According to the Census of 2011, what percentage of the total Scheduled Tribe population of the country is in Madhya Pradesh?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — D, 14.69 per cent. Census 2011 counted about 10.43 crore Scheduled Tribes in India, of whom roughly 1.53 crore live in Madhya Pradesh. That works out to about 14.69 per cent — the largest share of any State, which is why Madhya Pradesh is called the State with the biggest tribal population in absolute numbers. Maharashtra comes next with about 10 per cent of the country's ST population and Odisha after that with roughly 9 per cent.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Far too high. Nearly a third of India's 10.43-crore ST population would mean about 3.3 crore tribal people in Madhya Pradesh — more than double the 1.53 crore the Census actually recorded, and more than the entire ST population of the top three States combined.  (b) No State reaches anything near this share of India's ST population. India's tribal population is spread across many States; the leader, Madhya Pradesh, is under 15 per cent.  (c) Same problem — it would put roughly 2.9 crore STs in Madhya Pradesh, far beyond the recorded figure. Numbers in the high twenties belong to no State's share of the national ST total.

Concept: Two very different tribal percentages are computed from the same Census and are constantly confused. One is a State's share of the national ST population — Madhya Pradesh 14.69 per cent, the highest. The other is the ST share within a State's own population — for Madhya Pradesh about 21 per cent, while in Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Lakshadweep and Arunachal Pradesh it crosses 60–90 per cent. A State can lead on the first measure and be nowhere near the top on the second.

State PCS 2026 Q68 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2026 Q68 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer