Denotified tribes
Also called: DNTs, Vimukta Jatis · Topic: Safeguards for Vulnerable Sections: SCs, STs, OBCs, Minorities, Women and Children · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Denotified tribes (DNTs) are communities that colonial rulers branded "criminal" by birth under the Criminal Tribes Act 1871. The Act was repealed in 1949, and these tribes were "denotified" (taken off the criminal list) in 1952. They still face stigma, because Habitual Offenders laws keep treating some of them as suspects. They matter as one of India's most neglected groups.
Example
The Renke Commission (2008) and the Idate Commission (2017) studied their condition. A Development and Welfare Board for DNTs followed in 2019, and the SEED scheme in 2022.
Don't confuse with
- Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs): Scheduled Tribes picked out for things like pre-agricultural technology and a falling population. DNTs are defined by their history of being labelled "criminal".
Related concepts
- Scheduled Castes
- Scheduled Tribes
- Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950
- K.G. Balakrishnan Commission
- Lokur Committee (1965)
- Commission on Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes
- Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups
- PM-JANMAN
- Tribal Sub-Plan
- Xaxa Committee (2014)