Scheduled Tribes Of West Bengal

Article 366 (25) of the Constitution of India refers to Scheduled Tribes as those communities, who are scheduled in accordance with Article 342 of the Constitution. This Article says that only those communities who have been declared as such by the President through an initial public notification or through a subsequent amending Act of Parliament will be considered to be Scheduled Tribes. Accordingly, as per the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, as amended up-to-date, 40 Ethnic groups has so far been notified as Scheduled Tribes in West Bengal (Detailed list is placed in ANNEXURE-F). Among these Tribes, Toto, Birhor and Lodha have been notified as PvTGs (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups) in terms of backwardness in different development indicators. Earlier they were termed as PTGs (Primitive Tribal Groups).TOTOs and BIRHORs are predominantly residing in Jalpaiguri & Purulia Districts respectively whereas the LODHAs are mostly found in the Paschim Medinipur District.

In West Bengal, Tribal population is 52,96,963 as per Census 2011, which is about 5.8% of the total population of the State. Tribal population of West Bengal constitutes about 5.08% of total Tribal population of the Country. Tribal communities are present in all the Districts of the State. Higher concentration of Tribal population is seen in the Districts like Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Dakshin Dinajpur, Paschim Medinipur, Bankura and Purulia.

Important Indicators : Regarding the conditions of the Scheduled Tribes of West Bengal vis-a-vis Scheduled Tribes of India, some of the important indicators are shown below :