India’s population constitutes about 70 per cent of rural population and 8.6 per cent tribal population. Tribes are one of the most vulnerable sections of the Indian society requiring special policy framework to deal with their problems and issues. Present work is devoted to understand the tribes, their ethnographic situation and the steps taken at the different levels of the government to improve their situation. Panchayats Extension to the Scheduled Areas 1996 (PESA Act 1996) is a benchmark initiative on the lines of the 73rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution.