Tribal communities: identity and knowledge

The first principle

In India "tribe" is less a fixed anthropological type than a legal and historical category: communities that lived at a distance from the caste based agrarian state, with their own territory, language, customs and ways of using land and forest, which the Constitution later listed for protection. Because the list was drawn up for protection and not by one cultural test, the communities on it differ greatly among themselves, yet most share one experience, the loss of control over their land, forest and knowledge to outsiders. Diversity in culture and unity in vulnerability is therefore the key to reading tribal society.

The core

Who is a tribe

• The Constitution does not define a tribe. Article 366(25) says Scheduled Tribes (STs) are the communities notified under Article 342, under which the President, after consulting the Governor, issues a list for each state, and only Parliament can change it by law.
• In practice the government still applies the five criteria of the Lokur Committee (1965): primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with the wider community, and backwardness. Sociologists such as Virginius Xaxa criticise words like "primitive" as a colonial legacy, and many communities prefer the word Adivasi, meaning original inhabitants.
• G S Ghurye described tribes as "backward Hindus" to be assimilated, Verrier Elwin argued for shielding them from outsiders, and Jawaharlal Nehru's Tribal Panchsheel chose integration with respect for tribal rights over land and forest. F G Bailey's tribe caste continuum shows the boundary is fluid.

Numbers and spread

• The Census of 2011 counted 10.4 crore STs, 8.6 per cent of the population, in 705 notified communities, nearly 90 per cent of them rural. Madhya Pradesh has the largest number, while the share is highest in Lakshadweep and Mizoram; Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh and Puducherry have no notified tribes.
• Seventy five Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in 18 states and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are marked out by pre agricultural technology, very low literacy, a stagnant or declining population and a subsistence economy. The category grew out of the Dhebar Commission (1960 to 1961), was created in 1975 and renamed in 2006; Odisha has the most, 13.

Diversity among tribes

• Tribes speak languages of all four families: Austro Asiatic (Santhal, Munda, Ho), Dravidian (Gond, Oraon, Toda), Tibeto Burman (Naga, Mizo, Bodo) and Indo Aryan (Bhil).
• Their economies range from hunting and gathering (Jarawa, Cholanaikan) and shifting cultivation in the north east, to settled farming (Santhal, Gond), pastoralism (Toda, Gaddi) and wage work in mines and towns. Khasi and Garo society is matrilineal while most tribes are patrilineal, and religion spans Sarna, Donyi Polo, Hindu, Christian and Buddhist practice.
• Size and development differ too: the Bhil and Gond number over a crore each, while the Great Andamanese are a few dozen.

When diverse tribes are treated as one category

• Constitutional status. Reservation in education, jobs and legislatures (Articles 15(4), 16(4), 330 and 332), the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (Article 338A) and the Fifth and Sixth Schedules apply to all STs alike.
• Shared vulnerability. Land alienation, displacement, moneylending and loss of forest access affect almost every tribe, so protective laws treat them as one class.
• Development planning. The Tribal Sub Plan from the Fifth Plan (1974 to 1975), now the Development Action Plan for STs, earmarks funds in proportion to ST population across ministries.
• Political identity. The Adivasi identity, Janjatiya Gaurav Divas on 15 November and India's support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) express a common voice.

They must be treated separately where needs differ: PVTGs need special schemes, education must begin in the mother tongue, customary law differs by tribe, and benefits have gathered with a few advanced communities. In State of Punjab v Davinder Singh (2024) Justice B R Gavai suggested a creamy layer for STs as well.

How tribal knowledge differs from mainstream knowledge

• Tribal knowledge is oral, held by the community, rooted in one place and tested over generations of close observation. It does not separate ecology, economy and belief, so a sacred grove is at once a shrine, a seed bank and a water source.
• Mainstream knowledge is written, divided into disciplines, claims universal validity and credits individual authors through patents.
• The difference should not be romanticised. Shifting cultivation is sustainable with a fallow of 15 to 20 years but degrades land when population pressure cuts it to a few years, and beliefs such as witch hunting harm tribal women. The task is to validate, protect and share this knowledge on fair terms.

Dimensions

• Social. Clan, youth dormitories such as the Muria ghotul, and village councils organise life, and women generally have more freedom in choice of partner and work than in caste society.
• Economic. Tribes depend on land, forest and minor forest produce, so ST literacy (59 per cent against 73 per cent for all in 2011) and poverty lag behind the national average.
• Political. Statehood movements in Jharkhand and the north east show that tribal identity is also a political claim.
• Ecological. Tribal homelands overlap with forests and minerals, so conservation and mining both reach them first.

