Match the following tribes of Madhya Pradesh with their respective sub-tribes:

(a) Baiga

(b) Bharia

(c) Kol

(d) Sahariya; (i) Rohia (ii) Narotia (iii) Dandami (iv) Bhumiya (Bhumika)

Question

Match the following tribes of Madhya Pradesh with their respective sub-tribes: (a) Baiga (b) Bharia (c) Kol (d) Sahariya; (i) Rohia (ii) Narotia (iii) Dandami (iv) Bhumiya (Bhumika)

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — B, (a)-(ii) (b)-(iv) (c)-(i) (d)-(iii). Two pairs can be fixed with confidence and they decide the question. The Baiga are conventionally divided into sub-groups listed as Bijhwar, Narotia, Bharotia, Nahar, Rai-Bhaina and Kath-Bhaina, so Baiga goes with (ii) Narotia. The Bharia are entered in the Scheduled Tribes list of Madhya Pradesh as 'Bharia Bhumia', and Bhumiya/Bhumika is their own group name, so Bharia goes with (iv). Those two pairs together eliminate options (a), (c) and (d). The remaining pairs the key assigns — Kol with (i) Rohia and Sahariya with (iii) Dandami — then follow by elimination; in fairness, these last two are the ones a candidate is least likely to be able to confirm from standard sources, which is exactly why the anchor-and-eliminate method, not blind recall, is what solves this question.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) It makes Rohia a Baiga sub-group and Narotia a Bharia one — the two are simply swapped out of place. Narotia is the standard Baiga sub-division, and the Bharia are the ones tied to the Bhumia name.  (c) It pairs the Baiga with Dandami. Dandami is familiar instead as the qualifier of the Dandami Maria (the Bison-horn Maria) of the Gond belt of Bastar, not as a Baiga sub-group; and it gives Bhumiya to the Kol rather than to the Bharia.  (d) The most tempting wrong option, because 'Bhumiya' sounds as though it should belong with the Baiga — Bhumia-type names occur at more than one place in the Scheduled Tribes schedule of Madhya Pradesh. The official key ties Bhumiya (Bhumika) to the Bharia, who are listed as 'Bharia Bhumia', and gives the Baiga their own sub-group, Narotia.

Concept: Madhya Pradesh has the largest tribal population of any Indian state in absolute numbers — about 1.53 crore, roughly 21 per cent of the state's population at the 2011 Census — spread across the tribes notified for the state under Article 342. Three of them are classed as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups: the Baiga, the Bharia and the Sahariya. Each large tribe is further divided into endogamous sub-groups, and it is these sub-group names that state PSCs test. Geography anchors them: Baiga in Dindori, Mandla, Balaghat, Shahdol and Umaria (the Baiga Chak of Dindori); Bharia in the Patalkot valley of Chhindwara; Sahariya in the Gwalior–Chambal districts of Sheopur, Morena, Shivpuri and Guna; Kol in Rewa, Satna, Sidhi and Shahdol.

State PCS 2026 Q95 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2026 Q95 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer