De-notified, (DNT) Nomadic Tribes (NT) and Semi Nomadic Tribes (SNT) are the most neglected and discriminated marginalized section of contemporary Indian Society. Pastoral, hunter gatherers, traders, transporters, craft workers, entertainers, foragers and such communities are losing their traditional forms of livelihood due to various changes. The process of their economic marginalization began during the British rule with the introduction of railway, industries and rule of law. This deprivation continued with various non-inclusive developmental drives and Acts. Modern science, technology and economics are failed to provide them any safeguards. Communities like jugglers, acrobats, tight -rope walker, Snake-Monkey-Bear player are forced to accept deteriorating life, in the absence of sound alternatives. Environmental degradation and the whole ecological distress have been put forwarded many problems to pastoral communities. Mega project like Dams, Road, and Special Economic Zones creates complications to them. Laws and Policies of forest and social forestry blocked the way of fuel and fodder for these communities and their livestock. Indian history also remembers a cruel colonial legacy in the form of The Criminal tribes Act 1871 and its shadow

The Nomadic and Denotified tribes constitute about five million of population in Maharashtra and about 60 million all over India. There are 313 Nomadic Tribes and 198 Denotified Tribes. The large section of these tribes is known as "Vimukta jaatis" or the Ex-Criminal Tribes because they were branded as criminals by birth.However, they have been deprived of the status of Scheduled Tribes provided by the constitution due to certain historical circumstances and the acts of omission and commission on part of the Government and the society. The Nomadic and Denotified Tribes are National tribes. They have no place of their own. Hitherto, their life is a long tale of suffering and persecution due to the absence of a means of livelihood and the stigma of criminality attached to them by the sedentary society. While it may take years and years to remove this stigma, the injustice meted out to them due to the act of omission and neglect could well be corrected without any further delay. It will be impossible for these tribes to enjoy human rights or the civil rights available to the citizens of India unless there is a positive intervention of the government in the form of Constitutional safeguards. This paper seeks to present the Indian problem from a historical and contemporary perspective with a view to help in developing a just, equal, and humane society in India.

The present study is made with a holistic approach to analyses the present situation of De-notified tribes in democratic secular India. The study has focused on eleven indicators of democracy given by National Democratic Institute. The study compares the indicators and its awareness among the de-notified tribes. The study explores the ground situation of the democracy and secularism in de-notified tribes of Solapur city. The study reveals the needs and challenges of inclusion of de-notified tribes into the main stream of democracy and secularism. The study also recommends for policy interventions and possible modules of inclusive development of de-notified tribes.

This paper scrutinizes the impact of wildlife protection and animal welfare laws on social, economic and cultural life of the indigenous and semi-nomadic communities of Hawadigas (Snake Charmers) and Qalandars (Bear Charmers) in Karnataka and focuses on the question as to how law has resulted in exclusion of Hawadigas and Qalandars?

National and international instruments have been reviewed and testimonials of violence by state and non-state actors have been collected and analysed. It critically analyses the Indian laws viz. the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act 1960; and the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, which treat the community criminal because they traditionally possess, inherit, train and exhibit snakes and sloth bears. It also traces the nature and legality of violence perpetrated on these communities by the police, forest department and animal rights NGOs.

The paper argues for the need to recognize and restore their cultural rights in line with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and also to initiate a process of reparation and rehabilitation of the community to enable them to chose their future.

This paper addresses the complexities emerging through the interaction between the current development discourse in India, the conservation movements spearheaded by 'Project Tiger' and hunting-gathering nomadic 'ex-criminal' tribes. Drawing from an extensive study of the Pardhi-Baheliya community in Central India, an attempt is made to highlight paradoxes surrounding development that are slowly driving many members of this tribe from their traditional occupation (primarily hunting, which is currently illegal under the Wildlife Protection Act) to hardened criminal activities in a desperate search for livelihoods.

In the backdrop of haphazard conservation policies that are not complemented by appropriate inclusion measures, the experience of the Pardhi community highlights a typical case of denied citizenship, livelihoods and dignity amidst an exclusionary caste laced system. The paper further engages with the 'invisibility' of such Denotified communities within the modern state and argues for subtle acts of everyday resistance by their members through which attempts are being made to forcibly enter India's developmental discourse.

In addition, the paper draws from experiences of NGOs and Government of India departments that are currently involved in developmental interventions towards the Pardhis wherein successes have been rare. Therefore, the unique circumstances of such nomadic communities that are overlooked within the current developmental thinking have also been emphasised.

The paper, thus, unravels the intricate connections between forests, the state, NGOs, nomadic peoples, citizenship, resistance and criminality while placing in perspective political, economic as well as environmental concerns.

In this panel, several papers have described realistic picture of the situation of DNT communities in India and have also explained the nature of exclusion. Since the majority of the DNTs communities basically move from one place to another for living, is a big challenge for community mobilization. Though most of the communities have cast based associations, they are not united on the unique and larger identity of "DNT Communities" which itself is a major challenge. Unless these communities come together under one banner and fight unitedly for their demands, their voice will not be heard by the politicians, bureaucrats s, policy makers and planners. Since there are more than 600 communities, their leaders are also large in number having different ideologies and approaches hence uniting the leaders is another major challenge. On the other hand, one has to make systematic case for inclusion of these communities which will be research based and well documented. Hence there is need to have a multi-disciplinary approach for the inclusion.

This paper aims at developing the strategies as stated above for their inclusion.