The Sonia Gandhi-led Council (NAC) also asked the government to review the implementation of the existing legislations to provide built-in safeguards for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (DNT) from harassment by officials.
"A process for enumeration and classification of DNTs should be integral to the on-going Socio-economic and Caste Census (SECC) as a first step towards identification of persons belonging to the DNT communities," the NAC said in a communication to the government put up on the Council's website.
It said the DNTs should be given a special focus as well as priority in the issuing of UID cards.
The NAC also asked the government to launch a campaign to inform DNTs their rights as SC/ST/OBC, disseminate information about a helpline for addressing complaints of harassment, and inform the public that violence/discrimination against these communities and violations of their human rights is punishable under law.
It said the home ministry should issue a special advisory to all state governments to develop a code of conduct in dealing with these tribes.
The tribes, mostly nomadic communities who at one time were known to indulge in criminal acts for a living, were notified as "criminal tribes" under the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871, by the British government.(MORE)
