Tribe in Indian context
In India, the local equivalent of the term ‘tribe’ is often assumed to be ‘jana’ or ‘communities of people’ based on the usage of the term in ancient Buddhist and puranic texts. In this conception, the term jana was used in opposition to the term jati to indicate that these communities were outside the jati or hierarchical caste system of social organisation. This view, however, was not universally accepted, since other scholars point out that the categories of jana and jati do not neatly overlap with that of tribe and caste respectively in the present context.
It was largely following the various tribal rebellions during the colonial period that tribes came to be seen as the region’s ‘original inhabitants’ who existed outside of the caste system and had been marginalised by the more advanced caste-Hindu society. The nineteenth-century ethnographic view of tribes argued that the term referred to both a particular type of society based on kinship ties and a stage of evolution. In the former view, standard definitions describe the tribe as a social group with a definite area, dialect, cultural homogeneity and unifying social organisation. An amalgam of the various traits ascribed to tribal groups include: relative egalitarianism within the group, the absence of complex political structures, strong and functional kinship bonds, cooperation, territorial integrity, cultural and linguistic distinctiveness, and lower levels of technology. In the case of the latter view, tribes are seen as ‘primitive’ societies in the sense of lacking all the traits of modern, western society in that they are non-literate, ‘uncivilised’, non-industrial, rural, and so on.
The two views are connected in that tribes were seen as having primitive social organisation, implying that tribal people were at a lower stage in the evolutionary social hierarchy in terms of their socio-cultural characteristics, economy and political structures, often being described as simple as well as insulated from changes in the larger regional polity. Tribes in the Indian context have also been defined as groups remaining outside of the structures of State and civilisation.
| Fight for ST status The Indian Constitution ensures certain protection for communities deemed as having Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. However, which groups should be accorded that status has been contentious. Getting ST status means that members of the group have access to highly desired tangible benefits such as political representation, reserved seats in schools, and government jobs. Over the years, social and political mobilization has led to the number of STs growing from 225 in 1960 to 700 today (with overlapping communities in more than one state). As the number of communities clamoring to be recognized as ST expands, so do the number of people who question the legitimacy of awarding ST status, bringing the criteria of this recognition under increasing scrutiny. The Indian Constitution only states that STs are specified by the President after consultation with the Governor; it does not specify specific criteria. According to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the criterion—while not spelled out in legislation— “is well established,” and includes indication of “primitive” traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, “shyness of connect” with the community at large, and “backwardness.” These general standards were established following the definitions of the 1931 Census, the reports of the First Backward Classes Commission 1955, Kalelkar Advisory Committee, and Revision of SC/ST lists by the Lokur Committee. However, more than a half-century later, these broad criteria leave a lot of discretion. In order to avail of the protections and benefits of being accorded ST status, communities in India try to prove themselves as meeting the criteria. This is being done in order to gain the various benefits the tribal tag provides in terms of reservation and other allied programs. Some of the major groups are |
| State | Group |
| Assam | Koch rajbongshi Tai ahom Morans Mattack Chutia Adivasi (tea tribes) |
| Rajasthan | Gujjar |
| Manipur | Meitei |
| Jammu and Kashmit | Pahari |
| Tamil nadu | Badagas Narrikurovar |