Scheduled Tribes

Post-independence

After independence the Constituent Assembly continued the prevailing definition of Scheduled Castes and Tribes, giving (via articles 341 and 342) the president of India and governors of the states a mandate to compile a full listing of castes and tribes (with the power to edit it later, as required). The first list of castes and tribes was created through two orders: The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, and The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, containing 821 castes and 296 tribes (overlapping nature), respectively, derived from colonial lists. Subsequently, the Presidential Scheduled List was modified in 1956 by the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Lists (Modification) Order, 1956, to include other areas, newly formed states/UTs, and communities that had not been considered during the adoption of the Constitution of India. and The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, However, the classification and maintenance of the list Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was initially intended to be a state matter during drafting of the constitution, concerns over political misuse led to the centralisation of authority under the Presidential Scheduled Lists. After 15 years since the order of listing Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the government adopted updated criteria for inclusion and exclusion based on the Lokur committee report of 1965. Due to inclusive policies, many communities were added to the Presidential Scheduled List through amendments since the adoption of the Constitution, bringing the total to over 1,000 Scheduled Castes and over 500 Scheduled Tribes by 2018.