Provisions for Schedule Tribes in India – UPSC Prelims

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  • Article 366 (25) of the Constitution refers to Scheduled Tribes as those communities, who are scheduled in accordance with Article 342 of the Constitution.
  • Article 342 says that only those communities who have been declared as such by the President through an initial public notification or through a subsequent amending Act of Parliament will be considered to be Scheduled Tribes.
  • The list of Scheduled Tribes is State/UT specific and a community declared as a Scheduled Tribe in a State need not be so in another State.
  • The Constitution is silent about the criteria for specification of a community as a Scheduled Tribe.
  • Primitiveness, geographical isolation, shyness and social, educational & economic backwardness are the traits that distinguish Scheduled Tribe communities from other communities.
  • There are certain Scheduled Tribes, 75 in number known as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), who are characterised by :
    • pre-agriculture level of technology;
    • stagnant or declining population;
    • extremely low literacy; and
    • subsistence level of economy.
  • Government Initiatives:
    • The Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA);
    • The Provision of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996;
    • Minor Forest Produce Act 2005;
    • SC And ST (Prevention Of Atrocities) Act;
    • Tribal Sub-Plan Strategy are focused on the socio-economic empowerment of STs.
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