Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups- PVTGs

India has huge cultural as well as ethnic diversity. The rich and vibrant culture is mostly found among tribals. The tribal population in India makes up 8.6% of the total population.

PVTGs are the most vulnerable sections among the tribal groups. Due to this factor, more progressive and assertive tribal groups take a major chunk of the tribal development funds because of which PVTGs need more funds directed for their development.

In 1973, the U.N Dhebar Commission was formulated to prepare a comprehensive report on tribals which led to the creation of Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs) as a separate category, which are less developed among the tribal groups.

In 2006, the Government of India renamed the PTGs as PVTGs. In this context, in 1975, the Government of India initiated to identify the most vulnerable tribal groups as a separate category called PVTGs and declared 52 such groups, while in 1993 an additional 23 groups were added to the category, making it a total of 75 PVTGs out of 705 Scheduled Tribes. Thus at present India has 75 such PVTGs.

Characteristics of PVTGs– They are mostly homogenous, have a small population, low literacy level, economic backwardness, mostly live in physically isolated areas such as forests, absence or no written language, relatively simple technology, and a slower rate of change, etc is seen among them.

Among the 75 listed PVTG’s the highest number are found in Odisha

Some of the examples include: Dongaria Khonds of odisha, Padhar of Gujarat, kolga of

Gujarat, bodo gadaba of Andra Pradesh, and Telangana, etc