The term 'Scheduled Tribes' first appeared in the Constitution of India. Article 366 (25) defined scheduled tribes as "such tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purposes of this constitution". Article 342, which is reproduced below, prescribes procedure to be followed in the matter of specification of scheduled tribes.
Article 342 Scheduled Tribes
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The President may, with respect to any State or Union territory, and where it is a state, after consultation with the Governor there of by public notification, specify the tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal communities which shall, for the purposes of this constitution, is deemed to be scheduled tribes in relation to that state or Union Territory, as the case may be.
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Parliament may by law include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled tribes specified in a notification issued under clause(1) any tribe or tribal community or part of or group within any tribe or tribal community, but save as aforesaid, a notification issued under the said clause shall not be varied by any subsequent notification.
Thus, the first specification of Scheduled Tribes in relation to a particular State/ Union Territory is by a notified order of the President, after consultation with the State governments concerned. These orders can be modified subsequently only through an Act of Parliament. The above Article also provides for listing of scheduled tribes State/Union Territory wise and not on an all India basis.
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The criterion followed for specification of a community, as scheduled tribes are indications of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with the community at large, and backwardness. This criterion is not spelt out in the Constitution but has become well established. It subsumes the definitions contained in 1931Census, the reports of first Backward Classes Commission 1955, the Advisory Committee (Kalelkar), on Revision of SC/ST lists (Lokur Committee),
1965 and the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes orders (Amendment) Bill 1967 (Chanda Committee), 1969.
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In exercise of the powers conferred by Clause (1) of Article 342 of the Constitution of India, the President, after Consultation with the State Governments concerned have promulgated so far 9 orders specifying the Scheduled Tribes in relation to the state and union territories. Out of these, eight are in operation at present in their original or amended form. One order namely the Constitution (Goa, Daman & Diu) Scheduled Tribes order 1968 has become defunct on account of reorganization of Goa, Daman & Diu in 1987. Under the Goa, Daman & Diu reorganization Act 1987 (18 of 1987) the list of Scheduled Tribes of Goa has been transferred to part XIX of the Schedule to the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 and that of Daman & Diu II of the Schedule of the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) (Union Territories) Order, 1951.
S. No. Name Of Order Date Of Notification Name Of States/ Ut(S) For Which Applicable
1 The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order 1950 (C.O.22) 6-9-1950 Andhra Pradesh, Arunanchal Pradsh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura And West Bengal.
2 The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) (Union Territories) Order, 1951 (C.O.33) 20-9-1951 Daman & Diu, Lakshdweep
3 The Constitution (Andaman And Nicobar Islands) Scheduled Tribes Order, 1959 (C.O. 58) 31-3-1959 Andaman And Nicobar Islands
4 The Constitution (Dadra & Nagar Haveli) Scheduled Tribes Order, 1962 (C.O. 65) 30-6-1962 Dadra & Nagar Haveli
5 The Constitution (Uttar Pradesh) Scheduled Tribes Order, 1967 (C.O. 78) 24-6-1967 Uttar Pradesh
6 The Constitution (Nagaland) Scheduled Tribes Order, 1970 (C.O.88) 23-7-1970 Nagaland
7 The Constitution (Sikkim) Scheduled Tribes Order, 1978 (C.O.111) 22-6-1978 Sikkim
8 The Constitution (Jammu & Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order, 1989 (C.O. 142) 7-10-1989 Jammu & Kashmir
No community has been specified as Scheduled Tribe in relation to the State of Haryana and Punjab and Union Territories of Chandigarh, Delhi and Pondicherry. State/ Union-Territory wise list of Scheduled Tribes is at Annexure-I and alphabetical list of STs is at Annexure-II
Issue of Scheduled Tribes Certificate - Points to be observed
(a) General
Where a person claims to belong to a Scheduled Tribe by birth it should be verified: -
(i)
That the person and his parents actually belong to the community claimed;
(ii)
That the community is included in the Presidential Order specifying the Scheduled Tribes in relation to the concerned State.
(iii)
That the person belongs to that State and to the area within that State in respect of which the community has been scheduled.
(iv)
He may profess any religion.
(v)
That he should be permanent resident on the date of notification of the Presidential Order applicable in his case.
(vi)
person who is temporarily away from his permanent place of adobe at the time of the notification of the Presidential order applicable in his case, say for example to earn a living or seek education, etc can also be regarded as a scheduled tribe, if his tribe has been specified in that order in relation to his state/ union territory. But he cannot be treated as such in relation to the place of his temporary residence notwithstanding the fact that the name of his tribe has been scheduled in respect of that are areain any Presidential Order.
In the case of persons born after the date of notification of the relevant Presidential Order, the place of residence for the purpose of acquiring Scheduled Tribe Status, is the place of permanent abode of their parents at the time of the notification of the presidential order under which they claim to belong to such a tribe.
(b)
Scheduled Tribe claims on migration
(i)
Where a person migrates from the portion of the state in respect of which his community is scheduled to another part of the same state in respect of which community is not scheduled, he will continue to be deemed to be a member of the Scheduled Tribe, in relation to that State;
(ii)
Where a person migrates from one state to another, he can claim to belong to a scheduled tribe, only in relation to the State to which he originally belonged and not in respect of the state to which he has migrated.
(c)
Scheduled Tribe claims through marriages
The guiding principle is that no person who was not a Scheduled Tribes by birth will be deemed to be a member of Scheduled Tribe merely because he or she has married a person belonging to a Scheduled Tribe.
Similarly a person who is a member of a schedule tribe would continue to be a member of that scheduled Tribe, even after his or her marriage with a person who does not belong to a Scheduled Tribe.
(d)
Issue of Scheduled Tribe Certificates
The candidates belonging to Scheduled Tribes may be issued Scheduled Tribe Certificates, in the prescribed form (Annexure-III) from one of the prescribed authorities in support of their claim.
(e)
Punishments for officials issuing Scheduled Tribe Certificates without proper verification
(f) Liberalization of procedure for the issue of Scheduled Tribe certificates to migrants from other States/ Union Territories.
Person belonging to Scheduled Tribes, who have migrated from one State to another for the purpose of employment, education etc. experience great difficulty in obtaining tribe certificate from the State from which they have migrated. In order to remove this difficulty, it has been decided that the prescribed authority of a State government/Union Territory Administration may issue the Scheduled Tribe certificate to a person who has migrated from another state, on the production of the genuine certificate issued to his father/ mother's origin except where the prescribed authority feels that detailed inquiry is necessary through the State of origin before issue of the certificate. The certificate will be issued irrespective of whether the tribe in question is scheduled or not in relation to the State/ Union Territory to which the person has migrated. However, they would not be entitled to ST benefits in the migrated State.
CONSTITUTION (SCHEDULED TRIBES)
Andhra Pradesh
Andaman and Nicobar
Assam
Bihar(*)
Dadra & Nagar Haveli
Daman & Diu
Goa
Gujarat
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir
Karnataka
Kerala
Lakshwadeep
Madhya Pradesh(*)
Maharashtra
Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Orissa
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh(*)
West Bengal
Arunachal Pradesh