Racial Groups in India

The Scheduled Tribes of India inhabit about 15-20% of the geographical land area of the Indian sub-continent in largely contiguous areas. In the mid-Indian region, the Gonds who numbered over 5 million, are the descendants of the dark skinned Kolarian or Dravidian tribes and speak dialects of the Austric language family, as are the Santhal who number 4 million. The Negrito and Austroloid people belong to the Mundari family of Munda, Santhal, Ho, Ashur, Kharia, Paniya, Saora etc. The Dravidian groups include the Gond, Oraon, Khond, Malto, Bhil, Mina, Garasia, Pradhan etc. and speak Austric or the Dravidian family of languages. The Gujjar and Bakarwal descend from the Greco Indians and are interrelated with the Gujjar of Gujarat and the tribes settled around Gujranwala in Pakistan.

There are some 200 indigenous peoples in the northeast. The Boro, Khasi, Jantia, Naga, Garo, Tripiri, Mikir, Apatani, Boro, Khasi, Kuki, Karbi etc. belong to the Mongoloid stock and speak languages of the Tibeto-Burman language groups and the Mon Khmer. The Adi, Aka, Apatani, Dafla, Gallong, Khamti, Monpa, Nocte, Sherdukpen, Singpho, Tangsa, Wancho, etc. of Arunachal Pradesh and the Garo of Meghalaya are of Tibeto-Burman stock while the Khasi of Meghalaya belong to the Mon Khmer group. In the southern region, the Irula, Paniya, Adiya, Sholaga, Kurumba etc. belong to the proto-Australoid racial stock speaking dialects of the Dravidian family.

There are also Scheduled Tribes in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram, whose communities extend across the international border in China (including Tibet), Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh.