The criteria followed for specification of a community as ST include: primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with the community at large and backwardness. These tribal people,considered to be the descendants of the country’s original inhabitants, are largely located in hilly tracts of Central and North Eastern India, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Small populations are scattered in the hilly tracts of the southern states and Himachal Pradesh. State-wise concentration of ST population is depicted in Table 1. Table 1. State-wise Distribution of ST Population (%) Percentage States < 10 Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andaman & Nicobar Is, Andhra Pradesh 10 – 20 Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Rajasthan, Gujarat 20-30 Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh 30 – 40 Sikkim, Manipur, Tripura, Chhattisgarh 40 – 60 Dadar & Nagar Haveli 60 – 80 Arunachal Pradesh 80 – 90 Nagaland, Meghalaya 90 > Lakshyadweep, Mizoram Source: Census of India, 2011 According to the 2011 Census of India, the total population of the STs is 104,281,034, of which 89.97 % are rural-based and the rest (10.03 %) are in urban areas. Efforts made by the government right from the beginning of the planned era (1951) through various developmental plans, policies, special strategies and programs, have registered a definite quantifiable improvement in the socioeconomic status of tribals. However, their quality of life is not yet anywhere near to mainstream society’s, as the gap in their socio-economic status continues to prevail. Status of Indigenous People’s Land and Resource Rights Access to Land and Land Rights Land is not only an economic asset; its ownership is also socially valuable and often co-terminus with social status. The unequal distribution of land reflects both prevailing social stratification and continuation of hierarchical structures of society. So far as the access of STs to land is concerned, in none of the states are tribal people a significant proportion. A significant proportion of tribal people are concentrated in pockets, generally in hilly tracts with poor soils and low productivity. The average size of operational landholding for ST is shown in Table 2. Land Rights Indigenous land rights are rights of indigenous peoples to land. Needless to say, resourcerelated rights are of fundamental significance to indigenous peoples for religious, selfdetermination, identity and economic reasons. Table 2. Average Size of Operational Land Holding for STs (in ha) Category Agriculture Census 2005-06 Agriculture Census 2010-11 Marginal 0.48 0.49 Small 1.39 1.44 Semimedium 2.67 2.70 Medium 5.76 5.73 Large 16.32 16.02 All Size Groups 1.64 1.53 Source: Agriculture Census 2010-11 (Provisional), Agriculture Census Division, Dept. of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India, 2012. Lok Niti 47