Explanation:

The tribes in India form an important part of the total population. It represents an element in Indian society which is integrated with the culture mosaic of our civilisation. The tribal population of India constitutes nearly 8 percent of the total population. The criterion for the determination of tirbes in India is Distinctive culture, Primitive trait, Cultural specification, Geographical location.

The criteria for declaration of scheduled tribes in not defined in constitution. The term Scheduled Tribes is defined in the Constitution of India under Article 366(25) as such tribes or tribal communities or parts of groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes. President may, with respect to any State or Union Territory, and where it is a State, after consultation with the Governor thereof, notify tribes or tribal communities or parts thereof as Scheduled Tribes. Parliament may, by law, include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled Tribes, any tribe or tribal community or parts thereof. The criteria generally adopted for specification of a community as a Scheduled Tribe are : (a) indications of primitive traits; (b) distinctive culture; (c) shyness of contact with the community at large; and(d) geographical isolation i.e. backwardness. These are not spelt out in the Constitution but have become well established. It is worth noting that no community has been specified as a Scheduled Tribe in relation to the States of Haryana and Punjab and the Union Territories of Chandigarh, Delhi and Puducherry. The guiding principle is that no person who is not a Scheduled Tribe by birth will be deemed to be a member of Scheduled Tribe merely because he or she has married a person belonging to a Scheduled Tribe.