The Problems and Challenges of the Kadar Tribe of Kerala Sinitha Xavier 1 Abstract The present article unfurls the problems encountered by the Kadar tribe of Kerala. Kadar is one of the five particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) located in the premises of Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary, in the Vazhachal Forest Division, to the south of it and in the vicinity of the Athirappilly Waterfalls on riverside of Chalakudy. The study highlights the problems encountered by this tribal community. The particular problems extracted from the study were lack of adequate finance, exploitation by the government officials, problems in finding employment for a minimum standard of living, lack of education, lack of stable income, threat of displacement, alcoholism among members of the family, long distance to educational, medical and commercial institutions, rules and regulations of the government, delay in getting the payments from government agencies, ill health and malnutrition, drain of forest resources and financial liability of the household, lack of infrastructure facilities like good roads to settlements, the existence of unwed mothers, no proper implementation of the Forest Regulation Act (2006) and no documents provided for the ownership of land. Keywords Forest Regulation Act (2006), exploitation by the government officials, threat of displacement, particularly vulnerable tribal groups, single set of scores Introduction The state of Kerala has completed 60 years since its configuration on 1 November 1956. The enigma of the alternative rules led by the United Democratic Front and Left Democratic Front made the state of affairs of the tribal communities in Kerala, not much different from the pre-independence period. The state of Kerala is the cynosure of the world on account of its encomium in the achievements on human development. The unique human development experience as encapsulated in ‘Kerala Model’ is acclaimed as inclusive and equitable. The broad social base is the heart of the model. Nevertheless, not rejecting the pats on the back for attaining a high level of Human Development Index comparable to that of developed economies, the so-called ‘Kerala Model’ is often used to conceal the dark areas of human Article Contemporary Voice of Dalit 10(2) 204–215 © 2018 SAGE Publications India (Pvt) Ltd SAGE Publications sagepub.in/home.nav DOI: 10.1177/2455328X18785454 http://journals.sagepub.com/home/vod 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Panampilly Memorial Government College, Chalakudy, Kerala, India. Corresponding author: Sinitha Xavier, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Panampilly Memorial Government College, Chalakudy, Kerala 680722, India. E-mail: siniyhajoy@gmail.com