Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Saturday said the cases filed under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, had come down by 6% because of the awareness created by the State government.

Addressing the high-level State Vigilance and Monitoring Committee Meeting of the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department, the Chief Minister said that the number of areas prone to atrocities against the Dalits had come from 445 in 2021 to 368 in 2024.

“The government has also increased the compensation given to the victims of the violence to ₹12 lakh from ₹8 lakh in 2022. A total of 421 family members of the victims got employment and 649 pensions,” he said.

Mr. Stalin said the DMK government had increased the fund for education of the Adi Dravidar and Tribals taking into consideration the 2021-census that the literacy rate among the communities was 73.26 while it was 80.09 among the general category.

“The total allocation is ₹3,924 crore for the department. Of the amount, ₹2,798 will go to education. This is 71.31% of the total allocation,” he said.