Which one of the following statements is not correct?

Answer: (b) North-East India accounts for a little over half of the country’s tribal population.

Not correct — the North-East has only about 12% of India’s tribal population; central India has most.

The idea

A large tribal share within a State does not mean that State contains a large share of all India’s tribal people. The two percentages use different totals. Compare absolute numbers before making a claim about where most Scheduled Tribe residents live.

Why the others are wrong

(a) Correct — the Constitution doesn’t define ST; Article 342 lets the President notify them.

(c) Correct — Todas live in the Nilgiris.

(d) Correct — Lotha is a Naga language.

The trap

NE States have high tribal SHARES, but central India has the most tribal PEOPLE.

Elimination technique

The negative stem asks for the wrong statement. High tribal percentages in small north-eastern States cannot establish that they contain half of India’s tribal population; test the national-total denominator before accepting that claim.

Also know

Article 366(25) links Scheduled Tribes to Article 342, which provides for their notification; it does not give a general social or ethnic definition. The Fifth Schedule concerns scheduled areas, while the Sixth Schedule provides autonomous arrangements in parts of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. ST status is tied to the notified State or Union Territory.