According to the Census of 2011, the proportion of Scheduled Castes in Madhya…

Concept

The decennial Census of India, conducted by the Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India, separately enumerates the population belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) for every State/UT — a mandate that flows from Articles 341 and 342 of the Constitution — alongside each State's total population. A social group's population share for a State is then calculated as (population of that group in the State ÷ total population of the State) × 100.

Applying it here

1. Census 2011 recorded Madhya Pradesh's total population as 7,26,26,809 (72,626,809).

2. Of this, the Scheduled Caste population of the State was enumerated as 1,13,42,320 (11,342,320).

3. SC share = (11,342,320 ÷ 72,626,809) × 100 ≈ 15.617%.

4. Rounded to one decimal place, this is 15.6% — printed with two decimal places (to match the option format) as 15.60%, the figure the Census tables and the Government of Madhya Pradesh's official demographic statistics cite for the State's Scheduled Caste share, and the value that completes the blank.

Cross-check

Census 2011's socio-religious composition tables for Madhya Pradesh also record the State's Scheduled Tribe (ST) share at about 21.1%. An SC share of roughly 15.6% is consistent with this — it sits below the all-India SC average of about 16.6%, matching the wider demographic profile the Census reports for the State.