Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Introduction

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Forgotten Communities of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh

  • 134 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter presents an overview of Criminal Tribes Act, 1871 and debates on the same. The colonial British Government of pre-independent India notified certain nomadic, pastoral and traditional trading communities as ‘born criminals’ and passed the wicked ‘Criminal Tribes Act (CTA)’. CTA defined criminal tribes as ‘a tribe or caste whose occupation is committing non-bailable offences’. Booth Tucker, a British officer, defined it as ‘those sections or groups of people who traditionally follow or commit criminal acts like stealing, robbery, dacoity and other such commission of non-bailable crimes in order to obtain a livelihood’. In other words, the British-Raj notified criminals based on physical attributes, castes, tribes, habits, appearances, way of living, hygiene, dressing and occasional offences. Among them, some either resisted and/or assisted the freedom fighters against the British aggression from time to time.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abraham, Susan. 1999. Steal or I’ll Kill You a Thief – ‘Criminal’ Tribes of India. Economic and Political Weekly 34 (27): 1751–1753.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahmed, A.S. 1982. Nomadism as an Ideological Expression. Economic and Political Weekly 3: 1101–1106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aiyappan, A. 1948. Report on the Socio-Economic Conditions of the Aboriginal Tribes of the Province of Madras. Madras: Government Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Asad, T. 2004. Where Are the Margins of the State? In Anthropology in the Margins of the State, Advanced Seminar Series, ed. Veena Das and Deborah Poole, 279–288. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Asian Tribune. 2007. Repeal the Habitual Offenders Act and Affectively Rehabilitate the Denotified Tribes, UN to India, March 19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bayley, David H. 1969. The Police and Political Development in India. Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berland, C.J. 1982. No Five Fingers Are Alike. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhasha Research and Publication Centre. 2012. Denotified Tribes (DNT RAG). www.bhasharesearch.org/dnt/history.html. Accessed 20 Nov 2012.

  • Bokil, Milind. 2002. De-Notified and Nomadic Tribes: A Perspective. Economic and Political Weekly 37 (2): 1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonington, C.J. 1931. The Bhantus: A Criminal Tribe of India. In Census of India, Part III, ed. J. Hutton, vol. 1. Government of India.

    Google Scholar 

  • Budhan. 2000. The Denotified and Nomadic Tribes Rights Action Group Newsletter. Vadodara: DNT Rights Action Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaman, Lal. 1962. Gypsis, Forgotten Children of India, 62. New Delhi: Government of India.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chandavarkar, Rajnarayan. 1998. Imperial Power and Popular Politics: Class, Resistance and the State in India 1850–1950. London: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chatterjee, Chandrima. 2006. Identities in Motion: Migration and Health in India. Mumbai: Center for Inquiry into Health and Allied Themes (CEHAT). http://www.cehat.org/humanrights/chandrima.pdf. Accessed 30 June 2014.

  • D’Souza, Dilip. 1999. Declared Criminal at Birth India’s “Denotified Tribes”. Manushi.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2001. Branded by Law: Looking at India’s Denotified Tribes. New Delhi: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dandekar, A. 2009. The Issue of Denotified Tribes in Independent India. Working Paper 214. Gujarat: IRMA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darrow, Clarence. 1934. Crime, Its Causes and Treatment, 10. London: Watta and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Devi, Mahasveta. 1992. Kheria-Savar Sammelana in Purulia. Economic and Political Weekly 27 (41): 2206.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dirks, Nicholas B. 2001. Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dyer, Caroline. 2006. The Education of Nomadic Peoples: Current Issues, Future Prospects. Oxford: Berghahn Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Franz, Kurt. 2005. Resources and Organizational Power: Some Thoughts on Nomadism in History. In Shifts and Drifts in Nomad-Sedentary Relations, ed. Stefan Leder and B. Streck. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joshi, Vidyut. 1998. “Tribal Situation in India: Issues in Development” (with special reference to western India). Jaipur: Rawat Publications (Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kannan, Kasturi. 2007. Presumed Guilty: India’s Denotified Tribes. InfoChange News & Features. http://infochangeindia.org/other/features/presumed-guilty-india-s-denotified-tribes.html.

  • Korra, Vijay. 2017. Status of De-Notified Tribes. Economic and Political Weekly 52 (36).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar, Mukul. 2004. Relationship of Caste and Crime in Colonial India: A Discourse Analysis. Economic and Political Weekly 39 (10): 1078–1087.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lalitha, V. 1982. Denotified Communities of Andhra Pradesh – Some Problems of Rehabilitation. PAPHC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marx, Emanuel. 2005. Nomads and Cities: The Development of a Conception. In Shifts and Drifts in Nomad-Sedentary Relations, ed. S. Leder and B. Streck. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayaram, Shail. 1991. Criminality or Community? Alternative Constructions of the Mev Narrative of Darya Khan. Contributions to Indian Sociology 25 (1): 57–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2006. Against History, Against State: Counter Perspectives from the Margins. Delhi: Permanent Black.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mullay, F.S. 1912. The Criminal Classes of Madras Presidency. Madras, India: Madras Government Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nehru, Jawaharlal. 1948. Speech Delivered at Nellore, Andhra Pradesh. India.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nigam, Sanjay. 1990. Disciplining and Policing the Criminals by Birth, Part I: The Making of a Colonial Stereotype – The Criminal Tribe and Castes of North India. Indian Economic and Social History Review XXVII (2).

    Google Scholar 

  • Radhakrishna, Meena. 1989. The Criminal Tribes Act in Madras Presidency: Implications for Itinerant Communities. The Indian Economic and Social History Review 26 (3): 269–295.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1992. Surveillance and Settlements Under the Criminal Tribes Act in Madras. The Indian Economic and Social History Review 29(2): 171–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2000. Colonial Construction of a ‘Criminal’ Tribe Yerukulas of Madras Presidency. Economic and Political Weekly 35 (28–29): 2553–2563.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2001. Dishonoured by History: ‘Criminal Tribes’ and British Colonial Policy. Chandigarh: Orient Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramaswamy, Gita, and Bhangya Bhukya. 2002. Lambadas: Changing Cultural Patterns. Economic and Political Weekly 37(16): 1497–1499.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raghavaiah, V. 1943. The Problems of Criminal Tribes. Nellore.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandra, Freitag B. 1991. Crime in the Social Order of Colonial North India. Modern Asian Studies 25 (2): 227–261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, Jaspal. 1976. Reformation of Ex-criminal Tribes, Hyderabad. Journal of Asiatic Society, Nov. IV, 1975.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutherland, Edwin H., and Donald R. Cressay. 1955. Principles of Criminology. New York, 12 p.

    Google Scholar 

  • The Report of the National Commission for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (NCDNT), 2008. Government of India.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thurston, Edgar. 1909. Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 3. Madras: Madras Government Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Varady, Robert G. 1979. North Indian Banjaras: Their Evolution as Transporters. Journal of South Asia Studies (ns) II (1 and 2): 1–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson Vine, Margaret S., Gabriel Tarde, and Hermann Mannheim, eds. 1960. Pioneers in Criminology, 228–238. Quadrangle Books, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang, Anand A. 1985. Crime and Criminality in British India. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nizamiah Observatory Campus, Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

    Vijay Korra

Authors
  1. Vijay Korra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Korra, V. (2019). Introduction. In: Forgotten Communities of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0163-0_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0163-0_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-15-0162-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-15-0163-0

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation