Challenges and Opportunities of Tribal Econom...

Challenges and Opportunities of Tribal Economy

Author Name : Santosh Kumar Dawade

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56025/IJARESM.2026.14072609

ABSTRACT Madhya Pradesh has highest population of tribe in India. From 38.9 lakh in 1961 they have increased 153 lakhs in 2011. 14.69 percent of total tribal population lives in Madhya Pradesh while they constitute 21.1 percent of total population of Madhya Pradesh. Dhar district have highest tribal population (7.98 percent) and accordingly Badwani (6.28 percent), Jhabua (5.82 percent), Khargone (4.77 percent) and Alirajpur (4.23 percent) (Census2011). 21 districts cover more than three fourth part of total tribal population in Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh has 1,53,16,784 tribal people consisting of 77,19,404 male and 75,97,380 female covers 21.1 percent of total population of Madhya Pradesh .50.6 percent of total tribal population in the state are literate while it was recorded only 41.2 percent in 2001. Literacy in male population found 59.6 per cent while female population found 41.5 per cent as literate. 49.9 per cent of total tribal population are engaged in different economic activities. District wise maximum tribal population ratio was found in Alirajpur district that is 89 percent while Bhind has lowest tribal population ratio that is only 0.36 percent. According to the Census of India,2011, there are 43 tribes found in Madhya Pradesh The main tribal groups in Madhya Pradesh are Gond, Bhil, Baiga, Korku, Bhariya, Halba, Kaul, Mariya, and Sahariya. More than 50 percent tribal population found in Dhar, Jhabua and Mandla districts. In Khargone, Chhindwara, Seoni, Sidhi and Shahdol districts, 30 to 50 percent of the population is of tribes. The largest population is that of the Gond tribes. Balaghat tops the list in terms of sex ratio with 1067 girls for 1000 boys. Dindori, Sidhi, Umaria, Barwani, Betul, Alirajpur, Seoni and Mandla also have a sex ratio above 1000. This is one area where the tribal districts are way ahead of the non- tribal. But sex ratio at birth for children born in the last five years as per census 2011 shows a different picture. Khandwa and Annuppur has entered the worst