Context
Recently, the Union Social Justice Ministry received 402 applications online from across the country for benefits under the Scheme for Economic Empowerment of Denotified, Nomadic, Semi-nomadic (SEED) Tribes.
Scheme for Economic Empowerment of Denotified, Nomadic, Semi-nomadic (SEED) Tribes
- Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNTs, SNTs &NTs (SEED) is an umbrella scheme for empowerment of these communities and accordingly, formulated with four components that affect their livelihood.
- These four components are-
- To provide coaching of good quality for DNT candidates to enable them to appear in competitive examinations.
- To provide Health Insurance to them.
- To facilitate livelihood initiative at community level; and
- To provide financial assistance for construction of houses for members of these communities.
- The Ministry has been allocated 200 crore for this scheme to be spent over five financial years from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
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Portal
- The Scheme will be implemented through a portal, developed by the Department of Social Justice & Empowerment.
- The portal will create a permanent database and can be retrieved whenever the applicant desires to enroll for a new component.
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Who are DNTs?
- The term ‘De-notified Tribes’ stands for all those communities which were once notified under the Criminal Tribes Acts, enforced by the British Raj between 1871 and 1947.
- These Acts were repealed by the Independent lndian Government in 1952, and these communities were “De-Notified”.
- A few of these communities which were listed as de-notified were also nomadic.
Who are nomads and semi-nomads?
- Terms such as nomads and semi -nomads are applied to social groups who undertook a fairly frequent, usually seasonal physical movement as part of their livelihood strategy in the recent past.
- The term semi-nomad is mostly used to describe those sections of nomads whose duration, distance and frequency of movement is comparatively less than others.
- The distinction between nomads and semi-nomads does not involve distinguishable ethnic categories or social groups, it rather describes the degree of mobility practiced by them.
Status of these tribes in India
- It has been estimated that South Asia has the world’s largest nomadic population.
- In India, roughly 10 percent of the population is Denotified and Nomadic.
- While the number of Denotified Tribes is about 150, the population of Nomadic Tribes consists of about 500 different communities.
- Denotified Tribes have almost settled in various States of the country, the Nomadic Communities continue to be largely nomadic in pursuit of their traditional professions.
Various Committees Set up for Empowerment of DNTs
- Ayyangar Committee, 1949: The Government of India repealed the Criminal Tribes Act with effect from 31 August 1952 on the recommendations of the Ayyangar Committee.
- Kalelkar Committee, 1953: Kalelkar Commission suggested that these tribes should be called “Denotified Communities”. The Kalelkar Commission further recommended that “these groups may be distributed in small groups in towns and villages where they would come in contact with other people, and get an opportunity for turning a new leaf. This would help in their eventual assimilation in society”.
- During the first NDA Government the first commission ,2003 to look into the problems of denotified/nomadic/seminomadic communities.
- Renke Commission , 2008 to give impetus for planned development of these communities.
- Idate Commission was constituted in 2015 to identify and proper listing of these communities in different states, to evaluate the progress of development of these communities in the states so that a systematic approach can be developed for the development of these communities.
- Based on the recommendation of the Idate commission, the Government of India set up the Development and Welfare Board for DNTs, SNTs &NTs (DWBDNCs) in 2019.
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