Primitive Tribal Groups under the Threat of Extinction – A Demographic Study across the States in India

Abstract

Along with the constitutional safeguards these Scheduled tribe communities have been provided different measures by the central and state governments in a bid to ameliorate their living conditions since the First Five Year Plan. Taking a cue from the Dhebar Commission (1961), study team on Tribal Development Programmes (1969) found marked imbalances in the development of the tribal communities and a large number of communities remaining in extremely backward conditions in the primitive food - gathering stage. In the review of tribal welfare programmes on the eve of the Fifth Plan it was realized that certain S.T. Communities were marginalized and left out of the reach of the development. The poorest of the poor among the scheduled tribes were categorized as Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs) in 1975–76 and thereafter in 1993. The present research paper is an attempt to analyze the growth rates of the P.T.G. population over the census year. It is found in the study that the growth rates of population of the PTGs have been relatively low in comparison to those of the overall S.T. population and general population in all the census years under study and some tribes are on the verge of extinction.