Abstract

The tribal India forms a distinct picture of the country. There are about 40 million tribals In India. They belong to over 200 ethnic groups or tribes, which are different from one another in terms of their racial, linguistic and cultural identity. They are concentrated in hills and forests, and are still cut-off from the main stream of development. It is necessary for all of us to try to understand what is best in them and try to preserve those values even while we are trying to initiate them into the mysteries of modern civilization. The tribal people are, in fact, the original inhabitants of the soil. But, due to ignorance and poverty, they do not know their rights and privileges. After independence, the constitution of India provided safeguards for the Tribal people. To translate these constitutional provisions into practice special schemes were are still continuing. The Criminal Tribes Act 1924 came into force on 15.03.1924. It was an Act of consolidated laws relating to criminal tribes. If the provincial Government has reason to believe that any tribe, gang or class of person or any part of tribo, gang or class is addicted to systematic commission of non-bailable offences, then the Government was authorized to declare that such tribe, gang or class, as the case may be, is a criminal tribe for the purpose of the said Act. The Government was empowered to restrict the movement of the tribes or settle their place of residence. It had power to establish industrial, agricultural or reformative settlement for the criminal tribe. This Criminal Tribes Act, 1924 came to be repealed by the Criminal Tribes Laws Act, 1952.