State of denotified, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes in India

A standing committee of Parliament has criticised the functioning of the development programme for de-notified, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes.

Context

A standing committee of Parliament has criticised the functioning of the development programme for de-notified, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes.

Denotified tribes (DNTs) are communities that were notified as being ‘born criminal’ during the British regime under a series of laws starting with the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871.
- They were denotified in 1952 when independent India repealed this act but the Habitual Offenders Act, 1952, kicked in soon after.
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.

A National Commission for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (NCDNT) was first set up in 2003 and later reconstituted in 2005.
- It was headed by Balkrishna Sidram Renke and estimated their population at around 10.74 crore based on Census 2001.
A new Commission which was constituted in 2014 to prepare a state-wise list submitted its report in 2018 identifying 1,262 communities as de-notified, nomadic and semi-nomadic.

The 2014 commission that submitted a report in 2018 had recommended the setting of up a permanent commission for these communities.
However, the government set up the Development and Welfare Board for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities (DWBDNC) under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
- The DWBDNC was constituted in 2019 under the chairmanship of Bhiku Ramji Idate.
It was set under the aegis of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for the purpose of implementing welfare programmes.
Also, a committee has been set up by the NITI Aayog to complete the process of identification of the DNCs.
Ethnographic studies of DNCs are being conducted by the Anthropological Survey of India.