The tribal communities exhibit a highly uneven distribution. There are two main areas of tribal concentration: (a) Central Indian uplands around the Vindhyan sub-region, and (b) north-eastern parts of the country. In general, tribal population is mainly concentrated in the hilly and forested tracts of the country. More than 87 per cent of the country’s tribal population is confined to 11 states (Madhya Pradesh 14.51 percent, Maharashtra 10.17, Orissa9.66, Gujarat 8.87, Rajasthan 8.42, Jharkhand 8.40, Chhattisgarh 7.85, Andhra Pradesh 5.96, West Bengal 5.23, and Assam 3.92 per cent) of the country.
On the other hand states and union territories with rich alluvial plains favourable to agriculture, such as Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Chandigarh are either devoid of tribal’s or have very negligible proportion of tribal population (Table 27. XVII). Tribal’s constitute 94.51 per cent of the total population of Lakshadweep followed by Mizoram (94.46 per cent), Nagaland (89.15 per cent), Meghalaya (85.94 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh (64.22 per cent) and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (62.24 per cent).
Besides there are 12 states (Manipur. Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim, Orissa, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Rajasthan and Maharashtra) and one union territory (Daman and Diu) wherein the percentage of tribal population to the state’s total population is above the national average (8.20 per cent). Other states like Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh,Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh and Goa have lower percentage of tribal population than the national average.
The spatial distribution of tribal population at the district level also indicates a tendency of clustering and concentration. More than two-third of the total tribal population of the country is confined to only 62 districts. There are 15 districts (12 districts in the north-eastern states, Lakshadweep, Dangs in Gujarat and Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh) in which the share of tribal population to the total population is above 80 per cent. These together house 7.2 per cent of the total scheduled tribes of the country.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The share of tribal population lies between 50 and 80 per cent to the total population in 19 districts housing 23.6 per cent of the country’s total tribal population. These include Dhar and Mandla districts of Madhya Pradesh; Surguja and Bastar districts of Chhattisgarh; Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj and Koraput districts of Orissa; Lahul and Spiti and Kinnaur districts of Himachal Pradesh; Dungarpur and Banswara districts of Rajasthan; Ranchi district of J harkhand; Valsad district of Gujarat; Kameng. Lohit and Tirap districts of Arunachal Pradesh; Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills districts of Assam; and Manipur North district of Manipur.
There are 28 districts in which the tribal population varies from 20 to 50 per cent of the total population. These districts scattered in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal and Tripura contribute 33.40 per cent of the total tribal population ofthe country.
In the moderate zone (10- 20 per cent) there are 39 districts which support 19 per cent of the country’s Scheduled Tribes. In the low (1-10 per cent) and very low (below 1 per cent) categories there are 27 and 175 districts respectively which together contribute 16.8 per cent of the country’s tribal population.
These are mainly found in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Daman and Diu, Another 57 districts of the country have no population of Scheduled Tribes. About one- third of the country’s tribal population lies in its 15 districts (Ranchi, Santhal Pargana, Singhbhum, Koraput, Mayurbhanj, Bastar, Surguja, Khargone, Surat, Valsad, Panchmahals, Dhule, Thane, Nashik and Udaipur).
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Coming to more micro-level analysis are 332 talukas/tahsils in India in which Sector Tribes are in absolute majority, their share in population being more than 50 per cent. Their mum clustering is found in the north-eastern the Meghalaya-Karbi-Anglong plateau, the Nagpur plateau; eastern margins of the Aravallis Vindhyas, Western Ghats (Gujarat) and Himalayan valleys (Himachal Pradesh).
These hilly, forested and semi-arid areas generally b ward in terms of social and economic develop and are considered negative areas from the point view of supporting large population and economy growth. Since many of these areas are rich in mine and forest resources these have attracted non-tri groups skilled in superior technology for exploitation. This has caused damage to tribal ecology a culture and generated new social tensions.
In there is a great deal of debate whether to preset tribal culture and its environs or to encourage change keeping in mind the present demands necessities. Tribal development plans should formulated by taking all these aspects in mind.