Denotified Tribes are the tribes in India that were listed originally under the

Criminal Tribes Act Since the 1870s, various pieces of colonialism, colonial legislation in India during British Raj, British rule were collectively called the Criminal Tribes Act (CTA). This criminalised entire communities by designating them as habitual criminals ...

of 1871, as ''Criminal Tribes'' and "addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offences." Once a tribe became "notified" as criminal, all its members were required to register with the local magistrate, failing which they would be charged with a crime under the

Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code (IPC) was the official criminal code of the Republic of India, inherited from British India after independence. It remained in force until it was repealed and replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in December 2023 ...

. The Criminal Tribes Act was repealed in 1949 and thus 'de-notified' the tribal communities. This Act, however, was replaced by a series of Habitual Offenders Acts, that asked police to investigate a suspect's "criminal tendencies" and whether their occupation is "conducive to settled way of life." The denotified tribes were reclassified as "habitual offenders" in 1959. The name "Criminal Tribes" is itself a misnomer as no definition of tribe denotes occupation, but they were identified as tribes "performing" their primary occupation. The first census was in 1871 and at that time there was no consensus nor any definition of what constitutes a "tribe". The terms "

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

" and "

caste A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...

" were used interchangeably for these tribes.

Call for repeal

The UN's anti-discrimination body

Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) is a United Nations convention. A third-generation human rights instrument, the Convention commits its members to the elimination of racial discri ...

(CERD) asked India to repeal the Habitual Offenders Act (1952) and effectively rehabilitate the denotified and nomadic tribes on 9 March 2007.

Reservations

In 2008, the National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (NCDNSNT) of

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is a Government of India Ministry (government department), ministry. It is responsible for welfare spending, welfare, social justice and empowerment of disadvantaged and marginalised sections of soc ...

recommended equal reservations, as available to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, for around 110 million people belonging to the denotified tribes,

nomadic Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

or semi-nomadic tribes in India. Along with the tribes designated as, "Nomadic" or "Semi-Nomadic", the denotified tribes are eligible for reservation.

List of Denotified tribes

Here are a list of

s and

castes A caste is a fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (endogamy), foll ...

which were listed under

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

government in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. *

Koli Koli may refer to: People * Koli people, Indian caste group * Koli Christians, a Christian subgroup * Muslim Kolis, Muslim community * Koli (surname), Indian surname * Koli Sewabu (born 1975), Fijian rugby union footballer Places * Koli, Fin ...

Ramoshi The Ramoshi are an Indian community found largely in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka. They are classified as a Backward Community by the government of India. History The Ramoshi in Maharashtra were earlier known as Vedan. They were ...

Bazigar Bazigar (from bazi + gar), or Goaars, are an ethnic group of north-western India. They are primarily found in Punjab and in Pakistan's Punjab, but there are also communities in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu ...

Bawaria Babaria (alternate spellings of which include Bauria, Babariya, Bawaria and Baraiya) are a nomadic tribe found mainly in the Indian states of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Traditions The Babaria are traditionally a nomadic t ...

Bauria ''Bauria'' is an extinct genus of the suborder Therocephalia that existed during the Early Triassic, Early and Middle Triassic period, around 246-251 million years ago. It belonged to the family Bauriidae. ''Bauria'' was probably a herbivore o ...

Banjara The Banjara are nomadic tribes found in India. Etymology The Gor usually refer to themselves as ''Banjaras'' and outsiders as ''Kor'', but this usage does not extend outside their own community. A related usage is ''Gor Mati'' or ''Gormati'', ...

Nat Nat or NAT may refer to: Computing * Network address translation (NAT), in computer networking Chemistry, biology, and medicine * Natural antisense transcript, an RNA transcript in a cell * N-acetyltransferase, an enzyme; also NAT1, NAT2, et ...

Harni The Harni are a Muslim community found in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. and also found in Punjab, India Punjab () is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab, Punjab region ...

Pardeshi Rajput The Pardeshi Rajput (also known as Pardeshi Bhamta, Bhamta Rajput, Bhamti, or simply Pardeshi) is a caste of Rajputs primarily found in Nashik, Solapur, Pune, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Akola, Amravati, and many other districts of Maharashtra. They a ...

(Bhamta) * Kallar *

Maravar Maravar (also known as Maravan and Marava) are a Tamil community in the state of Tamil Nadu. These people are one of the three branches of the Mukkulathor confederacy. Members of the Maravar community often use the honorific title '' Thevar''. ...

Boya Boya may refer to: *Boya, Western Australia *Boya, Nepal *Boya people, an ethnic group in Sudan *Boya (caste), Boya caste, Boya caste of India *Mireia Boya Busquet (born 1979), Spanish scientist and politician *Pierre Boya (born 1984), Cameroonian ...

* Koravar *

Narikurava The Narikkuṟava are an indigenous group from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. During British rule in India they were placed under the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871. Hence they stigmatized for a long time, including after Independence. They were ...

Gurjar The Gurjar (or Gujjar, Gujar, Gurjara) are an agricultural ethnic community, residing mainly in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were traditionally involved in agriculture, pastoral and nomadic ...

References

External links

National Commission for denotified, Nomadic & Semi-nomadic Tribes (Govt. of India)
''

''
List of Denotified Communities
on Government of Tamil Nadu website {{DEFAULTSORT:Denotified Tribes Discrimination in India Ethnic groups in India Law of India

Call for repeal

Reservations

List of Denotified tribes

See also

References

Further reading

External links