The Constitution does not define scheduled tribes. It only refers to them as those communities which are listed under Article 342 of the Constitution in accordance with public notifications issued by the President from time to time. The criteria used by the government to determine classification as a Scheduled Tribe may sound colonial in attitude and therefore pejorative if not tendentious, but these include "primitive" traits, geographical isolation, distinct culture, economic backwardness and shyness in coming in contact with people from other communities. It is hard to see how the rampaging Gujjars of Rajasthan, who are neither geographically isolated nor shy of coming into contact with people from other communities nor indeed "primitive" in any sense of the word, would qualify if these criteria were applied with any degree of seriousness.
The ST population in the country was 84 million in 2001, according to the census. Against this, the total population of Gujjars in the country is estimated at 53 million, and they live in different states of northern and western India. In Rajasthan, Gujjars account for 11 per cent of the state's total population of 56 million, which means a little over 12 per cent of the country's Gujjar population lives in the state. There are of course state-wise differences in such categorisations; in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, for instance, Gujjars have long been recognised as STs. But as everyone knows, there are fundamental differences between the semi-nomadic Gujjars of these mountainous states and the assertive community in Rajasthan. Indeed, as various committees have concluded over the years, Gujjars in Rajasthan do not meet any of the criteria commonly accepted for declaring a community to be a scheduled tribe. Instead, they have been classified as one of the "Other Backward Classes", which would be a fair categorisation. The community therefore is already entitled to special quotas in state-run educational institutions and when it comes to government jobs.
Ostensibly, the agitation is fuelled by the charge that the BJP had promised the community ST status, which it has reneged on
