61% rural ST population in Maha lives below poverty line
Almost 61.6% of the rural Scheduled Tribe (ST) population in Maharashtra is living below poverty line (BPL) in spite of the state government spending nearly ₹4,000 crore annually on tribal development, reports said. Reportedly, Maharashtra is second only to Odisha where 63.5% of STs living in rural areas are BPL, whereas the national average for the same is 45.3%.