In 1871 some tribes were noted as criminal in the Criminal Tribes Act launched by the British. It bestowed on the police power to arrest them on suspicion. The Act defined their identity more than 130 years ago and astonishingly not much has changed for them since then despite the fact those five years after Independence, the Criminal Tribes Act was repealed. The tribes were no longer to be identified as criminal.
They were denotified in 1952 and came to be known as denotified tribes (DNTs). The Antrolikar Committee working in 1949 emphasised that the DNTs were somehow not more or less criminal than the rest of the people. Logical fallout of this perspective is the negation of the need for a Special Act to deal with the DNT. Simultaneously, the All India Criminal Tribes Inquiry Committee was working toward annulling of criminal Tribes Act in 1982.
The Kaka Kalelkar Committee made recommendations for the DNTs. In 1965, an Advisory Committee on the revision of the lists for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (the Lokur Committee) said about the DNTs, ‘We suggest that the present anomalous position regarding the denotified as communities rather than tribes, should be rectified as soon as possible after a detailed investigation’.
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Though few, there are well are centres for denotified tribes. The chief mission of these centres is socioeconomic upliftment of denotified tribes. The centres are engaged in providing pre-primary education to children between the age of 3 and 5 years and training in sewing and embroidery work to girls and women who belong to these tribes.
The DNTs themselves aspire to be included in the SC/ST lists so as to be able to avail the benefits extended to them. It is ironical that while the recommendations made for the DNTs are well intended their plight remains deplorable.