Article 366(25) of the Constitution provides: “Scheduled Tribes” meanssuch tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within such tribes ortribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purposes of this Constitution.
Scheduled Tribe people were exempted from paying income taxunder section 10 (26) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, but the Ministry of Finance recently issued a notification instructing public sector banks to collect 10 per cent of annual interest from Rs 10,000 or above