1/12/23, 9:50 AM Office of Registrar-General of India follows ‘obsolete’ criteria for scheduling of tribes - The Hindu

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Today's Paper ‘obsolete’ criteria for
scheduling of tribes
Old criteria like geographical isolation and primitivity are ‘obsolete’ and
‘condescending’, says a government task force

January 11, 2023 09:49 pm | Updated January 12, 2023 07:41 am IST - NEW DELHI
ABHINAY LAKSHMAN
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The Office of the Registrar-General of India’s nod is mandatory for the inclusion of any community in ST lists, as per the
procedure for scheduling tribes. Photo: censusindia.gov.in
The Office of the Registrar-General of India (RGI) is following the set of criteria set out by the
Lokur Committee nearly 60 years ago to define any new community as a Scheduled Tribe, The
Hindu has learnt. The Office of the RGI’s nod is mandatory for the inclusion of any community
in ST lists, as per the procedure for scheduling tribes.

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1/12/23, 9:50 AM Office of Registrar-General of India follows ‘obsolete’ criteria for scheduling of tribes - The Hindu

In response to a query under the Right to Information Act, 2005, the Office of the RGI on
Tuesday said, “For criteria, report of the Advisory Committee on the revision of the lists of
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Lokur Committee 1965) is consulted.”
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This comes even as the government, until December, 2017, insisted in Parliament that it was
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considering a proposal to change the criteria for scheduling of new communities as STs based
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on the report of an internal task force, which had called these criteria “obsolete”,
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“condescending”, “dogmatic”, and “rigid”.
Today's Paper
The criteria set out by the Lokur Committee for defining a community as a tribe are: indications
of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with the
community at large, backwardness.
‘Condescending, obsolete criteria’
The government task force on Scheduling of Tribes constituted under the leadership of then
Tribal Affairs Secretary, Hrusikesh Panda in February 2014, had concluded that these criteria
“may have become obsolete considering the process of transition and acculturation”. Further, it
noted that terms like “primitive and the requirement of primitivity to be a characteristic of
Scheduled Tribe indicates a condescending attitude by outsiders”, adding, “What we consider
primitive is not considered by the tribals themselves.”
“Much of the mess” created in the classification and identification of tribes is because of this
classical orientation that followed a “rigid and dogmatic approach”, the task force said. It also
pointed out problems with the geographical isolation criterion, arguing that as infrastructure
development continued across the country, “how can any community remain in isolation”? 
Accordingly, the Task Force had recommended changes to the criteria in May and based on this,
the Tribal Affairs Ministry had in June 2014 prepared a draft Cabinet note to overhaul the
criteria and procedure for scheduling of new communities as STs. This was done within a month
of the first Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking oath.
The new criteria under the government’s consideration included, “Socio-economic, including
educational, backwardness, vis-a-vis, the rest of the population of the State; Historical
geographical isolation which may or may not exist today; Distinct language/dialect;  Presence of
a core culture relating to life-cycle, marriage, songs, dance, paintings, folklore; Endogamy, or in
case of exogamy, marital relationship primarily with other STs (This criterion is for scheduling
of a community as ST and not for determining ST status of an individual).”
‘Hindu lifestyle not ineligible’

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1/12/23, 9:50 AM Office of Registrar-General of India follows ‘obsolete’ criteria for scheduling of tribes - The Hindu

The draft Cabinet note also proposed, “Communities which have adopted a ‘Hindu’ way of life
will not be ineligible merely on this ground.” It further recommended considering the
population of the new community in relation to the existing ST population of the State, adding
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that all these criteria had to be looked at holistically and none should take precedence over
another. 
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Now, with the Office of the RGI saying it continues to follow the criteria set out by the Lokur
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Committee in 1965, the fate of the proposal to change the criteria hangs in the balance. The
Office ofPaper
Today's the RGI has said that it relies on census publications, which go back to 1891, along with
materials provided by the nodal Union ministry and State governments, and then decides
whether a community can be categorised as ST based on the Lokur Committee criteria.
The task force led by Mr. Panda had said that in addition to the Office of RGI not having
adequate anthropologists and sociologists to take such decisions, it also lacked the data for it,
noting that inconsistencies in census records dating that far back presented more problems for
categorisation based on the Lokur Committee’s criteria. 
For instance, it noted that the 1891 census described tribes as people with a “tribal religion”; the
1901 and 1911 censuses described them as “tribal animists”; in 1921, they were called “hill and
forest tribes”; in 1931, they were documented as “primitive tribes”; and were classified as “tribes”
in 1941, before moving to the Constitutional term of “Scheduled Tribes” in 1951. 
The same task force had also recommended changes to the “cumbersome” procedure for
scheduling of tribes followed since 1999, which it said along with the “obsolete” criteria was
hindering over 40 communities from being included in ST lists across States. The Hindu had
reported in November last year that the Union government had put the proposal to change the
procedure on hold and decided to continue with the existing one, which gives utmost primacy to
the opinion of the Office of the RGI. 
‘Tribal societies do not change’
During the last winter session, when Parliament was discussing several Bills to include new
communities in ST lists, Opposition MPs had raised issues with the current criteria. Congress
MP Pramod Tiwari had referred to the geographical constraints and said, “Have you accepted
that ST people will never progress enough to relocate to other districts and cities for business,
jobs?” 
Interestingly, during these discussions, Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda had said, “Tribal
societies live on the basis of their characteristic traits. These are not societies that change,”
stressing on the importance of sticking to the criteria as framed by the Lokur Committee.

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