SHILLONG, June 15 ? The ?Maran Nagas? of Manipur and ?Reangs? of Tripura are among the 75 Scheduled Tribes in India who have been listed as ?primitive tribal groups? which were recording negative growth rates, according to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
The yardsticks adopted to identify those primitives are that their agricultural practices are obsolete; their health conditions and educational levels very poor resulting in a negative population growth rate, Ministry sources divulged here recently.
The highest number of 13 primitive tribes have been listed in Orissa, followed by Andhra Pradesh (12), Bihar and Jharkhand (nine), Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh (seven), Tamil Nadu (six), while five each have been listed in Kerala, Gujarat and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Maharashtra and West Bengal have three primitive tribes each.
Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal have two primitive tribes each while Rajasthan, Manipur and Tripura have recorded one primitive tribe each.
Only one primitive tribe ?Bichor? is found widely dispersed in Bihar and Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh and Orissa.