The
vocation of the tribal ranges from hunting and gathering to organized
tribal societies with settled life andculture. Each tribal community
has a distinct social and cultural identity and has its own language
and dialect. here are about 116 different dialects spoken by the
indigenous tribal communities of India. Population of individual
tribe is as large as about 5 million in Madhya Pradesh and as
small as 21 like Onges of Andaman Islands. The tribals in Indiaoccupy
about 18.74% of the total area of the country, mainly in the hilly
and forest areas of 19 states and union territories.
Based
on the socio economic status, the tribals of India in general
can be divided into the following groups:
1.Primitive
Hunter gather type:
1.
Most primitive, nomadic, non-mobilized hunter gatherers with stone
age typ lifestyle and still live in isolation e.g. Onge, Shompen,
Jarawas and Sentinels of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and Chinches
of Andhra Pradesh (2 to 3%).
2.
Primitive Agriculturists
Socially better organized and
have some interaction with outsiders. They practice a very primitive
type of shifting cultivation and are almost semi-nomadic.
.They
cultivate some primitive cultivars or wild relatives of rice,
sorghum and millets, lentils and pulses e.g. Chenchus, Hille Paharia,
Paharia, Bhirohos and Korwa of Bihar and Ragis of Tamil Nadu (5-7%).
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