Context: Denotified tribes, nomadic tribes, semi-nomadic tribes seek ‘separate column’ in 2027 caste census, claiming they have been politically misclassified among SC, ST, OBC groups; they want sub-classification to highlight backwardness within grouping.
- Denotified tribes, nomadic tribes, and semi-nomadic tribes across the country are coming together to push for a “separate column” for themselves in Census 2027 . Their demand is for constitutional recognition of the denotified tribes in a Schedule, on a par with the existing classifications of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
- In February 2027, India will conduct a caste enumeration for the first time since 1931. Five years after that 1931 Census, the origins of the Scheduled Castes list came into being in the form of the Government of India (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1936.
- Half a century earlier, in 1871, a colonial law had classified entire communities, particularly nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes, as “criminals”. After the law was repealed in 1952, these groups came to be known as “denotified” tribes.
- The Social Justice Ministry has now recommended to the Office of the Registrar-General of India that these denotified, nomadic, and semi-nomadic tribes be included in the Census. The Office of the RGI has agreed to include them in next year’s caste enumeration exercise, Ministry officials assured community leaders in North India in a virtual meeting on January 30.
‘Separate column’
- “But we have no idea how they will do this,” B.K. Lodhi, a community organiser in Uttar Pradesh who was at the meeting, told The Hindu. “If we are not counted in a separate column, a separate code, in the Census forms, we will be lost once again,” said Balak Ram Sansi, 63, a Karnal-based organiser with the All India Denotified Nomadic Tribes Development Council.
- Even as leaders from denotified, nomadic, and semi-nomadic communities across Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and other parts of North India are fighting to have their own Schedule, some leaders have started to stress the importance of recognising “graded backwardness” within this grouping as well.
- They want the demand for sub-classification to go hand in hand with that for a separate Schedule. These leaders, like Dr. Lodhi, are drawing their arguments from an August 2024 judgment, in which the Supreme Court paved the way for sub-classification of SCs and STs.
Denotified tribes
- The Criminal Tribes Act was first enacted in 1871 and then amended in 1924, before being officially repealed on August 31, 1952. The 1871 Act said it was for the “registration, surveillance and control of certain criminal tribes and eunuchs”, describing “criminal tribes” as “tribe, gang, or class of persons” that are “addicted” to committing non-bailable offences. “These communities were among the first to confront the British and sustained the struggle. That is why the colonial government classified us as ‘criminal tribes’,” Mr. Sansi said.
- The previous National Commission for Denotified Tribes, headed by Bhiku Ramji Idate, identified 1,200 such tribes, most of which have been assimilated in the SC, ST, or OBC classifications over the past seven decades. In its 2017 report, however, the Idate Commission listed 267 DNT communities that have not been classified as such. Dr. Lodhi, who served as Deputy Secretary and Director (Research) to the Idate Commission, said, “Most of the DNTs have been amalgamated in the SC, ST, OBC lists and they are not able to compete in these categories because of how marginalised they are.” Mr. Sansi said it was “politics” that led to the DNT communities being “misclassified”.
No caste certificates
- Despite schemes for DNTs run by both the State and the Centre, such as the SEED scheme, only a “miniscule” percentage of people are getting benefits, mainly because governments are not willing to issue DNT certificates, the leaders said.
- The Social Justice Ministry has only spent ₹69.3 crore on the SEED scheme in the past five years (as of December 2025), compared to the planned expenditure of ₹200 crore. “The reason for this is that no State is issuing proper DNT community certificates for us despite reminders from the Centre,” Dr. Lodhi said.