In contemporary India, the arena of identity politics and ‘reservations’ is highly contentious, with groups clamouring for official recognition within the categories of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe or Other Backward Class. This article sheds new light on the wider processes of inclusion and exclusion among these categories by delineating the contested position of the so-called ‘criminal tribes’ within this framework. Until the 1920s, these criminalized communities were generally positioned as a separate group alongside ‘untouchable’ and ‘tribal’ communities, each of which was considered to have faced particular forms of disadvantage which demanded certain protections and ‘uplift’. Between the 1920s and 1950s, however, this distinct status was withdrawn amid debates over the boundaries, purpose and indeed responsibilities of representation within the evolving framework of group rights. While there was continued recognition of their distinct status in debates over definitions of disadvantage (in terms of a shared history of criminalization), this did not translate into official recognition as a separate category of disadvantaged citizen after independence, thereby complicating these communities’ ability to access the preferential policies inaugurated by the independent constitution in 1950. The article challenges the idea that these political categories are innate or fixed, and simultaneously historicizes the demands of the denotified (ex-‘criminal’) and nomadic tribe movement, which today campaigns for a separate constitutional classification within the ‘reservations’ regime.

中文翻译：

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（重新）定义劣势：印度的贱民，犯罪和“部落”，c。1910年代至1950年代

在当代印度，身份政治和“保留”的舞台争议很大，各组织争相要求在附表种姓，附表部落或其他落后阶层中获得官方认可。本文通过描述所谓“犯罪部落”在该框架内的竞争地位，为这些类别中更广泛的包容和排斥过程提供了新的思路。直到1920年代，这些被定罪的社区通常被定位为与“贱民”和“部落”社区并列的独立群体，每个社区都被认为面临着特殊的劣势形式，需要某些保护和“提升”。但是，在1920年代和1950年代之间，由于对边界的争论，这种独特的地位被撤销了，在不断发展的群体权利框架内代表的目的和责任。虽然在关于不利条件的定义的辩论中继续承认他们的独特地位（就共同的犯罪定罪历史而言），但这并没有转化为官方承认独立后处于不利地位的公民的单独类别，从而使这些社区的能力变得更加复杂。访问1950年独立宪法制定的优惠政策。该文章对这些政治类别是先天或固定的观念提出了挑战，并同时历史化了有名无实的（前“犯罪”）和游牧部落运动的要求，今天这些运动为在“保留”制度中进行单独的宪法分类。