Considering the enormous cultural plurality of India and uneven socioeconomic development of its people, the Government of India listed certain communities as Scheduled Tribes (STs) for initiating development programmes and providing assured representation. Despite such provisions, in case of a few groups, the common programmes did not appear to make any headway. In fact, their population was either stagnant or declining suggesting high mortality rates.
In order to ensure the development of these poorest of the poor among the ST communities, certain groups were identified initially in 1975. The criteria fixed for identification included declining or stagnant population, very low level of literacy and pre-agricultural level of technology. Thus 75 groups among the ST communities of India were identified in 17 States and 1 Union Territory, who initially were called Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs), and later renamed as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).
During April to June 2012 the Anthropological Survey of India carried out a study of all the PVTGs. Its research teams visited various States, concerned tribal development agencies and non-government organizations. The survey was conducted with emphasis on gathering data on their socio-economic status and development. The team also visited the PVTG hamlets, interviewed the people, and recorded their observations with regard to development. Socio-economic status of each PVTG is described in the volume while a summary including a few suggestions is given in the introduction.
• Foreword ix Acknowledgements xi
• Introduction
• K.K. Misra and Suresh Patil xiii
• 1 The Ang or the Jarawa of Andaman Islands - Anstice Justin 1
• 2 The Asur of Jharkhand - S.S. Mishra 19
• 3 The Baiga of Madhya Pradesh - Kattoju Ravi and Raj Kishor Mahato 27
• 4 The Bharia of Madhya Pradesh - Kattoju Ravi, Sanjay K. Shukla and Raj Kishor Mahato 43
• 5 The Birhor of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal - S.S. Mishra et al. 61
• 6 The Birjia of Jharkhand - S.S. Mishra 91
• 7 The Bondo of Odisha - Shyamal Kumar Nandy 101
• 8 The Buksa of Uttarakhand - Nishant Saxena, Vandana Kumari, Priyanka Singh and Bimal Rawat 111
• 9 The Chenchu of Andhra Pradesh - Md. Azeez Mohidden 125
• 10 The Cholanaickan of Kerala - Nilanjan Khatua 137
• 11 The Chuktia Bhunjia of Odisha - Rabiranjan Biswas 147
• 12 The Gnatare or Didayi of Odisha - Krishna Mandal 153
• 13 The Gadaba of Andhra Pradesh - A. Aparna 163
• 14 The Great Andamanese of AndamanNicobar Islands - Anstice Justin 173
• 15 The Irular of Tamil Nadu - C.R. Sathyanarayanan 187
• 16 The Juang of Odisha - Sudhansu Gangopadhyay 195
• 17 The Kadar of Kerala - R. Rajendra Prasad 207
• 18 The Kamar of Chhattisgarh - Sheela Das Gupta, Shampa Gangopadhyay, G.R. Lakshmi and K.M. Sinha Roy 215
• 19 The Katkari or Kathodi of Maharashtra and Gujarat - J. Sreenath and D.Venkata Siva 227
• 20 The Kharia and the Hill Kharia of Odisha and Jharkhand - Nupur Sinha 243
• 21 The Kolam of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra - B.V. Raviprasad, D. Xaviour and Samit Ghosal 249
• 22 The Kolgha of Gujarat - Raj Kumar 273
• 23 The Konda Reddi of Andhra Pradesh - M. Rajendra Prasad 281
• 24 The Khond of Andhra Pradesh - G.V. Ramana 297
• 25 The Dongria Khond of Odisha - Subrata Ray 307
• 26 The Kutia Kondha of Odisha - Sumitabha Chakraborty 319
• 27 The Koraga of Karnataka and Kerala - H.M. Patel and Suresh Patil 331
• 28 The Hill Korwa of Chhattisgarh - S. Gangopadhyay, G.R. Lakshmi and
• Sheela Das Gupta 341
• 29 The Korwa of Jharkhand - K.M. Sinha Roy and B.R. Hansdah 349
• 30 The Kota of Tamil Nadu - C.R. Sathyanarayanan 355
• 31 The Kotwalia of Gujarat - Pritish Chaudhuri 363
• 32 The Kurumbas (in the Nilgiris District) in Tamil Nadu and Kurumbas, Kurumbar and Kurumban in Kerala - C.R. Sathyanarayanan 375
• 33 The Jenu Kuruba, Kadu Kuruba and Kattunayakan of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala - C.R. Sathyanarayanan, B.R. Vijayendra, Suresh Patil and Nilanjan Khatua 395
• 34 The Lodha of West Bengal and Odisha Chhanda Mukhopadhyay, Rapti Pan and Sudipta Kumar Behera 425
• 35 The Madia of Maharashtra - Tamal Maity 441
• 36 The Abhuj Maria of Chhattisgarh - K.M. Sinha Roy, Amit Soni, Rajesh Roshan and Vijay Kumar 453
• 37 The Mal Paharia of Jharkhand - B. Oraon 459
• 38 The Maram of Manipur Roshina Gowloog and Gitanjali Baruah 467
• 39 The Onge of AndamanNicobar Islands - Anstice Justin 473
• 40 The Padhar of Gujarat - Swati Das 491
• 41 The Paniyan of Tamil Nadu - C.R. Sathyanarayanan 505
• 42 The Parahiya of Jharkhand - B. Oraon 513
• 43 The Paudi Bhuiyan of Odisha - Debashis Basu 521
• 44 The Porja of Andhra Pradesh - A. Aparna 535
• 45 The Raji of Uttarakhand - Anand Saran, Minakshi Sharma, Karuna Shankar Pandey and Abrar Alam 545
• 46 The Riang of Tripura - Ashok Kumar Mukhopadhyay 557
• 47 The Saharia of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan - R.B. Thakre, P. Gangopadhyay, Shruti Singh and Veena B. Nair 579
• 48 The Saora of Odisha - Nabakumar Duary 613
• 49 The Lanjia Saora of Odisha - Indranil Biswas 623
• 50 The Savara or the Konda Savara of Andhra Pradesh - P. Mangalaxmi 637
• 51 The Savar or the Hill Kharia of Jharkhand - B.R. Hansdah 645
• 52 The Sauria Paharia of Jharkhand - Sudarshan Oraon 651
• 53 The Senteneles of AndamanNicobar Islands - Anstice Justin 659
• 54 The Shompen of AndamanNicobar Islands - Anstice Justin 669
• 55 The Siddi of Gujarat - Arsi Prasad Jha 681
• 56 The Thoti of Andhra Pradesh - D. Xaviour and B.V. Raviprasad 689
• 57 The Toda of Tamil Nadu - C.R. Sathyanarayanan 699
• 58 The Toto of West Bengal - Anupam Dutta 713
• Annexure I: Name of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) 725
• Annexure II: List of PVTGs as per ANSI Study 727
• List of Contributors 729
• Index 733
