Scheduled Tribes
Scheduled Tribes — PESA, Forest Rights Act 2006, TSP
What is a Scheduled Tribe?
A Scheduled Tribe is a tribe specified for a state by Presidential Order under Article 342, judged on the Lokur Committee's 1965 criteria of distinctive culture, geographical isolation and backwardness. India's 705 Scheduled Tribes numbered 10.43 crore, 8.6 percent of the population, in Census 2011, and 75 are Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups; the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes sits under Article 338A.
Story hook
It is 13 December 2006. Parliament passes the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act — popularly the FRA 2006. The colonial Forest Acts of 1865, 1878, and 1927 had, for 141 years, treated tribal inhabitants of forests as encroachers. The FRA flips the script: forests are not state property to be guarded against tribals — they are shared landscapes where forest-dwelling communities hold legally enforceable, inheritable, non-transferable rights.
Two decades earlier, on 24 December 1996, the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act — PESA had done something equally radical: it extended the 73rd Amendment to Fifth Schedule areas but with a tribal twist — the Gram Sabha becomes the competent authority to safeguard customs, manage minor forest produce, control money-lending, and consent to land acquisition.
For UPSC, Scheduled Tribes is a 360-degree topic: constitutional provisions (Articles 342, 244, 244A, 275(1), 339, 338A, Fifth and Sixth Schedules), the Bhuria, Xaxa, Virginius Xaxa, and Sundar committee reports, FRA implementation gaps, the Tribal Sub-Plan budget mechanism (since 1974-75), and the PVTGs (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups — 75 communities including Andamanese, Birhor, and Sahariya).
Why this matters for UPSC
Prelims: Articles 342, 244, 244A, 275(1), 338A; Fifth and Sixth Schedules; PESA 1996; FRA 2006; PVTGs; Niyamgiri 2013.
Mains GS-II: 2015 asked "Examine the role of Tribal Sub-Plan in welfare." 2018: "Effects of globalisation on tribal communities." 2022: "What are the major challenges of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)?"
Interview: Niyamgiri, FRA backlog, Pathalgadi, Manipur tribal crisis, PVTG vulnerability.
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