PVTGs of India: 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups, PM-JANMAN, and the Dhebar Commission Story

Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) are 75 Adivasi communities across 18 states and Union Territories of India that are identified by the Government of India as the most fragile sub-set of Scheduled Tribes. The category began as Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs) following the Dhebar Commission report of 1961 and the subsequent Renke and tribal sub-plan recommendations of the 1970s, and was renamed Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups in 2006 after the term “primitive” was acknowledged as derogatory. The flagship policy framework for PVTGs today is the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN), a Rs 24,104 crore mission launched on Janjatiya Gaurav Divas, 15 November 2023.

For UPSC, PVTGs are a high-yield topic across GS-I (society), GS-II (welfare schemes, vulnerable sections), and GS-III (inclusive growth, tribal economy). The category brings together the Dhebar Commission framework, the four official criteria, the Forest Rights Act’s habitat-rights provision, and a list of communities that ranges from the 25,000-strong Saharia of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan to the few-dozen Sentinelese of North Sentinel Island in the Andamans.

This article works through Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups in five parts: the policy history, the four criteria, the state-wise list and examples, the PM-JANMAN scheme, and the unresolved policy questions.

What Are Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups?

Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups are a sub-category within the Scheduled Tribes list. They are not a separate constitutional category. A community classified as a PVTG continues to be a Scheduled Tribe, but receives an additional layer of central and state government attention, exclusive scheme coverage, and the unique provision of habitat rights under Section 3(1)(e) of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, available only to PVTGs.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs currently lists 75 PVTGs in 18 states and Union Territories. The list includes some of the smallest and most isolated communities in India, like the Sentinelese, Onge, Jarawa, and Great Andamanese of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, alongside larger communities like the Saharia of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, who number around 6 lakh.

This is a critical distinction. PVTG status is not about absolute population size. The Saharia are a PVTG with a population far larger than many Scheduled Tribes that are not PVTGs. What makes a community a PVTG is meeting the four criteria laid down in 1973–75.

Policy Origin: From Dhebar to PVTG

The roots of the PVTG framework lie in the U. N. Dhebar Commission (Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes Commission), set up in 1960 under the chairmanship of U. N. Dhebar, the former Congress president. The Commission submitted its report in 1961 and recommended that the most fragile tribes within the Scheduled Tribes list needed special attention, separate from the wider tribal welfare framework.

The Fifth Five-Year Plan (1974–79) operationalised this recommendation. Following the Dhebar Commission and the work of anthropologist L. P. Vidyarthi and others, the Government of India identified an initial list of 52 Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs) in 1975, based on a study by the Tribal Welfare Division of the then Ministry of Home Affairs.

The category expanded steadily through the 1980s and 1990s, reaching 75 PTGs by the early 1990s. In 2006, on the recommendation of the National Advisory Council and following sustained criticism of the language, the Government of India renamed the category from Primitive Tribal Groups to Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs). The list of 75 communities was carried over.

The Renke Commission of 2008 and subsequent expert committees have called for a fresh review and revised list, but the official 75-PVTG list has remained unchanged for two decades.

The Four Criteria for PVTG Status

A community is identified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group based on four criteria laid down in the mid-1970s. To qualify, a community must usually meet all four.

1. Pre-agricultural level of technology: Continued reliance on hunting, gathering, fishing, or shifting cultivation, with limited adoption of plough agriculture, irrigated farming, or modern inputs. Tools like the digging stick, axe, and bow remain part of the economic base.

1. Stagnant or declining population: Either an absolute fall in numbers over successive Census decades or a population growth rate well below the all-India tribal average. Population decline among Andaman Negrito tribes like the Onge and Great Andamanese is the textbook example.

1. Extremely low literacy: Literacy levels far below the all-India tribal average, often below 30%, with female literacy in single digits in some communities. Birhor literacy in Jharkhand and Saharia literacy in Madhya Pradesh-Rajasthan illustrate this.

1. Subsistence level of economy: Predominantly subsistence economy, minimal market integration, low household incomes, and high dependence on forests for food, fuel, and shelter.

In practice, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and state tribal welfare departments apply these criteria flexibly. Some PVTGs (Saharia, Kattunaikan) are now partly settled with small landholdings, but their historical baseline and ongoing vulnerability keep them within the category.

