26-Jul-2022: Welfare of De-Notified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes

The list of Annexure-II of date Commission Report comprises of 267 communities, out of which Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) is conducting ethnographic studies of 255 communities and remaining 12 communities are being studied by the respective Tribal Research Institutes (Odisha-05, Gujarat-04, Kerala-03). Out of 255 Communities, AnSI has submitted report for 24 communities to this Department.

AnSI has informed that they have completed the study of 161 communities across the country and remaining 65 communities and additional 5 communities from Arunachal Pradesh will be studied during the year 2022.

The Ministry vide Gazette Notification dated 12.02.2014 had constituted National Commission for De-notified and Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (NCDNT) also known as Idate Commission for the period of 3 years from the date of Notification. NCDNT has submitted its report on 08.01.2018.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has constituted Development and Welfare Board for De-Notified, Nomadic and Semi- Nomadic Communities (DWBDNCs) for the development and welfare of DNTs. The Board has launched a scheme namely Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNTs (SEED) on 16th February 2022 for its target group.

The objectives of the Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNTs (SEED) are, (i) To provide coaching of good quality for DNT candidates to enable them to appear in competitive exams, (ii) To provide health insurance to DNT communities, (iii) To facilitate livelihoods initiative at community level to build and strengthen small clusters of DNT/NT/SNT communities institutions, (iv) To provide financial assistance for construction of houses to members of the DNT communities.

The Scheme will benefit 6250 students by providing free coaching, 4,45,450 families by providing health insurance, 1,920 clusters for livelihood initiative and 4,165 families by providing houses in five years. A portal (i.e. www.seed.dosje.gov.in) has been developed for inviting applications through online system for easy access to the beneficiaries under the Scheme.

6-Apr-2022: Welfare of Denotified Communities

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has constituted a Board namely Development and Welfare Board for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities (DWBDNCs) on 21.02.2019 for development and welfare of De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities.

This Ministry is also implementing schemes for pre and post matric scholarships to DNT students.

The Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched the “ Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNT Communities (SEED)” on 16.02.2022 with total outlay of Rs. 200 Crore for next five years, having following four components:-

1. To provide coaching of good quality for DNT candidates to enable them to appear in competitive examinations,
2. To provide Health Insurance to them,
3. To facilitate livelihood initiative at community level and
4. To provide financial assistance for construction of houses for members of these communities.

The SEED Scheme has been launched in February, 2022 for the welfare of DNT Communities. The government will be able to identify the gaps in accessing this Scheme by the Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities after the SEED Scheme is implemented for some time.

There is no such proposal under consideration in the Department.

17-Mar-2021: Development of Nomadic Tribes

To promote the socio-economic development of De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities, the Development and Welfare Board for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities (DWBDNCs) has been constituted on 21.02.2019 for a period of three years extendable up to 5 years with following terms of reference:-

• To formulate and Implement Welfare and Development programme as required, for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities.
• To identify the locations/areas where these communities are densely populated.
• To assess and identify gaps in accessing existing programmes and entitlements and to collaborate with Ministries/Implementing agencies to ensure that ongoing programmes meet the special requirements of De-notified Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities.
• To monitor and evaluate the progress of the schemes of Government of India and the States/UTs with reference to De-notified Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities.
• Any other related work as may be assigned by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

In addition, the following schemes are being implemented by the Central Government through State Government/UT Administrations for the DNTs:-

1. Pre and Post Matric Scholarships to DNT Students.
2. Nanaji Deshmukh Scheme of Construction of Hostels for DNT Boys and Girls.

As per the Cabinet decision, a Committee under the Chairmanship of Vice Chairman NITI Aayog is in place, which has taken up the task of identification of DNT communities which are yet to be formally classified. NITI Aayog has assigned the task of ethnographic survey of 62 tribes to the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) to conduct the studies of these communities in different parts of the country.

Besides following schemes have also been launched for educational empowerment of DNTs:

1. Dr. Ambedkar Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarship for DNT Boys and Girls.
2. Nanaji Deshmukh Scheme of Construction of  Hostels for DNT Boys and Girls.

1-Feb-2019: New panel for welfare of nomadic communities

The Centre will form a welfare panel for nomadic, semi-nomadic and de-notified communities.

“Our government is committed to reach the most deprived citizens of this country. These communities are hard to reach, less visible, and therefore, frequently left out,” said Mr. Goyal.

A committee will be set up under Niti Aayog to complete the task of identifying de-notified, nomadic and semi-nomadic communities, especially as they move from place to place in search of a livelihood. The committee will follow up on the work of the Renke Commission and the Idate Commission.

A Welfare Development Board will also be set up under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to design and implement programmes for these hard-to-reach communities.

A substantial increase is proposed in the allocation for welfare of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.