237. Tribes of Rajasthan

Rajasthan ST Population (Census 2011) is the first anchor for the topic. Census 2011 recorded 92,38,534 Scheduled Tribe persons in Rajasthan, equal to 13.48 percent of the state population. The official individual-ST table also shows why a simple one-line label can mislead: the Mina row records 43,45,528 persons, the Bhil group row records 41,00,264 persons, Garasia records 3,14,194, Damor/Damaria records 91,463, Kathodi/Katkari records 4,833 and Seharia/Sahariya records 1,11,377. The Social Justice and Empowerment Department list gives 12 notified Scheduled Tribes for Rajasthan, beginning with the Bhil cluster and ending with Seharia, Sehria, Sahariya. That list is administrative, while the Census table is demographic; together they frame reservation, district ranking, welfare planning and district maps. The notified list is broader than the six high-frequency names. It includes Bhil, Bhil Mina, Damor, Dhanka, Garasia, Kathodi/Katkari, Koli Dhor, Kokna/Kokni, Mina, Naikda, Patelia and Seharia/Sehria/Sahariya. A small community can therefore be legally present even when its Census row is small. Census scale then adds a second layer: Bhil Mina is separate from Mina, Garasia is counted excluding Rajput Garasia, and Kathodi/Katkari remains a very small Aravalli-linked row. Tribe geography in Rajasthan is therefore not a romantic desert subject. It is a table-and-map subject built on Census 2011, the notified list, district concentration and specific policy instruments. Spatial pattern matters as much as the name. Mina/Meena communities are strongest in the eastern belt; Bhil communities shape the southern Mewar-Vagad belt; Sahariya forms a sharply localized Baran pocket; Garasia, Damor and Kathodi/Katkari are smaller but repeatedly useful for Aravalli, occupation and culture markers. Census 2011 remains the official base until a later census replaces it, so district-wise ST percentage references still use the 2011 frame even when current welfare schemes use newer surveys. The category also has internal layers of scale and visibility: Mina and Bhil dominate the state total, Garasia and Sahariya remain large enough to carry district-level identity, Damor sits inside the southern tribal complex, and Kathodi/Katkari is numerically small but distinctive because its name, location and occupation clue all point to a narrow Aravalli pocket. That hierarchy is the foundation for the rest of the topic.