Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes

History

Pre-independence

The evolution of the lower caste and tribe into the modern-day Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe is complex. The caste system as a stratification of classes in India originated about 2,000 years ago, and has been influenced by dynasties and ruling elites, including the Mughal Empire and the British Raj. The Hindu concept of Varna historically incorporated occupation-based communities. Some low-caste groups, such as those formerly called untouchables who constitute modern-day Scheduled Castes, were considered outside the Varna system.

Since the 1850s, these communities were loosely referred to as Depressed Classes, with the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The early 20th century saw a flurry of activity in the British authorities assessing the feasibility of responsible self-government for India. The Morley–Minto Reforms Report, Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms Report and the Simon Commission were several initiatives in this context. A highly contested issue in the proposed reforms was the reservation of seats for representation of the Depressed Classes in provincial and central legislatures.

In 1935, the UK Parliament passed the Government of India Act 1935, designed to give Indian provinces greater self-rule and set up a national federal structure. The reservation of seats for the Depressed Classes was incorporated into the act, which came into force in 1937. The Act introduced the term "Scheduled Castes", defining the group as "such castes, parts of groups within castes, which appear to His Majesty in Council to correspond to the classes of persons formerly known as the 'Depressed Classes', as His Majesty in Council may prefer". This discretionary definition was clarified in The Government of India (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1936, which contained a list (or Schedule) of castes throughout the British-administered provinces.

Post-independence

After independence the Constituent Assembly continued the prevailing definition of Scheduled Castes and Tribes, giving (via articles 341 and 342) the president of India and governors of the states a mandate to compile a full listing of castes and tribes (with the power to edit it later, as required). The first list of castes and tribes was created through two orders: The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, and The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, containing 821 castes and 296 tribes (overlapping nature), respectively, derived from colonial lists. Subsequently, the Presidential Scheduled List was modified in 1956 by the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Lists (Modification) Order, 1956, to include other areas, newly formed states/UTs, and communities that had not been considered during the adoption of the Constitution of India. and The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, However, the classification and maintenance of the list Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was initially intended to be a state matter during drafting of the constitution, concerns over political misuse led to the centralisation of authority under the Presidential Scheduled Lists. After 15 years since the order of listing Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the government adopted updated criteria for inclusion and exclusion based on the Lokur committee report of 1965. Due to inclusive policies, many communities were added to the Presidential Scheduled List through amendments since the adoption of the Constitution, bringing the total to over 1,000 Scheduled Castes and over 500 Scheduled Tribes by 2018.

Demographics

Historical population

Current population

Note

• The census figures for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes represent selective demography, as the first clause of Articles 341 and 342 specifies that Schedule status is specific to a state or union territory (indicating nativeness of the region and the socio-economic disabilities arising therein), not to the whole country based on ethnicity or ancestry. For example, during the census operation, if a member of a notified community resides outside the state or union territory where the community isn't recognised as such, or if a member of Scheduled Castes follows religions other than Hinduism, Buddhism, or Sikhism, they are not counted as part of the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes, but rather as part of the general population.
• In the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, and the Union Territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep, no community is notified as Scheduled Castes; thus, there is no Scheduled Caste population.
• In the states of Punjab and Haryana, and the Union Territories of Delhi, Chandigarh and Puducherry, no community is notified as Scheduled Tribes; thus, there is no Scheduled Tribe population.

Religion

Note

• The census figures for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes represent selective demography, as the first clause of Articles 341 and 342 specifies that Schedule status is specific to a state or union territory (indicating nativeness of the region and the socio-economic disabilities arising therein), not to the whole country based on ethnicity or ancestry. For example, during the census operation, if a member of a notified community resides outside the state or union territory where the community isn't recognised as such, or if a member of Scheduled Castes follows religions other than Hinduism, Buddhism, or Sikhism, they are not counted as part of the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes, but rather as part of the general population.
• In the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, and the Union Territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep, no community is notified as Scheduled Castes; thus, there is no Scheduled Caste population.
• In the states of Punjab and Haryana, and the Union Territories of Delhi, Chandigarh and Puducherry, no community is notified as Scheduled Tribes; thus, there is no Scheduled Tribe population.