State-Wise Distribution of the 75 PVTGs

The 75 PVTGs are spread across 18 states and Union Territories. The state-wise distribution as recognised by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs is:

• Odisha (13): Bondo, Birhor, Chuktia Bhunjia, Didayi, Dongaria Khond, Juang, Kharia, Kondh (Khond), Kutia Kondh, Lanjia Saora, Lodha, Mankidia, Paudi Bhuyan, Saora.
• Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (12 combined): Bodo Gadaba, Bondo Poraja, Chenchu, Dongaria Khond, Gutob Gadaba, Khond Poroja, Kolam, Konda Reddi, Konda Savara, Kutia Khond, Parengi Poroja, Thoti.
• Jharkhand (8): Asur, Birhor, Birjia, Hill Kharia, Korwa, Mal Paharia, Parahaiya, Sauria Paharia.
• Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh (7): Abujh Maria, Baiga, Bharia, Birhor, Hill Korwa, Kamar, Saharia.
• Tamil Nadu (6): Kattunayakan, Kota, Kurumba, Irular, Paniyan, Toda.
• Kerala (5): Cholanaikkan, Kadar, Kattunaikan, Koraga, Kurumba.
• Gujarat (5): Kathodi, Kotwalia, Padhar, Siddi, Kolgha.
• Maharashtra (3): Katkaria (Kathodi), Kolam, Maria Gond.
• West Bengal (3): Birhor, Lodha, Toto.
• Andaman and Nicobar Islands (5): Great Andamanese, Jarawa, Onge, Sentinelese, Shompen.
• Karnataka (2): Jenu Kuruba, Koraga.
• Bihar (2): Asur, Birhor.
• Rajasthan (1): Saharia.
• Uttar Pradesh (2): Buxa, Raji.
• Uttarakhand (2): Buxa, Raji.
• Tripura (1): Reang (Bru).
• Manipur (1): Marram Naga.

Note that the same community can be a PVTG in more than one state (Birhor in Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Bihar; Asur in Jharkhand and Bihar; Saharia in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan). The total of 75 PVTGs treats each state-listing as a separate entry.

A Closer Look at Key PVTGs

Because the list is long, a working knowledge of a handful of named PVTGs is essential.

• Saharia: Largest PVTG by population, around 6 lakh, in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, mainly Sheopur and Shivpuri districts. Subjected to extreme food insecurity; the Saharia hunger deaths of 2015 in Sheopur drew national attention.
• Birhor: Semi-nomadic Munda-speaking community of Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal. Traditional rope-makers (Birhor literally means “people of the forest”). One of the slowest-growing population groups in India.
• Baiga: Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, famous for bewar shifting cultivation and traditional medicine. The first community in India to receive habitat rights under the Forest Rights Act in 2016 (Baiga Chak, Dindori).
• Toda: Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu, about 1,500 people, pastoral buffalo-herding community, famous for embroidered shawls (poothkulli) and the munds settlements.
• Sentinelese: North Sentinel Island in the Andamans. The most isolated tribal community in the world, refusing all contact with the outside world. Estimated population 50–200. Visiting the island has been banned since 1991, reinforced after the 2018 death of American visitor John Allen Chau.
• Jarawa: Inhabit the western forests of South and Middle Andaman. Estimated population around 500. Forced contact with mainstream India began in 1998. The Andaman Trunk Road controversy continues.
• Onge: Little Andaman Island. Population around 100. Severely affected by 19th-century epidemics and now confined to two reserves.
• Great Andamanese: Strait Island, Andamans. Composite community combining surviving members of ten original tribes. Population around 50, the most extreme case of demographic collapse.
• Shompen: Great Nicobar Island. Estimated population 200–300. The Great Nicobar Project of 2023 has raised concerns about Shompen displacement.
• Dongaria Khond: Niyamgiri Hills of Odisha. The 2013 Supreme Court order on the Vedanta bauxite project recognised their right to consent through gram sabhas, a landmark Forest Rights Act case.
• Bondo, Juang, Lanjia Saora, Paudi Bhuyan: Odisha hill communities with rich material culture and severe development indicator gaps.
• Kattunaikan and Cholanaikkan: Kerala forest tribes; Cholanaikkan are sometimes called the last cavemen of India because some sections still use rock shelters as seasonal dwellings.
• Reang (Bru): Tripura and Mizoram, large displaced population in Tripura since 1997. The 2020 Bru agreement formalised resettlement in Tripura.

