subject: A CRITICAL STUDY OF VARIOUS CASTE A CASE STUDY OF SCHEDULED CASTE IN SOLAPUR DISTRICT: [print this page] The Scheduled Castes are not a homogenous group and are divided into many castes and sub-castes, as well as by language and geography. Collectively they are best known outside India as "Untouchables" but this term is not used in official Indian terminology where the word harijan is more likely to be favoured. Politically aware members of the Scheduled Castes are likely to use the term dalit. At an everyday level specific caste names are more likely to be used. Law has banned some derogatory names; in practice they are commonly used. Members of the Scheduled Castes are found all over India in some areas rising to over 25% of the population. With total numbers of over 100 million, they are the largest minority group in the world indeed one person in 40 is born "untouchable".As a result of the official policy of "positive discrimination" in favour of the Scheduled Castes in the civil service there have been growing numbers of Scheduled Caste public servants. To date there has been some improvement in the levels of Scheduled Caste recruitment in the central civil service. From 1949 to 1979 this rose from 0.71% to 4.5% in Class I posts, from 2.01% to 7.3% in Class II posts, and from 7.03% to 12.35% in Class III posts. There has been a similar slow process in public sector and nationalized industry posts, where positive discrimination did not begin until the 1970s. In private business and industry, however, there are no positive discrimination provisions and, therefore, progress has been limited.Members of the Scheduled Castes, however, are frequently over-represented in the lower Class IV posts and occupy almost all Class V posts (i.e sweepers a traditional "Untouchable" occupation).
A CRITICAL STUDY OF VARIOUS CASTE A CASE STUDY OF SCHEDULED CASTE IN SOLAPUR DISTRICT:
