The tribes of India constitute a numerically small minority, just about 9 per cent of the total population. But their expanse is vast, and their cultural imprint on Indianness way deeper than the rest—with many of them seen as descendants of the subcontinent’s original inhabitants. Spread over the length and breadth of the landmass, mostly in forested and mountainous country, they are a heterogeneous set, varying greatly in language, culture, means of primary livelihood and state of development.
Nearly 80 per cent of them are concentrated in nine states—Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. About 12 per cent live in the northeastern states, five per cent in the south and three per cent in the northern region. Of the 700-plus recognised tribes, only…