(a) the criteria being followed for specification of a community as Scheduled Tribe (ST);
(b) whether certain tribal groups/ communities scheduled under Article 342 with respect to some State are not being specified as STs in other States;
(c) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and
(d) the steps being taken or proposed to be taken by the Government to include the said tribal groups/ communities as STs in those States?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS (SHRI MANSUKHBHAI DHANJIHAI VASAVA)
(a): The criteria being followed for specification of a community as Scheduled Tribe (ST) are: (a) Indications of primitive traits; (b) Distinctive culture; (c) Geographical isolation; (d) Shyness of contact with community at large; and (e) Backwardness.
The Government of India on 15-6-1999 (further amended on 25-6-2002), has laid down the modalities for determining the claims for inclusion in, exclusion from and other modifications in the Orders specifying lists for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. According to these modalities, only those proposals which have been recommended and justified by the concerned State Government/Union Territory Administration and concurred in by the Registrar General of India (RGI) and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) are to be considered for amendment of legislation.
(a) & (c): The list of Scheduled Tribes is a State/UT specific, and a community notified as ST in one State/UT may not be so in other State/UT. Information pertaining to names of tribal groups/ communities scheduled under Article 342 of the Constitution in one State/UT and not scheduled with respect to other States/UTs are not maintained by this Ministry.
(d): When a proposal is received from the concerned State Government for inclusion of a community in list of STs of the State, the proposal is processed as per the extant modalities.