PM-JANMAN: The 2023 Mission for PVTGs

On Janjatiya Gaurav Divas, 15 November 2023, the Prime Minister launched the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN) with a total outlay of Rs 24,104 crore for the three years 2023–24 to 2025–26. PM-JANMAN is the flagship Central Sector and Centrally Sponsored Scheme package for Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups, designed to bring saturation coverage of basic services to PVTG habitations across 22,000 villages in 18 states and UTs.

The mission has 11 critical interventions delivered through 9 line ministries:

1. Pucca houses: 4.9 lakh houses under PMAY-Gramin for PVTG families.
2. All-weather roads: 8,000 km of roads under PMGSY for PVTG villages.
3. Piped water supply: Jal Jeevan Mission community piped water for PVTG hamlets.
4. Electricity connections: Last-mile household electrification under Saubhagya principles.
5. LPG connections: PMUY connections for PVTG households.
6. Multi-purpose centres: 1,000 multi-purpose service centres for PVTG areas.
7. Mobile medical units: 1,000 mobile medical units for hard-to-reach PVTG habitations.
8. Anganwadi-cum-creche centres: 2,500 Anganwadi centres in PVTG villages.
9. Hostels: New school hostels in PVTG-dominant blocks.
10. Vaster (Van Dhan Vikas Kendra) tribal economic centres: 500 Van Dhan Kendras for PVTGs.
11. Mobile telecom towers: 4G mobile towers in PVTG habitations.

PM-JANMAN works alongside the older Conservation-cum-Development Plan for PVTGs, the Pradhan Mantri Adi Adarsh Gram Yojana, the Eklavya Model Residential Schools network, and the Tribal Sub-Plan framework.

The Forest Rights Act, Habitat Rights, and PVTGs

Section 3(1)(e) of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 provides for community habitat rights for Primitive Tribal Groups and Pre-Agricultural Communities. This is a unique provision available only to PVTGs and is broader than community forest rights. It recognises the entire habitat, including settlements, cultivation areas, ritual sites, and the surrounding forest, as belonging to the PVTG community.

As of 2026, habitat rights have been recognised for a small set of PVTGs:

• Baiga in Madhya Pradesh (Baiga Chak, Dindori; first in 2016).
• Bharia in Madhya Pradesh (Patalkot, Chhindwara).
• Kamar in Chhattisgarh (2023).
• Dongaria Khond, Kutia Khond, Paudi Bhuyan in Odisha (2024–25).

Habitat rights recognition is slow and politically difficult because it requires the state to acknowledge tribal control over large landscape blocks. PM-JANMAN’s documentation push and the central government’s 2024 advisory to states are expected to accelerate this process.

Challenges Before the PVTG Framework

Several long-standing problems remain.

1. The list is frozen at 75 communities since the 1990s. Many small communities that meet the four criteria have not been added.
2. Population estimates are unreliable for several PVTGs. The Census of India does not separately enumerate PVTGs; numbers are derived from state tribal welfare departments and anthropological surveys.
3. Inter-state variation is severe. The same community can receive substantial support in one state and almost none in another.
4. Habitat rights implementation is slow. Out of 75 PVTGs, fewer than 10 have received habitat rights as of 2026.
5. Forced displacement continues. Coal, iron-ore, bauxite, and hydroelectric projects keep displacing PVTGs in Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Andaman and Nicobar.
6. The Sentinelese question raises a unique policy challenge: a community that has actively refused contact and whose isolation is itself a form of protection.

The Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups framework also intersects with the larger conversation about tribal movements, PESA, and the larger Adivasi communities like the Santhal tribe, Gond tribe, and Bhil tribe — communities that are not PVTGs but whose smaller sub-groups (Birhor, Baiga, Saharia, Bondo) are.

A Closing Note

The PVTG list is the Indian state’s official acknowledgement that within the Scheduled Tribes are 75 communities for whom standard development models do not work. Some, like the Sentinelese, will likely never participate in mainstream institutions and that is itself a policy outcome. Others, like the Saharia and the Reang, need active state delivery of housing, education, and food. PM-JANMAN is the most ambitious framework yet, but its success will be measured by habitat rights, population stabilisation, and the disappearance of headlines about Saharia hunger deaths or Onge population collapse, not by spending alone.

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