Reli people

Reli (also spelled Relli) refers both to an ethnic group in India and the language spoken by the group. The Reli people are mainly concentrated in Andhra Pradesh, a state on India's southeastern coast; a few are also found in Orissa, a bordering state on India's eastern coast.

Location

The Reli people are mainly distributed in India's northern coastal districts, such as Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Guntur and Krishna of Andhra Pradesh, and the Koraput and Rayagada districts of Orissa (Census 1991). A few of them are found in Nellore, Prakasam and Chittoor districts of Andhra Pradesh.[1]

People

Reli people are also known as Sachchari, Chachati or Relli Chachadi, and Sapru or Sabri, but the Census of India has listed Reli, Chachati and Sapru as separate Scheduled Castes (Singh 2003:1638). The 2001 Census also listed Relli Chachandi with Ghasi and Haddi (2003 Census). The autonyms of the Reli are Sapri or Sapru (Singh 2003:1638).

The word "Reli" refers to a kind of grass in Telugu (the official language of Andhra Pradesh). The name refers to the fact that historically, the Reli people's chief means of livelihood was cutting and selling rellu grass (Singh 2003:1638).

in karnataks Also there is relli caste people of nearly 100 houses and population of 2000 people and they have settled there by doing government jobs while construction of Tungabhadra dam which is on the banks of river Tungabhadra in hospet(tq),Bellary(dt).There the people are litrated.They came from srikakulam and settled in karnataka

Population of Reli People

The Census provides further breakdown of the population by state:

The Reli population in Andhra Pradesh was: 1981 Census 76,329; 1991 Census 104,612; 2001 Census 121,058

The Reli population in Orissa was: 1981 Census 6,353; 1991 Census 9,663; and 2001 Census 8,357.

Reli language speakers

The 2001 Census stated that there were 21,238 speakers of the Reli language in Andhra Pradesh, and 706 in Orissa. Further breakdown to the district level is as follows (2001 Census): Vizianagaram (AP) 7,893; Visakhapatnam (AP) 4,301; East Godavari (AP) 3,079; Krishna (AP) 3,085; Srikakulam (AP) 1,796; Guntur (AP) 597, Koraput (OR) 607; and Rayagada(OR) 97.

According to Singh (2001:1642), “The primary occupation of Reli people in Andhra Pradesh is the collection and sale of fruits, seeds and grass. They have also taken up other jobs such as sweeping in municipalities, petty jobs in public and private organizations, and scavenging. A few are in government service”.

Traditionally, the Reli of Orissa trade in salt, rice, vegetables, goats, hens and pigs on a small scale. Agriculture is also pursued (Singh 1993:1121).

99.3% of the Reli people follow Hinduism, and recently a few (0.7%) have converted to Christianity (Singh 2001:1643).

The 1981 Census stated that “the literacy rate of Reli people in Andhra Pradesh is 23.20%. The male and female literacy rate was 33.60% and 12.71% respectively (Singh 1993:1120). Formal education is unfavorable to the Reli children because of their poverty and backwardness”. Only a few of them go to school. The high rate of dropping out is due to socioeconomic reasons (Singh 2001:1644). In Orissa, the literacy rate of Reli people is 16.26%.

Language

Reli (iso3 = rei) is very close to Oriya, and may be a dialect of it. The Reli speak Telugu when conversing with outsiders, and use the Telugu script (Singh 2003:1638).

References

  1. ↑ (Singh 2003:1638)
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