Jenu Kuruba

The Jenu Kuruba are a Dravidian ethnic group from the Nilgiris. There are around 40,000 of them. They are concentrated in the Kodagu and Mysore districts of Karnataka. 'Jenu' means 'honey' in Kannada, referring to their traditional occupation as collectors of honey in the forest. However nowadays many of the Jenu Kurubas have been evicted from their home due to conservation measures in the various tiger reserves of the Nilgiris, like Nagarhole and Bandipur. Those who have been relocated outside the forest are generally daily wagers and agricultural labourers, who live in extreme poverty. They speak the Jennu Kurumba language, either classified as being related to Kodava or a local rural Mysore dialect of Kannada.[1]