Loading…
The Development and Welfare Board for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities held 'SAMAVESH UTSAV' at the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi, with more than 700 beneficiaries, community leaders and artisans taking part.
The event showcased outcomes under the Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNTs (SEED), which the Union Minister described as working through education, healthcare, livelihood and housing interventions.
Twenty stalls displayed the crafts of DNT artisans from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Delhi.
Communities represented included the Banjara, Chamar, Nat, Sutar, Vadar, Lohar, Gadiya Lohar, Waghri and Naik.
The DWBDNC itself was constituted by a notification dated 21 February 2019 to run welfare and development programmes for these communities, with SEED launched subsequently.
Holistic welfare and socio-economic empowerment of DNT communities through education, healthcare, livelihood and housing
Key: A Central Sector scheme launched in February 2022 with an outlay of Rs 200 crore over five years from 2021-22; four components — free coaching for competitive examinations and professional courses, health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year through Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY, livelihood support routed through the National and State Rural Livelihood Missions, and housing through the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana; delivered via an online portal for registration and monitoring
Implement welfare and development programmes for DNT communities and identify those not yet covered by reservation or welfare provisions
Key: Constituted by a notification dated 21 February 2019 under the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment; it is the implementing agency for SEED
Celebrate the inclusion, empowerment and progress of DNT communities and showcase their traditional skills and craftsmanship
Key: Held at the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi, with over 700 participants and a twenty-stall artisan exhibition drawing from six States and UTs
The first dedicated commission on these communities; it studied their conditions and recommended welfare measures, estimating their population at around 10.74 crore on the basis of Census 2001
Constituted to prepare a State-wise list of DNT communities and to assess the progress of development efforts reaching them; its work underlies the present institutional arrangement
The standing body constituted in 2019 to implement welfare programmes for DNT communities and to run SEED
The centre in New Delhi under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment where SAMAVESH UTSAV was held; it functions as a venue for social-justice research, conferences and outreach
The colonial statute that classified entire communities as hereditary criminals and subjected them to registration, surveillance and restriction of movement. At independence, around 13 million people in 127 communities were covered by it.
The repeal 'de-notified' these communities — which is the origin of the term De-notified Tribes — and 31 August is observed by them as Vimukta Jatis Day. A Habitual Offenders Act framework followed, which is why the stigma is often described as having been reclassified rather than removed.
After de-notification, around 200 of these communities were placed in the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Class lists in different States, which is why DNTs do not form a single constitutional category and why identifying communities left outside those lists was a core mandate of both commissions.
The Constitution recognises Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and, through Article 340 and the National Commission for Backward Classes, socially and educationally backward classes. It does not recognise 'De-notified Tribes' as a category of its own. After the 1952 repeal, States distributed these communities across the SC, ST and OBC lists according to local circumstances, so the same community can be Scheduled Tribe in one State and Other Backward Class in another — and some fall into none of the three. That is the administrative problem both the Renke Commission of 2006 and the Idate Commission of 2015 were asked to address, and it is why the policy response takes the form of a dedicated Board and a Central Sector scheme rather than reservation. The three sub-labels also differ: 'de-notified' refers to communities once listed under the 1871 Act, while 'nomadic' and 'semi-nomadic' describe communities whose livelihoods involve seasonal or continuous movement — pastoralists, itinerant artisans, performers and traders — which is why documentation, residence proof and access to schemes are a recurring difficulty for them.
Simple Analogy: A national scheme delivered through State lists works like a mail system that needs a fixed address. Communities that move, or that appear on different lists in different States, keep falling out of the delivery route — the Board exists to find them.
The Criminal Tribes Act classifies whole communities as hereditary criminals, subjecting them to registration and surveillance.
The Act is repealed and the communities are de-notified; the date is observed as Vimukta Jatis Day.
The National Commission for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes is constituted under Balkrishna Sidram Renke.
The Renke Commission submits its report, estimating the population of these communities at around 10.74 crore.
A second National Commission is constituted under Bhiku Ramji Idate to prepare a State-wise list of DNT communities.
The Development and Welfare Board for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities is constituted by notification.
The SEED scheme is launched with an outlay of Rs 200 crore over five years.
SAMAVESH UTSAV is held at the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre with over 700 participants.
SEED does not run its own health scheme — it routes the Rs 5 lakh per family cover through PM-JAY, an example of a small scheme delivering through a large one.
SEED's livelihood component works through the National and State Rural Livelihood Missions, which is why self-help group formation is central to it.
SEED's housing component is delivered through PMAY rather than through separate construction, another instance of convergence in welfare delivery.
Because DNT communities are distributed across SC, ST and OBC lists by State, the NCBC's constitutional status under Article 338B and the question of sub-categorisation bear directly on which DNT communities get what.
The Banjara, Gadiya Lohar, Nat and Waghri are among the best-known de-notified and nomadic communities; their traditional occupations — itinerant trade, blacksmithing, performance — are exactly what the 1871 Act criminalised.
GS Paper 2 > Social Justice > Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections; GS Paper 1 > Indian Society > Social Empowerment
General Awareness > Government Schemes and Indian History
General Awareness > Government Welfare Schemes
DNT communities, the Criminal Tribes Act and the Renke and Idate Commissions recur in UPSC social justice and modern history questions, and SEED appears regularly in scheme-based general awareness papers.
Communities once listed under the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871 and 'de-notified' when it was repealed in 1952; the term records the removal of a colonial legal label, not a constitutional status.
Communities whose livelihoods involve continuous or seasonal movement — pastoralists, itinerant artisans, performers and traders — for whom fixed-address requirements obstruct access to welfare schemes.
Literally 'liberated castes' — the term these communities use for themselves after the 1952 de-notification; 31 August is observed as Vimukta Jatis Day.
A scheme funded entirely by the Union government and implemented by a central agency, as distinct from a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with State cost-sharing; SEED is a Central Sector scheme.