Khammam Slips 7 Places In ST Population Figures

Khammam witnessed a sharp decline in the population of Scheduled Tribes since the reorganisation of districts as per the new census, and has been surpassed by Bhadradri-Kothagudem in terms of the the population percentage of STs compared to the overall population in the district.

Khammam, which once had the highest tribal population in the 23 districts of the then undivided Andhra Pradesh, has now gone down several notches to the seventh position among the 31 districts in Telangana.

Displacing Khammam, Mahabubabad emerged as the top district accounting for a 37.8% of tribals of the total population followed by Bhadradri-Kothagudem, Adilabad, Kumaram Bheem-Asifabad, Jayashankar-Bhupalpally, and Warangal Rural. Karimnagar now is second from the bottom after Hyderabad as the district with the least ST population.

Officials said that Hyderabad had 1.24% of ST population while Karimnagar had 1.27%. "Medchal or Ranga Reddy districts have more tribes than Karimnagar. This is because almost the entire urban areas are part of Karimnagar," officials said.

Planning department Special Chief Secretary B P Acharya said they were also mapping the health, education, and per capita income status of SCs and STs in the State so that the government could implement its development plans in a better way for both the communities.