Tribal village in MP boasts of administrative officers

Bhopal, Sep 6 : Tucked in the remote area of Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district, tribal-dominated Padiyaal village is popularly known as "adhikariyon ka gaon"– or village of administrators -– where every child wants to become a civil servant, an engineer or a doctor.

With a little over 5,000 population, this tribal-dominated village in Malwa region has more than 100 people serving as administrative officers in different parts of India. Nearly 90 per cent population of the village belongs to Bhil tribes.

Bhils are an ethnic community who live in the states of central India, including Dhar, Jhabua, and West Nimar districts of Madhya Pradesh and Dhulia and Jalgaon in Maharashtra. They are also found in Rajasthan.

According to the Madhya Pradesh government's claims, the literacy rate of Padiyaal village is more than 90 per cent.

Until, two years back, the number of administrative officers from this village were 70, which crossed 100 in 2024, according to the Madhya Pradesh government. This includes lower court judges, Indian Police Service officers, Indian Administrative Service officers Indian Engineering Service officers, doctors, prosecution officers, forest officers, etc.

However, the quality of education or literacy rate of this Bhil tribe-dominated village could be judged when out of seven school children, four were selected for successfully qualifying the NEET examination and three others cleared the Joint Entrance Examination Mains this year only.

There is also an average of one government employee from every house in this village that is a total of 300, the state government said in a statement.

It is said that youth here started to compete since the time of Independence to appear in competitive examinations.

Manoj Dubey, who has been working as Block Resources Centre official in this area for a long time, and witnessed the success stories of youths of this particular village, said the village has laid greater emphasis on imparting education.

He added that school children would start their preparations for administrative services, technical or other fields, including medicine and engineering.

Smart classes run by retired persons from different administrative services have played a crucial role, he said.

"Over a dozen officers, who are the residents of Padiyaal village, have retired and are engaged in public service, like education and medicine. The youth currently studying are pursuing higher education inspired by elders," Dubey told IANS.

The youth from here have become engineers and businessmen and are well settled in countries like the US and Malaysia.

There is a higher secondary school in the village, in which 702 students are taught by 23 teachers.

Until, two years back, the number of administrative officeers from this village were 70, which crossed 100 in 2024, according to the MP government. This includes lower court judges, Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Indian Engineering Services officers, medical officers, prosecution officers, forest officer doctors, etc.