The Tribal Cultural Research and Training Institute (TCR&TI) was established in 1963. It was originally started as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to take up studies on Tribal Culture and Development and train officials and non-officials on various aspects of Tribal Development.

Tribal Cultural Research and Training Institute takes up ethnographic studies on tribals as well as non-tribal groups representing for inclusion in the list of Scheduled Tribes. A strong database is available in Tribal Cultural Research and Training Institute, which enable its staff members to verify claims of individuals or communities as belonging to Scheduled Tribes.

Verification of False Certificates

Government of Andhra Pradesh passed Act 16 of 1993 to curb false community certificate holders from getting benefits of reservations in education and employment. TCR&TI evolved anthropological methods to identify false community certificate holders. This methodology was endorsed by various courts also. TCR & TI officials screen all candidates before admission into educational institutions/ appointments against reserved vacancies under S.T quota. TCR& TI officials assist District Level Scrutiny Committee in verifying ST status claims of certificate holders. So far 2116 false community certificates were detected and they were denied admission/ appointment.

Several communities represent for inclusion in the list of Scheduled Tribes. Some other communities represent that their community is synonym of one Scheduled Tribe community or the other. TCR&TI conducts detailed ethnographic studies of these communities and determines genuineness of their claim. Reports are submitted to Government/Courts on the findings. More than 50 such representations have been examined.

Study on Applicability of New Cr.P.C. in Scheduled areas of A.P.

A special committee was constituted by Government and TCR &TI has to examine the applicability of new Cr.P.C. in Scheduled Areas of Andhra Pradesh and the Institute has made indepth study and also conducted field study by consulting tribals and their traditional committee leaders and organizations. The preliminary report furnished by the committee was discussed by Hon'ble tribal  M. L.As, Administrators, Anthropologists and Judicial Magistrates working in the Scheduled Areas. The report is under final stage. The committee also examines C.P.C. applicability in Scheduled Areas of Andhra Pradesh. The reports on Cr.P.C. and C.P.C. will be submitted to AP Tribes Advisory Council for their advise and further action.

Fundamental and Applied Studies on Tribal Culture are being taken up for the last 40 years. Ethnographic studies were completed for all 35 Scheduled Tribes. Total number of ethnographic studies conducted is 116. These studies were published and preserved along with studies conducted by Professors of Indian and foreign Universities and Heads of Research Institutes on Tribes of Andhra Pradesh. TCR&TI has a very rich collection on ethnography of Scheduled Tribes of India in general and Andhra Pradesh in particular.

The Nehru Centenary Tribal Museum was started with a matching share from Government of India with an objective of documenting and exhibiting various aspects of tribal culture and development. It was inaugurated in the year 2003. It is being developed as a repository of material and non-material culture of tribals of Andhra Pradesh. Tribal museums were also started in Araku and Srisailam. Library with 11,885 books and photography wing with hundreds of photographs are also located in the same building to add strength of information on tribes.

TCR&TI has taken up documentation of the following: (1) Tribal languages (2) Songs (3) Dances (4) Life Styles (5) Festivals 6) Development and (7) Handicrafts. Visitors to Museum are shown Video films in the Mini Auditorium. Primers were prepared in (8) tribal languages for introduction in primary schools. This is a project first of its kind in India. TCR&TI is publishing a number of books, brochures, statistics, handouts etc., and a bi-annual journal entitled 'Girijan Samskriti' . TCR&TI is facilitating 'Exchange of Visits of Tribals' from Andhra Pradesh to tribals areas of other States to appreciate other cultures and development activities. During 2002 - 03 (3) Teams (@ 10 Members each) from Paderu, Badrachalam and Utnoor ITDAs were sponsored to visit Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat States respectively. Government of India released an amount of Rs.2.21 Lakhs for this purpose. During 2003-04, (29) Members (divided into three Teams) were sponsored to visit Chattisgarh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh States. Government of India released an amount of Rs.1.78 Lakhs for these visits.

TCR&TI conducts studies on impact of Development Programs on tribals. Both Process Evaluation and Impact Evaluation are being taken up. 76 Socio-Economic Surveys and same number of Development Research Studies were conducted so far. 23 studies were conducted during 2000 to 2005. Out of which, 6 studies are under different stages. The following are the major subjects covered: (1) Housing (2) Minor Irrigation (3) Health (4) Rehabilitation (5) Grain Bank (6) Marketing (7) Livelihood (8) Concurrent Evaluation (9) Self-Employment  (10) Process Evaluation (11) Impact Evaluation (12) Baseline Survey of PTGs and (13) Evaluation of TRICOR schemes.

Text Books for Tribal Students in their Mother Tongue

The constitution of India provides that arrangement shall be made for Elementary Education in the mother tongue of the child. It is an accepted policy that as far as possible tribal dialects should be used for imparting instructions in the first two classes in Elementary schools. As part of this policy, Tribal Cultural Research & Training Institute, Department of Tribal Welfare, Government of Andhra Pradesh have started a Project of preparation of Text books for classes I to III for Tribal students in their mother tongue with an amount of Rs.20.00 Lakhs funded by DPEP, Department of Education in December 2003.

The aim of the project on Preparation of text Book for classes 1 to 3 in Tribal dialects is to make education for tribal students more interesting, effective and to improve their literacy levels, to bring down the absenteeism and drop out rate, by stirring their interest. In the first phase, textbooks for class I for eight(8) languages namely Savara, Koya, Gondi, Kolami, Lambada, Konda, Kuvi and Adivasi-Oriya are prepared and are under implementation. The books have been prepared keeping in view the minimum levels of learning for class I in collaboration with experts from Department of Linguistics of Osmania, Telugu, and Central Universities, Educationalists from SCERT, Experts from DPEP, Tribal Teachers, NGOs, Foreign Consultants and they were supported by Anthropologists from Tribal Cultural Research and Institutes.

The books have been introduced in 10 schools per language on pilot basis from the month of October 2004(total 100 schools) after impairing training to the teachers. The students and parents are very happy with this project as per the feed back from the teachers, officials and NGOs working in those areas.

The Institute has also take-up Socio-Economic Survey of eight primitive Tribal Groups of A.P., to prepare plan for their development. This survey was entrusted by Government of India.