Literacy

Provisions

To effectively implement the safeguards built into the Constitution and other legislation, the Constitution under Articles 338 and 338A provides for two constitutional commissions: the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. The chairpersons of both commissions sit ex officio on the National Human Rights Commission.

The Constitution provides a three-pronged strategy to improve the situation of SCs and STs:

• Protective arrangements: Such measures as are required to enforce equality, to provide punitive measures for transgressions, and to eliminate established practices that perpetuate inequities. A number of laws were enacted to implement the provisions in the Constitution. Examples of such laws include the Untouchability Practices Act, 1955, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, etc. Despite legislation, social discrimination and atrocities against the backward castes continued to persist.
• Affirmative action: Provide positive treatment in allotment of jobs and access to higher education as a means to accelerate the integration of the SCs and STs with mainstream society. Affirmative action is popularly known as reservation. Article 16 of the Constitution states "nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any provisions for the reservation of appointments or posts in favor of any backward class of citizens, which, in the opinion of the state, is not adequately represented in the services under the State". The Supreme Court upheld the legality of affirmative action and the Mandal Commission (a report that recommended that affirmative action not only apply to the Untouchables but the other backward class (OBCs) as well). However, the reservations about affirmative action were only allotted in the public sector, not the private.
• Development: Provide resources and benefits to bridge the socioeconomic gap between the SCs and STs and other communities. Legislation to improve the socioeconomic situation of SCs and STs because twenty-seven percent of SC and thirty-seven percent of ST households lived below the poverty line, compared to the mere eleven percent among other households. Additionally, the backward castes were poorer than other groups in Indian society, and they suffered from higher morbidity and mortality rates.

Implementation

Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan

The Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan (SCSP) of 1979 mandated a planning process for the social, economic and educational development of Scheduled Castes and improvement in their working and living conditions. It was an umbrella strategy, ensuring the flow of targeted financial and physical benefits from the general sector of development to the Scheduled Castes. It entailed a targeted flow of funds and associated benefits from the annual plan of states and Union Territories (UTs) in at least a proportion to the national SC population. Twenty-seven states and UTs with sizeable SC populations are implementing the plan. Although the Scheduled Castes population according to the 2001 Census was 16.66 crores (16.23% of the total population), the allocations made through SCSP have been lower than the proportional population. A strange factor has emerged of extremely lowered fertility of scheduled castes in Kerala, due to land reform, migrating (Kerala Gulf diaspora) and democratisation of education.

Tribal Sub-Plan

Issue in policy and implementation

Constitutional history

In the original Constitution, Article 338 provided for a special officer (the Commissioner for SCs and STs) responsible for monitoring the implementation of constitutional and legislative safeguards for SCs and STs and reporting to the president. Seventeen regional offices of the Commissioner were established throughout the country.

There was an initiative to replace the Commissioner with a committee in the 48th Amendment to the Constitution, changing Article 338. While the amendment was being debated, the Ministry of Welfare established the first committee for SCs and STs (with the functions of the Commissioner) in August 1978. These functions were modified in September 1987 to include advising the government on broad policy issues and the development levels of SCs and STs. Now it is included in Article 342.

In 1990, Article 338 was amended for the National Commission for SCs and STs with the Constitution (Sixty fifth Amendment) Bill, 1990. The first commission under the 65th Amendment was constituted in March 1992, replacing the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and the commission established by the Ministry of Welfare's Resolution of 1989. In 2003, the Constitution was again amended to divide the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes into two commissions: the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.

Issue with scheduling and de-scheduling

During the drafting of the Constitution of India, the Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, appointed B. R. Ambedkar as the Minister of Justice. Ambedkar and Nehru both were concerned about groups deemed oppressed and disadvantaged, referred to as subalterns in postcolonial studies. In post-colonial India, one of the most disadvantaged groups included the former untouchables, for whom Ambedkar insisted on the establishment of the category of depressed castes. These subalterns, becoming aware of their subordination during political mobilisations, called themselves Dalits, "the oppressed". The Government of India instituted affirmative action for the most highly disadvantaged groups to improve their socio-economic standing and well-being. The Indian government distinguished the disadvantaged populations from one another by their membership in the caste system and tribal affiliation. The “tribal” groups were identified as minorities belong to the oral tradition, standing outside the Varna-Jāti Brahmanical hierarchy.

