(i) Marginalised groups are those who are deprived from the mainstream society. They are subjected to many forms of discrimination and are often denied from resources and opportunities.
(ii)Many a times, these downtrodden sections are not allowed to mix with the rest of the society. These include slaves, people with diseases like leprosy, people who perform jobs that are thought to be polluting like cleaning sewers, people belonging to indigenous tribes and the 'blacks'.
(iii) Traditionally, women in almost all the societies are marginalised. In India, the practice of caste system has resulted in the creation of a section of people who are excluded from the society or marginalised.
(iv) People working as leather workers, manual scavengers, etc. are treated as outcastes and are subject to humiliation and suppression.

(i) The Adivasi population is unique in social structure  as they show little differences or hierarchy.
(ii) They are away from biasis of caste or religion.
(iii) They practice a range of tribal religions that are different from Islam, Hinduisum and Christianity.
(iv) Their religious practices include worship of ancestors, village, nature and nature related spirits.
(v) The village spirits are often worshipped at specific sacred groves within the village boundary, while the ancestral ones are usually worshipped at home.
(vi) They are influenced by the surrounding religions like Shakta, Vaishnav, Buddhism or Christianity.
(vii) Basically, they are influenced by the dominant religions of the State around them.
(viii) Adivasis have their own language and many modern Indian languages are derived from them.
(ix) Santhali is the one of the most recognizable languages of Adivasis.

(i) By losing their lands and access to the forest, tribals lose their main sources of livelihood and food.
(ii) Most Adivasis have migrated to cities in search of work where they are employed at very low wagesin local industries and at construction sites.
(iii) 45 per cent of tribal groups in rural areas and 35 per cent in urban areas live below the poverty line. This leads to their deprivation in other areas.
(iv) When Adivasis are displaced from their lands, they lose much more than a source of income.
(v) Many tribal children are malnourished. Literacy rate among the tribals is also very low.

(i) People who were formerly treated as untouchables in the society are called Scheduled Castes.
(ii) The chief provisions for uplifting and safeguarding the interests of the SCs and STs are the following:
(a) Article 46 of the Constitution provides, "The care, the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people and in particular of the SCs and the STs, shall protect them from social injustice and all form of exploitation".
(b) Article 17 declares, "Untouchability is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden. It enforces that any disability arising out of the untouchability shall be an offence punishable with law."
(c) According to article 275, "There shall be a pay out of the consolidated fund of India as grants- in-aid of the revenues of states. Such capital and recurring sums as may be undertaken by the state, with the approval of the government for the purpose of raising the level of administration of the scheduled areas therein to that of the administration of the rest of that state."
(d) The Preamble to the Constitution of India, the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of the State Policy also contain several provisions for safeguarding interests of the SCs and STs.
Implementation of the Constitution provisions :
To implement the above Constitution provisions, several steps have been taken for the welfare and upliftment of the weaker sections of the society. These include:
(i) Jobs in the government are reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
(ii) Seats are reserved for SCs and STs in educational institutions.
(iii) Some constituencies of Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies are reserved for the SC and ST candidates. In such constituencies, only a SC or ST
candidate can contest the elections.
(iv) Provisions have been made for various competitive examinations to improve the representation of SCs and STsin various services.
(v) Book banks have been provided to SC and ST students aspiring for Engineering and medical courses.
(vi) Scholarship and grants for higher education from abroad are also given.
(vii) Hostel facility for SC and ST girls studying in schools, colleges and universities have been given. Most of the above provisions are common to both, the SC and ST people.
(viii) Vocational Training Programmes have been started in tribal areas by opening educational institutions for the promotion of female literacy in these areas.

There are certain groups of people or communities in our society who experience exclusion from the mainstream in different ways Their exclusion may be because of their differe languages, customs, religions etc. This exclusi leads to those communities not having access resources and opportunities and therefore rnarqinalisation. Marginalisation can be economic, social, cultural and political and eve all of them together. All these factors compelt marginalised community to group together and live among their own as they feel secure. Thisi called ghettoisation. This leads to them becoming alienated from the rest of the society and thereby further marginalisation.

Adivasis, the term literally means original inhabitants. Adivasis originally lived in or near forest regions. They were engaged in cultivation, agriculture, hunting, gathering etc. They were aware of the different plant species available in the forest and their utilities. They lived in close harmony with nature.
However, with change in forest policies and intervention of government and private industries, the Adivasis were forcefully evicted from their land. Since the forest.areas were found to be rich in metal ores, tirriber, other forest products and also suitable for" agriculture, the tribals were evicted from there. They were then deprived of their place of living and livelihood and forced to move to cities in search of work.

Ghettoisation is the process which leads to a situation in which a particular area is populated by members of a particular community.
This situation occurs due to different social, cultural and economic reasons. Fear or hostility may compel a community to group together, as they feel more secure living amongst their own.

Around 10,000 different plant species are used by Adivasis for different purposes like medicinal, pesticides, guns, resins, dyes, fibres, edible, etc.

The Adivasi languages have often deeply influenced the formation of mainstream of Indian language like Bengali.

The two types of minorities are:
(i) Minority based on religion.
(ii) Minority based on Language.