{"id":66006,"date":"2026-02-05T18:18:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T12:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=66006"},"modified":"2026-02-05T18:21:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T12:51:48","slug":"denotified-tribes-census-demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/05-02-2026\/denotified-tribes-census-demand","title":{"rendered":"Denotified Tribes Demand Constitutional Recognition and Separate Census Enumeration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Governance\/ Social Justice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Denotified Tribes (DNTs), Nomadic Tribes (NTs), and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (SNTs) across India are demanding a separate column in the 2027 caste census and constitutional recognition through a distinct Schedule, citing long-standing political misclassification, and exclusion from welfare benefits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Nomadic, Semi Nomadic, and Denotified Tribes (NTs, SNTs, and DNTs)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Nomadic and semi-nomadic communities<\/strong> are defined as those who move from one place to another rather than living at one place all the time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>term &#8216;De-notified Tribes&#8217;<\/strong> stands for all those communities which were once notified under the <strong>Criminal Tribes Acts,<\/strong> enforced by the <strong>British Raj between 1871 and 1947.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>These Acts were repealed by the Government in <strong>1952,<\/strong> and these communities were <strong>&#8220;De-Notified&#8221;.<\/strong> A few of these communities which were listed as de-notified were also nomadic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>While most DNTs are spread across the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories, some <strong>DNTs are not covered in any of the SC, ST or OBC categories.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Status in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It has been estimated that South Asia has the <strong>world\u2019s largest nomadic population.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In India, roughly <strong>10 percent<\/strong> of the population is Denotified and Nomadic.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>While the number of Denotified Tribes is about <strong>150<\/strong>, the population of Nomadic Tribes consists of about <strong>500 different communities.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>While the Denotified Tribes have almost settled in various States of the country, the Nomadic Communities continue to be largely nomadic in pursuit of their traditional professions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Challenges faced by NTs, SNTs, and DNTs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Lack of Recognition and Documentation:<\/strong> Denotified communities lacking citizenship documents, which makes their identity invisible and causes hindrances in obtaining government benefits, constitutional, and citizenship rights.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Limited Political Representation:<\/strong> Inadequate representation for these communities making it challenging for them to voice their concerns and advocate for their rights.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Social Stigma and Discrimination:<\/strong> NTs, SNTs, and DNTs often face discrimination and social stigma, both due to their historical denotified status and their distinct way of life.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Economic Marginalization:<\/strong> Lack of access to resources, markets, and employment opportunities results in economic marginalization of these communities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Educational Deprivation:<\/strong> Educational opportunities for these tribes are limited, leading to high illiteracy rates.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Steps taken by government<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Based on the recommendations of the <strong>Idate Commission<\/strong> the Government of India constituted the <strong>Development and Welfare Board for DNTs, SNTs &amp;NTs (DWBDNCs)<\/strong> in 2019.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNTs (SEED): <\/strong>The scheme was launched in <strong>2022<\/strong> for the welfare of Denotified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Communities.<strong> <\/strong>The components of the Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNTs are;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To provide <strong>good quality coaching<\/strong> for DNT candidates to enable them to appear in competitive examinations;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To provide <strong>Health Insurance<\/strong> to them;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To facilitate<strong> livelihood initiative<\/strong> at community level; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To provide financial assistance for <strong>construction of houses<\/strong> for members of these communities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Idate Commission&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In <strong>2014<\/strong> , a National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes was constituted under the Chairmanship of <strong>Bhiku Ramji Idate<\/strong> for a period of three years.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The commission has given the following recommendations;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There is a need to identify challenges faced by the NTs, SNTs, and DNTs owing to the stigma imposed by the enactment of the<strong> Criminal Tribes Act, 1871<\/strong> and later by the <strong>Habitual Offenders Act, 1952<\/strong> and figure out a way to modify discriminatory provisions of the latter.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It also suggested the non-inclusion of DNTs\/NTs\/SNTs under the SC\/ST\/OBC and formulation of specific policies for the former, among many others.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Setting up a permanent commission<\/strong> for Nomadic, Semi Nomadic, and Denotified Tribes (NTs, SNTs, and DNTs) in India.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It stressed on taking measures to discern hurdles endured by the communities in availing basic facilities such as education, employment, health care, and legal documents, among others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/denotified-nomadic-and-semi-nomadic-tribes-demand-separate-column-census-2027\/article70591623.ece#:~:text=Denotifi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Denotified Tribes (DNTs), Nomadic Tribes (NTs), and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (SNTs) across India are demanding a separate column in the 2027 caste census and constitutional recognition through a distinct Schedule, citing long-standing political misclassification, and exclusion from welfare benefits. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> Nomadic, Semi Nomadic, and Denotified Tribes (NTs, SNTs, and DNTs) <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Nomadic and semi-nomadic communities are defined as those who move from one place to another rather than living at one place all the time. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The term &#8216;De-notified Tribes&#8217; stands for all those communities which were once notified under the Criminal Tribes Acts, enforced by the British Raj between 1871 and 1947.\u00a0 <\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/05-02-2026\/denotified-tribes-census-demand \" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66006"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66008,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66006\/revisions\/66008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}