KIRTADS at Kozhikode and the four wings it works through

Background

KIRTADS is a department of the Government of Kerala, and the Directorate of KIRTADS is at Chevayur, Kozhikode. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Development Department has administrative control over it, and KIRTADS takes up research, training, development and evaluation studies for those communities across the State. Work began in April 1970 under the name Tribal Research and Training Centre, as a part of the Girijan Welfare Department, with financial assistance from the Central Government. From 23rd October 1979 it was reorganized as a separate department and renamed KIRTADS, and studies on Scheduled Castes were added to its field of work. The anthropologist Dr. A. Ayyappan led it from 1970 to 1973, as a Special Officer of TR & TC. One objective of the department is to prepare anthropological investigation reports as per Act 11 of 1996. It has no regional or district level offices, and the work runs through four main sections, the Administration Wing, the Research Wing, the Training Wing and the Development Studies Wing.