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Country Facts

Capital:	New Delhi
Area:	3.3 million sq. km
Population:	1,095,351,995 (July 2006 est.)
Indigenous population:	In the 1991 2001 census, 84.33 67.76 million persons were classified as members of Scheduled Tribes, which corresponding to 8.208% of the total population.
Government type:	Federal republic with 28 states (three new states were created in 2000), six Union Territories and the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Compared to other federal republics, the central government in India retains a great deal of power over the union states, and even more over the union territories.
Legal recognition of indigenous peoples:	461 ethnic groups are recognized as so-called Scheduled Tribes, and these “tribals” (also often referred to as Adivasis) are usually considered India’s indigenous peoples. India has several laws and constitutional provisions, such as the Fifth Schedule for mainland India and the Sixth Schedule for certain areas of North-East India, which recognize indigenous communities’ rights to land and self-governance. The Constitution also provides specific measures for the protection and promotion of the social and economic interests of the “Scheduled Tribes”. These include: reservation of seats in the legislature, educational institutions and services and posts.
Language:	English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication. 22 languages are recognized by the Indian Constitution. Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people. The 461 tribes listed by the Government of India as “Scheduled Tribes” belong to over 30 language groups. In 1986, the National Education Policy was approved by the Indian Parliament, and this explicitly states the need to develop curricula and instructional materials in tribal languages. However, the need to master the major Indian languages, a lack of teachers to teach tribal languages and a lack of awareness of their rights among many indigenous peoples means that tribal languages are losing out to other dominant languages in some areas.
GDP per capita:	US$3,400 (2005 est.)
Population below poverty line:	The “Scheduled Tribes” have the highest poverty rate of the three categories of people officially distinguished. 52.17% live below the poverty line, while this is 48.14% among the Scheduled Castes and 31.29% among other people (the overall figure for India given in the same survey is 37.09%).
Life expectancy:	Male: 63.9 years; female: 65.57 years (2006 est.)
Health:	Especially where access to forest products to supplement the tribals’ diet and to provide additional cash income is no longer possible – either because the forests have been destroyed or their rights of access are being denied – under-nourishment and malnutrition is widespread. Reduced resistance to diseases and parasites due to poor diet is even more devastating since most tribal areas are prone to serious endemic diseases such as malaria. Chronic illness is therefore widespread in tribal areas.
Education:	According to the Constitution, tribal peoples are entitled to free education up to university level but efforts to improve their educational status have had mixed results. According to a 2001 census, the literacy rate among tribal peoples was only 47.1% compared to a national rate of 65.38%. High drop-out rates among tribal children have been linked to a number of factors such as: poverty, the insufficient adaptation of the curriculum to the reality of life in tribal communities, the structural imbalance (insufficient numbers of schools and long distances to schools), a lack of financial means to support higher education, and the low quality of teachers (i.e. outsiders with little motivation).
Key sectors:	Services are the major source of economic growth, accounting for half of India's output yet incorporating less than one quarter of its labour force. Around three-fifths of the workforce is in agriculture. The major industrial sectors include textiles, chemicals, food processing, software and mining.

Sources: various sources including CIA World Fact Book, Ministry of Tribal Welfare, Census of India 2001, “Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in India” (2001) by Christian Erni & Shimreichon, ILO (Desk Review)