Question

The Bhils and the Kols live __________.
a)Along the Vindhya ranges
b)In the Nilgiris
c)In the North-East frontiers of India
d)All of the above

Answer 1

Hint: Bhils and the Kols are indigenous people of Western Central Deccan India. They do not live in the North East frontiers and Southern states.

Complete Answer: The Bhils and the Kols are an ancient tribal population known from the Ramyanya. The Bhils are the ethnic group of Western India. They live in the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Tripura and Karnataka. The Kols are the tribal people of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh who migrated from central India five centuries ago. Most of them are landless people who depend on the forest produce for their survival. Today they are designated as Schedule Casts under Indias’s System of Positive Discrimination. They live in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Tripura.
The Vindhya Range is a discontinuous chain of mountains, hills, highlands and plateaus in west-central India. It covers the states of Gujarat, Madhya pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. It shares borders with Satpura Range and Chota Nagpur Plateau.

Looking at the options given:
Option A: The Vindhya range comprises the states where most of the tribal population of the Bhils and the Kols live. This is the correct answer.
Option B: The Nilgiri is the range of mountains that spread across the borders among the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. But the Bhils and the Kols do not live in these southern states. This is an incorrect answer.
Option C: Among the North-East frontier states of India, there is only one state comprising these ethnic groups i.e, the state of Tripura. And majority of them live in western central India. This is an incorrect answer.
Option D: The Kols and the Bhils mostly live along the Vindhya range and not in the Nilgiris and in the North-East frontier of India. This is an incorrect answer.

Option ‘A’ is correct.

Note: Do not confuse it with the Nilgirs or North-East frontiers. The Bhils and the Kols do not live in these regions. They are ethnic groups of western and central India.