Replying to an un-starred question of Shri Satnam Singh Sandhu, the Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Shri Durgadas Uikey stated in a written reply in Rajya Sabha that government of India on 15.6.1999 (further amended on 25.6.2002 and 14.9.2022) has laid down the modalities for deciding the claims for inclusion in, exclusion from and other modifications in Orders specifying Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes lists. As per the modalities, only those proposals which have been recommended and justified by the concerned State Government / UT Administration and concurred with by Registrar General of India (RGI) and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) are to be considered and legislation amended. All actions on the proposals are taken as per these approved modalities. The recommendation of the concerned State Government is a pre-requisite to process the case further. The modalities mentioned above will be the same for notification of denotified, nomadic and semi-nomadic communities as Scheduled Tribes.
The proposals for inclusion in the list of Scheduled Tribes of a State or Union Territory follow certain processes as per the modalities. This is a continuous process. The proposals are examined by the Office of the RGI and then by the NCST. In case the proposal is not recommended by the RGI, the State Governments are communicated the points raised by the RGI, so that additional information, if any, maybe furnished by the State Government. Many such proposals may therefore remain under examination at different levels. .
