai Nagaram' (Sub District of Madurai).. As per archaeologist and historian Kudavayil Balasubramanian, the an ...

. The Scheme was introduced in FY 1997-98 by Government of Tamilnadu. By 2001, 145 samathuvapurams were opened across Tamil Nadu. Following the change in the state government in 2001, the scheme was abandoned. In 2006, the scheme was revived after M. Karunanidhi came to power. During his tenure, 95 samathuvapurams were opened state-wide.

References

{{Reflist Government welfare schemes in Tamil Nadu