In practice

Constitutional protection

• Fifth Schedule. Scheduled Areas in ten states have a Tribes Advisory Council, and the Governor may bar or modify any law and make regulations on land transfer and moneylending.
• Sixth Schedule. Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram have ten autonomous district councils that make laws on land, forests, inheritance and customs and run village courts.

Two laws that address discrimination against STs

• Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment) makes crimes such as wrongful dispossession of land, social boycott and sexual exploitation special offences triable by special courts. The 2015 amendment added offences and exclusive special courts, and the 2018 amendment barred anticipatory bail again, which was upheld in Prithvi Raj Chauhan v Union of India (2020).
• Forest Rights Act, 2006 (Ministry of Tribal Affairs) corrects the "historical injustice" of colonial forest laws by recognising individual rights over land occupied before 13 December 2005 (up to four hectares) and community rights over forest produce, grazing and management, including rights over traditional knowledge in Section 3(1)(k). About 23 lakh titles have been issued.
• Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA), 1996, based on the Bhuria Committee, gives gram sabhas power over minor forest produce, land alienation, moneylending and consultation before land acquisition.

Judgements and data

• Samatha v State of Andhra Pradesh (1997): lease of tribal land in Scheduled Areas to private mining firms is void.
• Orissa Mining Corporation v Ministry of Environment and Forests (2013): gram sabhas of Niyamgiri must decide whether bauxite mining affects their religious and cultural rights, and they rejected it.
• The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recorded 10,064 crimes against STs in 2022.
• PM JANMAN (Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan), launched in November 2023 by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs with about ₹24,000 crore, brings housing, roads, water and health to PVTG habitations.

Cases of tribal knowledge

• The Kani of Kerala shared their knowledge of arogyapacha (Trichopus zeylanicus), and the drug Jeevani shared licence fees with a Kani trust, an early benefit sharing model.
• Khasi living root bridges, Apatani paddy cum fish farming in Ziro and the Soliga, who won community forest rights inside the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve, show knowledge that conserves while it sustains.

Issues and way forward

• Weak gram sabha powers. Several states framed PESA rules late and diluted them, so land still passes out of tribal hands; the Xaxa Committee (2014) recommended strict enforcement of PESA and the Forest Rights Act and gram sabha consent for land acquisition.
• Rejected forest claims. Lakhs of claims were rejected for lack of papers, which led to the eviction order in Wildlife First v Union of India (February 2019), later stayed; claims should be reviewed and community forest resource rights given priority.
• Erosion of knowledge and language. Migration and formal schooling in other languages weaken oral knowledge, so documentation with prior informed consent under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and mother tongue teaching under the National Education Policy 2020 are needed.
• Contested lists. Demands for inclusion, such as the Meitei demand that preceded the Manipur violence of May 2023, reflect outdated criteria; a 2014 task force under Hrushikesh Panda recommended revising the Lokur criteria.

Common confusions

• Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Area. The first is a community notified under Article 342; the second is a territory notified under the Fifth Schedule, so many STs live outside Scheduled Areas.
• Fifth and Sixth Schedules. The Fifth gives the Governor protective powers in ten states; the Sixth creates elected autonomous councils with law making power in four north eastern states.
• PESA and the Forest Rights Act. PESA empowers gram sabhas in Scheduled Areas only; the Forest Rights Act applies to forest dwellers anywhere.
• ST and PVTG. PVTGs are a subset of STs identified for extra support.

For the exam

• Keyword bank: Lokur criteria, Adivasi, tribe caste continuum, PVTG, Tribal Panchsheel, Fifth Schedule, Sixth Schedule, PESA, community forest rights, gram sabha consent, sacred groves, benefit sharing, historical injustice.
• Previous year questions: Practise the previous year questions on this topic →
• Use in an answer:
  • Introduction (data): India's 10.4 crore Scheduled Tribes, 8.6 per cent of the population, belong to over 700 communities spread across all four language families.
  • Introduction (judgement, quote or report): The Forest Rights Act, 2006 opens by admitting a "historical injustice" done to forest dwelling communities, which frames the state's duty towards tribes.
  • Conclusion: Tribes are best seen as one category for rights and protection, and as distinct peoples for culture, language and targeted development.
  • Conclusion: Tribal knowledge is not a relic but a resource for sustainable living, and it deserves recognition, consent and a fair share of benefits.