NEW DELHI: Among the states which have proposals pending from tribal communities demanding ‘tribal status’, Chhattisgarh tops the list with 28 communities demanding the same. The data was submitted after a question was raised in the Parliament enquiring about the details of tribal communities demanding to get the same status.
Next was Odisha with 21 proposals pending. Jharkhand has ten such communities demanding the status while Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh have eight pending proposals each, according to the data. Karnataka has nine.
According to the 2011 Census, Madhya Pradesh has the highest ST population at 14.7 per cent and Meghalaya the lowest at 2.5 per cent. The major concentration of tribals in central India, Chhattisgarh has a tribal population of 7.5 per cent, Jharkhand 8.2 per cent, Andhra Pradesh 5.7 per cent, Maharashtra 10.08 per cent, Orissa 9.2 per cent, Gujarat 8.55 per cent and Rajasthan 8.86 per cent. The other distinct area is the North East.
Three communities have sought tribal status in the states of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar each and one community in Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Puducherry.
Tribal communities are included after the proposals have been recommended and justified by the respective state government/UT administration and concurred with by Registrar General of India (RGI) and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.