Context: The Union Social Justice Ministry’s 2025–26 report highlights inadequate support from State governments in extending welfare benefits to Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (DNTs). Issues such as lack of community certificates and incomplete identification continue to hinder their access to schemes.
- Denotified Tribes (DNTs) are communities that were once notified as “criminal tribes” under the colonial Criminal Tribes Act, 1871, which was repealed in 1952, leading to their “denotification.”
- Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes are groups that traditionally follow mobile or semi-settled lifestyles, often lacking permanent residence, which complicates their identification in administrative records.
- Unlike Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), DNTs are not a single constitutionally recognized category; they are distributed across SC, ST, and Other Backward Classes (OBC) lists depending on the State.
- The absence of a uniform classification leads to inconsistencies in welfare delivery and exclusion of many communities from targeted benefits.
- Community certificates are essential for availing reservation, scholarships, and welfare schemes, but only a few States currently issue DNT-specific certificates.
- The lack of reliable population data and enumeration has historically limited policy formulation; DNTs are not separately counted in the Census, though future exercises like Census 2027 may address this gap.
- Many DNT communities continue to face stigma due to their colonial “criminal tribe” tag, resulting in social exclusion and marginalization.
- Government initiatives such as the Development and Welfare Board for DNTs (DWBDNT) and schemes like SEED (Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNTs) aim to provide livelihood, education, and housing support.
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DNT welfare gaps and legal-institutional ambiguities