Tribes, Society & Folk Culture of Madhya Pradesh — Practice

Question 1

What percentage of Madhya Pradesh's population is Scheduled Tribe according to the 2011 Census?

Accepted Answer

About 21.1 per cent, roughly 1.53 crore people.

Question 2

Name the three Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups of Madhya Pradesh.

Accepted Answer

The Baiga, the Bharia and the Sahariya.

Question 3

What is Bhagoria, and which tribe celebrates it?

Accepted Answer

Bhagoria is a festival and market of the Bhil tribe held in the weeks before Holi in western Madhya Pradesh, combining harvest celebration, trade and courtship.

Question 4

Match the Gond, Korku and Sahariya with their regions in Madhya Pradesh.

Accepted Answer

The Gond are concentrated in the central and eastern districts of Mandla, Dindori, Seoni, Chhindwara and Balaghat. The Korku live in the Nimar and Betul belt (Betul, Harda, Khandwa, Burhanpur). The Sahariya, a PVTG, live in the north-west districts of Sheopur, Shivpuri, Morena and Guna.

Question 5

Describe the folk traditions of the Malwa and Bundelkhand regions.

Accepted Answer

Malwa has the Matki dance, Sanja festival songs, Nirgun bhajans in the Kabir tradition and Maach folk theatre. Bundelkhand has the Alha-Udal heroic ballads and the Rai and Badhai dances. Pairing each form with its region is the safe learning unit, since questions typically give one and ask for the other.

Question 6

How do the tribes of Madhya Pradesh contribute to environmental conservation?

Accepted Answer

Baiga and Bharia healers hold herbal knowledge, with Patalkot a well-known example. Communities protect sacred groves and forest deities. Madhya Pradesh adopted Joint Forest Management in 1991, and the Forest Rights Act, 2006 recognises community forest rights. Tension arises where protected areas require relocation, as with Sahariya villages for Kuno, so conservation and rights must be balanced.

Question 7

Name the main state schemes for girls, women and senior citizens in Madhya Pradesh.

Accepted Answer

The Ladli Laxmi Yojana (2007) is a savings-linked scheme for girl children. The Ladli Behna Yojana (2023) gives a monthly cash transfer to women. The Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah Yojana supports marriages of poor girls. The Mukhyamantri Teerth Darshan Yojana funds pilgrimage for senior citizens. Amounts are revised, so answers should describe design, not a figure.

Question 8

Discuss the social structure, customs and folk culture of the tribes of Madhya Pradesh. (~200 words)

Accepted Answer

The tribes of Madhya Pradesh, about a fifth of the population, live in region-specific clusters: Bhil in the west, Gond in the centre and east, Korku in Nimar, Baiga in the Baiga Chak, and Sahariya in the north-west. Social organisation is built on clans with exogamy, village councils and hereditary priest-healers, with mostly patrilineal kinship and relatively greater freedom for women than in caste society. Customs include the Bhil Bhagoria festival, where courtship and trade coincide, and Lamsena, a bride-service marriage among Gond and Baiga communities. Beliefs combine nature worship, ancestor veneration and village deities. Folk culture includes the Karma and Saila dances, Gond painting, Pithora and tattooing (godna) among the Baiga. Modernisation, migration and forest-access changes are reshaping these forms, so preservation now needs documentation, market support for tribal arts and respect for cultural rights.

Question 9

Evaluate the effectiveness of tribal welfare measures in Madhya Pradesh. (~200 words)

Accepted Answer

Madhya Pradesh has a dense set of measures: the Tribal Sub-Plan approach, Eklavya Model Residential Schools, hostels and scholarships, nutrition support for the three PVTGs, the Forest Rights Act, PESA (state rules 2022) and PM-JANMAN from 2023. Strengths include wider school access, targeted PVTG habitations and legal recognition of forest and Gram Sabha rights. Weaknesses persist: tribal literacy of about 50.6 per cent in 2011 remains well below the state average, health outcomes and malnutrition lag, forest rights claims are slow and often rejected, and projects displace communities without adequate rehabilitation. Outcomes differ sharply between districts such as Jhabua and Sheopur and the state's more developed areas. Effectiveness therefore depends less on the number of schemes than on convergence, remote-area delivery, transparent claims processing and accountability to Gram Sabhas.

Practice — Tribes, Society & Folk Culture of Madhya Pradesh

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