The concept of Scheduled Tribes — according to the official definition — thus refers to populations lagging behind with a low level of human development, and in geographical isolation compared to the rest of Indians, and hence called "backward," a parallel concept to "indigenous peoples" in the Western world. According to Emilie Crémin, these criteria, defined in 1950, nevertheless seem outdated today, since some tribal states such as Nagaland, on the contrary, have an average level of human development index (HDI) compared to the rest of India after their separation from Assam.

Religious restriction

The Scheduled Castes, as a constitutional category in India, emerged from the practice of untouchability in the caste system associated with Hinduism. Although the Constitution of India did not specify religious criteria, it was accepted by the Constituent Assembly that only adherents of Hinduism would be entitled to Scheduled Caste status. Thus, the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950 specified as such, with the exception of certain communities in relation to Punjab, who could be either Hindu or Sikh. The 1956 amendment extended Scheduled Caste status to Dalit converts to Sikhism nationwide. In 1990, it was further extended to Buddhist converts, following the mass conversion led by B.R. Ambedkar to reject caste discrimination rooted in Hinduism. However, converts to Christianity, Islam, or other religions not specified in the order and subsequent amendments are not entitled to Scheduled Caste status and are not counted as such in census enumeration. According to the Sachar Committee analysis, Scheduled Castes (SCs) make up 19.7% of India's total population. These SCs constitute 89.5% of the Buddhist population, 30.7% of Sikhs, 22.2% of Hindus, 9% of Christians, 0.8% of Muslims, and 2.6% belong to other religious beliefs. Similarly, according to the Pew Research survey, 89% of Buddhists identified as SCs, followed by 47% of Sikhs, 33% of Christians, 25% of Hindus, 4% of Muslims, 3% of Jains, and the remaining 25% of SCs identify as the general population. Overall, estimates of the SC population in India without religious bar vary, such as 25% in Religion 2020, 24% in Global Attitudes 2019, and 23% in Global Attitudes 2017 by the Pew Research Center. Other estimates include 22% by IHDS (2005), 19% by NES (2019), and 21% by NFHS (2015–2016), all of which are higher than the 16% and 17% recorded in the 2001 and 2011 Censuses of India, respectively. The demand for extending Scheduled Caste status to adherents of religions other than Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism has been rejected by the Office of the Registrar General of India, which became the validating authority in 1999. Before that, state recommendations and the approval of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were considered for additions, deletions, or modifications to the Presidential Order through Parliament. As a result, individuals converted to religions not specified by the constitutional order often either avoid disclosing their actual religious beliefs or assert their previous religious identity in official records to avail social security and welfare benefits (popularly known as the Reservation) provided by the government. Although those converted SCs fall into the Other Backward Class category, which provides similar affirmative benefits except for political reservation.

Area restriction

The classification of communities as Scheduled Castes, initially formalised by the British in the early 20th century under the term 'Depressed Classes', was geographically specific, with communities identified at the district or provincial level based on localised patterns of social disadvantage. After independence, this area-based framework was largely retained, as socio-economic disabilities were seen as regionally rooted by social structure.

In most states, the intrastate area restrictions are removed by the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Act, 1976. However, the inter-state area restrictions per Article 341(1) and 342(1) are defined by the Constitution. Accordingly, the lists of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are specific to each state and union territory.

Subclassification

The notified Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were earlier regarded as homogeneous social groups for policy implementation, which resulted in disparities where some communities accessed a disproportionate share of affirmative benefits while more marginalised sections remained excluded from adequate representation. To address this, several state governments, notably Andhra Pradesh and Punjab, introduced sub-classification of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for a more equitable distribution of affirmative measures. However, since the authority to maintain the list of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes rests with the central government, the Supreme Court struck down the sub-classification policy, emphasising homogeneity in the context of the scheduling list.

In 2024, a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of sub-classification, clarifying that while homogeneity applies to the Presidential Scheduled List, it does not restrict state's power vis-à-vis Article 15(4), Article 16(4), and other empowering provisions in policy implementation or the distribution of welfare benefits. The decision affirmed the state's power to adopt sub-classification or other policies for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to ensure an equitable distribution of affirmative action benefits.