About Maharashtra tribes

The Scheduled Area notified by the Government of India consists of 5809 villages and 16 towns in 12 districts covering an area of 46,531 km2, which is about 15.1% of the area of the State. These districts are Thane, Pune, Nashik, Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar, Nanded, Amravati, Yeotmal, Gadchiroli and Chandrapur. The Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) area covers the scheduled area. In addition, the State Government felt that 773 villages in the districts of Raigad, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur, Yeotmal and Pune also deserved to be extended the benefits of TSP, though these villages did not strictly satisfy the criteria laid down by the Government of India for inclusion in TSP area. These areas were designated as Additional Tribal Sub-Plan (ATSP) areas. In addition, the Government of India had also decided that a group of villages having a total population of 10,000 or more with more than 50% tribal people should be brought under the Modified Area Development Approach (MADA). Similarly, a group of villages having a total population of more than 5000 with more than 50% tribals are to be constituted into Mini-MADA pockets. In all 1754 villages in the State have been included in MADA and Mini-MADA pockets. All the benefits available to the tribals in the TSP areas as approved by the Government of India have been extended to the tribals in the ATSP, MADA and Mini-MADA areas.


The population of scheduled tribes in Maharashtra as per the 1991 census was 73.18 lakh (Maharshtra has the second highest tribal population in the country, next to Madhya Pradesh having a population of 154 lakh). 49.0 % of the tribals live in scheduled areas (main TSP area), 2.6% in ATSP areas, 6.8% in MADA and Mini-MADA pockets. The remaining 41.6% of the tribals live outside all these areas.


There are 47 scheduled tribes in the State. The tribes each having a population over one lakh as per the 1981 census (with population in lakh) are:


• Gond 11.63


• Bhil 9.93


• Mahadeo Koli 7.87


• Warli 3.61


• Kokna 3.53


• Thakur 3.23


• Halba 2.43


• Andh 2.32


• Koli Malhar 1.77


• Katkari 1.75


• Kolam 1.18


• Korku 1.16


• Gamit 1.11