75 tribal groups, who are more vulnerable among the tribal groups, have been categorized by Ministry of Home Affairs as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).
These tribals are characterised by: pre-agriculture level of technology, stagnant or declining population, extremely low literacy and subsistence level of economy/ economic backwardness.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs implements the 100% Central Sector Scheme of “Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)” exclusively for them.
PVTGs reside in 18 States and UT of A&N Islands.Among 75 listed PVTG’s the highest number are found in Odisha (13), followed by Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana) (12).
Six tribal groups consisting of the Great Andamanese, the Jarawa, the Onge, the Shompen, the Sentinelese, and the Nicobarese live in the A&N Islands today. Out of the eight north-eastern States, PVTGs are found only in Tripura and Manipur.