TRIBES IN INDIA, SCHEDULED CASTE AND SCHEDULED TRIBES

DATA

SCHEDULED CASTE
● Census 2011: Scheduled Castes comprise about 16.6% of India's population.
● NCRB's annual Crime in India (2019): Crime against SCs and STs saw an increase of over 7% and
26% respectively in year 2019 compared to 2018.
● Crime Against Dalit: Countrywide, 43,203 cases of atrocities against Dalits (including IPC and SC/ST
Act cases) were reported in 2017, about 6% more than in the previous year.

SCHEDULED TRIBES
● Census 2011: the tribal population in India is over 104 million which is spread across 705 tribes and
accounts for 8.6% of the country's population.
● Residence: More than 90% of tribal people live in rural areas.
● Concentration (Census 2011): M.P. has the highest tribal population followed by Maharashtra, Odisha,
etc. More than two-thirds of the ST population is concentrated only in the seven states of the country,
viz. Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh.
● Health and diseases: Tribal population share a disproportionate burden of communicable disease like
malaria, for. e.g. tribals account for 30% of malaria cases and 60% of malaria related mortality, low
body mass index and stunting in tribals is more than non-tribal population.
● Life expectancy: 63.9 years compared to the national average of 67 years.
● Malnutrition: About 80 percent of tribal children are undernourished and suffering from anaemia.
● Livelihood status: 40.6% of tribals live below poverty line vis-a-vis 20.5% non tribals.
● Lack of Basic amenities: The 2011 census data shows that access to tap water, sanitation facilities,
drainage facilities and clean cooking fuel is much lower among the tribal population.
● Education gap: There is also a stark gap in educational status as 41% of STs are illiterate.
● Sex ratio: among tribals is 990/1000 as compared to national average of 933/1000.

TRIBES IN INDIA
● 2011 census: tribals make up 8.6% of India's population. There are over 700 tribal groups in India, out
of which around 75 are PVTGs.
● The Gond comprises the largest tribal group of India. The largest number of tribal communities (62)
are found in Odisha.

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INDIA AS A MULTI-LINGUAL SOCIETY
● 8th schedule: The Constitution of India has recognised 22 official languages.
● UNESCO’S Atlas of The World’s Languages In Danger Of Disappearing: 196 Indian languages are
in danger of extinction.
● 1961 census: there are 1,652 major languages in India.
● 2011 census: there are 121 languages recognized by the government as having at least 10,000 speakers.
● People's Linguistic Survey of India: has identified 780 languages, of which 50 are extinct in the past
five decades.

SUB-CATEGORIZATION OF OBCS
● The data released by the Justice G. Rohini Commission’s report on the sub-categorization of
OBCs gives a good synoptic view to understand this.

o Based on the last five years’ data on appointments in central government jobs and OBC
admissions to central higher education institutions, the commission concluded that 97% of
central OBC quota benefits go to just under 25% of its castes.

o As many as 983 OBC communities 37% of the total have zero representation in both central
government jobs and admissions to central universities.

o Also, the report states that just 10% of the OBC communities have accrued 24.95% of jobs
and admissions.

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