The process of inclusion or exclusion from the Scheduled Tribes list(continuation of 15sep article)

GS paper 2

Syllabus: Parliament and state legislature-structure, functioning and conduct of business, issues related to SC/ST etc

 

Directions: This is from the explained section of the Hindu. But we had already done the article on it on 15^th September FFP. This will be just a revision.

 

Source: The Hindu

 

Context:

• The Union Cabinet approved a proposal to add several tribes to the list of Scheduled Tribes (ST) in States so that they can avail of benefits meant for STs, including reservation.

 

Tribes included:

• Hatti tribe (Trans-Giri area of Sirmour district in Himachal Pradesh)
• Narikoravar(hill tribe of Tamil Nadu)
• Kuruvikaran(hill tribe of Tamil Nadu)
• Binjhia(Chhattisgarh)

 

Process to include or remove tribes from the list:

• Articles 341 and 342: The final decision rests with the President’s office issuing a notification specifying the changes.

What are the criteria:

• Ethnological traits
• Traditional characteristics
• Distinctive culture
• Geographical isolation
• Backwardness

 

Supreme Court on tribal inclusion:

• Affinity test to link a person to a tribe: There is the likelihood that contact with other cultures, migration and modernisation would have erased the traditional characteristics of a tribe.

 

How many Scheduled Tribes are there officially?

• Census 2011:
  • There are said to be 705 ethnic groups listed as Scheduled Tribes under Article 342.
  • Over 10 crore Indians are notified as STs.
  • The STs constitute 8.6(eight point six)% of the population and 11.3(eleven point three)% of the rural population.

 

 

Insta Links:

Issues related to SC/ST

 

Mains Links:

Q. What are the two major legal initiatives by the State since Independence addressing discrimination against Scheduled Tribes (STs)? (UPSC 2017)

 

Prelims Links:

SC

ST

NC-ST

Article 342

Tribes under article 342