According to the 2011 census, which Union Territory has the highest percentage of scheduled tribe population ?

Question

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Correct — option (2), Lakshadweep. As per the 2011 census, roughly 94.8% of Lakshadweep's population is recorded as Scheduled Tribe — almost the entire population of the archipelago — making it the Union Territory with the highest ST share in the country. This is a striking figure because Lakshadweep is not typically pictured as a 'tribal' territory the way a hill or forest region is, but its indigenous island population is officially notified as Scheduled Tribe, which is exactly the kind of counter-intuitive fact this question is testing.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Chandigarh recorded 0% Scheduled Tribe population in the 2011 census — it has no notified Scheduled Tribes at all, which places it at the opposite end of the scale from the correct answer rather than anywhere near it.  (c) Dadra and Nagar Haveli genuinely has a large tribal population by percentage — about 52% of its population was recorded as Scheduled Tribe in the 2011 census, which makes it a real contender and a deliberately close distractor. But that figure is still well short of Lakshadweep's roughly 94.8%, so it is not the highest among Union Territories.  (d) Like Chandigarh, the National Capital Territory of Delhi recorded 0% Scheduled Tribe population in the 2011 census — there are no notified Scheduled Tribes in Delhi, making it another option at the low end rather than the high end of the scale.

Concept: Scheduled Tribe status in India is notified state-by-state and union-territory-by-union-territory, so the same community can be an ST in one territory and not recognised elsewhere, and the resulting percentages vary enormously — from 0% in urbanised Union Territories like Chandigarh and Delhi to nearly the entire population in Lakshadweep.

State PCS 2025 Q19 — Geography PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2025 Q19 — Geography PYQ with Answer