According to figures released by the Census department last month, Christian and Muslim tribals remain one of the fastest growing demographic groups in India. The number of tribals who abide by Christianity has increased by 63 percent from 63.9 lakh in 2001 to 1.03 crore in 2011. Similarly, the number of tribals who abide by Islam has also increased by 51.6 percent from 12.2 lakh in 2001 to 18.5 lakh in 2011. Not to forget, the total number of tribals who abide by Hinduism has also gone up by 39 percent from 6.04 crore in 2001 to 8.41 crore. Thus, the total number of tribals today stands at 10.4 crore, which is a 23.3 percent increase over its population of 8.43 crore in 2001.
A pinch has however been sensed by those who do not belong to any of these three dominant faiths, with their numbers decreasing from 1.64 crore in 2001 to 0.78 crore in 2011.
Article 366 (25) of the Indian Constitution defines Scheduled Tribes (ST) as those communities which are scheduled as per Article 342 of the text. The fundamental characteristics, first noted by Lokur Committee, for a community to be categorized as a Scheduled Tribe are indications of aboriginal traits, a distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with the larger population and inherent backwardness.
In India, there are a total of 645 distinctive tribes though a tribe listed as ST in one state may not necessarily be listed as such in another. For instance, the Bhil and Gondi together constitute approximately 22 percent of India’s total Scheduled Tribes population and roughly 90 percent of all these tribes reside in rural areas. However, the speedy development of the country and rapid growth of its economy has caused many of these tribals to relocate to urban areas, with the total number of urban tribals having increased by 49.7 percent to 10.9 lakh in the past decade.
Right-wing groups in the country have alleged that due to the economic status and social backwardness of these tribes, their members may be vulnerable to religious conversion. On the other hand, left-wing groups have highlighted a rising sense of awareness among Indian citizens, who now know more about their identity than ever before and are equally vocal about it.
“There is an increasing awareness amongst a section of the population of the benefits that a ST status endows. Earlier, particularly amongst Muslims those who were afraid to acknowledge that they were tribals because the name-calling associated with certain communities are now coming out and acknowledging their origins. This could be one of the reasons for the increase in these numbers,” said the head of the Minority Cell at Indian Institute of Education, Razia Patel, who has also worked on a report on the Muslim tribes of Maharashtra.
The most number of Christian STs belongs to Meghalaya, followed by Nagaland while the maximum number of Muslim STs hails from Jammu and Kashmir, followed by Maharashtra.
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