Q1.
Tribal communities are largely spread over the states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Gujarat. Examine the physical and political maps at the end of this book to locate the states and connect them to their location on the physical map.
Answer
Find each State on the political map, then look at the same spot on the physical map. Almost every one of them turns out to sit on forested plateau or hill country, not on open plains.
| State | What the physical map shows there |
|---|---|
| Jharkhand | The Chota Nagpur Plateau — forested, hilly, rich in minerals |
| West Bengal | The western edge merges into the Chota Nagpur uplands; the north touches the Himalayas |
| Odisha | The Eastern Ghats and forested hills behind the coastal plain |
| Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh | The central plateau — Satpura, Maikal and Bastar hills, with dense forest |
| Maharashtra | The Western Ghats and the Deccan Plateau behind them |
| Telangana | The Deccan Plateau and the Eastern Ghats |
| Gujarat | The eastern hill belt where the Aravallis, Satpuras and Western Ghats meet |
| Assam | The Brahmaputra valley with hills on both sides |
The tribes named in the chapter — the Santhal, Gond, Baiga, Bhil and Korku — live in this forested belt. Each has its own language, traditions and ways of life closely connected to Nature.
What the two maps together tell you: a broad forested plateau belt runs diagonally across India from Gujarat in the west to Jharkhand and Odisha in the east. Political boundaries cut across it, but the forest and hills are continuous — which is why these communities are found in so many different States.