What are the two major legal initiatives by the State since Independence, addressing discrimination against Scheduled Tribes (STs)?

Beyond constitutional safeguards — Articles 15(4), 46 and 338A, and the Fifth and Sixth Schedules — the State has enacted specific laws to combat discrimination against Scheduled Tribes. Two legal initiatives stand out.

1. SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989

• Criminalises specific atrocities against STs — humiliation, social boycott, dispossession of land, sexual exploitation — recognising that ordinary criminal law had failed to deter caste- and tribe-targeted violence.
• Provides Special Courts and Exclusive Special Courts for speedy trial, with relief and rehabilitation for victims under the 1995 Rules.
• The 2015 Amendment added new offences and strengthened the rights of victims and witnesses; the 2018 Amendment legislatively restored the Act's stringent arrest provisions.

2. Forest Rights Act, 2006

• The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act corrects, in its own words, the historical injustice done by colonial forest laws that criminalised tribal life.
• It recognises individual rights to cultivate forest land up to 4 hectares, community forest resource rights, and habitat rights for particularly vulnerable tribal groups, with the Gram Sabha as the deciding authority.

Together, the two laws attack the twin roots of tribal discrimination — targeted social violence and resource alienation. Complemented by the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 and PESA 1996, their promise now depends on sensitive enforcement, faster claim settlement and higher conviction rates.