The Tamil Nadu government has accorded Backward Class status to the Thiyya and Ezhava communities.
They predominantly live in Nilgiris District and the border of Kerala.
The Ezhuva community had been among the BCs in the erstwhile Travancore-Cochin State.
They remained a BC community in Kanniyakumari district and Shencottah taluk of the erstwhile Tirunelveli district even after the merger of these areas with the erstwhile Madras State.