Census 2026-27: The Case for a Separate Category for Denotified and Nomadic Tribes

The Denotified, Nomadic, and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (DNTs) of India have recently intensified their demand for a separate enumeration category in the upcoming 2026-27 Digital Census. Historically branded as 'criminal' under the colonial Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, these communities were 'denotified' in 1952. However, despite their liberation from legal stigma, they continue to face extreme socio-economic marginalization and persistent social exclusion.

Currently, DNTs are not classified as a uniform group; instead, various sub-tribes are distributed across the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories. Representatives argue that this 'clubbing' obscures the unique nature of their deprivation. Because they are often the most vulnerable within these larger categories, they frequently lose out on the benefits of reservation and welfare schemes to more politically or socially organized groups within the same classification.

The lack of accurate, disaggregated data is a significant hurdle for governance. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment’s flagship 'Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNTs' (SEED) aims to provide health insurance, livelihood support, and housing. However, without a clear census count, identifying beneficiaries remains a complex challenge. A separate census category would provide the empirical basis required for 'sub-categorization' and targeted resource allocation, moving beyond the previous estimates of the Renke Commission (2008) and the Idate Commission (2015), both of which highlighted the dire need for a scientific survey of these 'invisible' populations.

From a policy perspective, the transition to a Digital Census offers a unique opportunity to include granular data points. For the DNTs, this is not merely a matter of statistics but a quest for constitutional recognition and social justice, ensuring that the 'last mile' of development actually reaches the most transient and historically wronged sections of Indian society.