Rajasthan Population and Tribes: Census 2011 Facts

Population and tribes is the most arithmetic part of Rajasthan general knowledge, and almost every question comes from one source, the census. The latest census for which figures are available is that of 2011, and state examinations ask its totals, its ratios and its district extremes exactly as published. The second half of the topic is the tribal map of the state, which belongs to the southern districts and is asked through tribe names, their areas and their customs.

Rajasthan at the 2011 census

Rajasthan returned a population of 6,85,48,437, which placed it eighth among the states of India. Because its area of 3,42,239 square kilometres is the largest of any state, its density stood at only 201 persons per square kilometre, well under the national figure. The decadal growth of 2001 to 2011 was 21.3 per cent, among the higher rates in the country. The sex ratio was 928 women for every thousand men and the child sex ratio in the nought to six age group was 888, a number that explains the state's emphasis on schemes for the girl child. Literacy was 66.11 per cent, with male literacy at 79.19 per cent and female literacy at 52.12 per cent, the widest gender gap of any large state. About a quarter of the people, close to 24.9 per cent, lived in towns, so Rajasthan remains a rural state.

District extremes in 2011

These pairs are asked more often than the state totals. Note that the figures below belong to the district boundaries as they stood at the 2011 census, which have since been redrawn.

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes

Scheduled Castes formed about 17.8 per cent of the population of Rajasthan in 2011 and Scheduled Tribes about 13.5 per cent. The tribal population is not spread evenly: it is concentrated in the south, in Banswara, Dungarpur, Pratapgarh and Udaipur, with a second pocket of Sahariyas in Baran in the south east. Scheduled Areas under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution cover Banswara, Dungarpur and Pratapgarh and parts of Udaipur, Rajsamand, Chittorgarh, Sirohi and Pali, and the Tribal Area Development department works from Udaipur.

The tribes of Rajasthan

The Mina or Meena are the most numerous tribe of the state, spread over eastern Rajasthan in Jaipur, Sawai Madhopur, Dausa, Karauli and Alwar, and were traditionally divided into the Zamindar and the Chaukidar Mina. The Bhil are the second most numerous and one of the largest tribal groups in India, living in the Wagad country of Banswara, Dungarpur, Pratapgarh and Udaipur. Their settlement is the pal under a headman called the gameti, their slope and plain forms of burn cultivation are chimata and dajiya, their tradition of collective labour is halma, and the Gavari and Gair are their best known dances. The Garasia come third and live around Abu Road and Pindwara in Sirohi and Kotra and Jhadol in Udaipur, with the Valar and Lur among their dances. The Sahariya of the Shahabad and Kishanganj tehsils of Baran are the only Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group of Rajasthan, gatherers of gum, honey and tendu leaf whose settlement is a sahrana and whose hut is a topa. The Damor of southern Dungarpur live under a headman called the mukhi, and the Kathodi, who came from Maharashtra, make katha, or catechu, from the khair tree in the forests of Udaipur.

Tribe and area at a glance