Locating the space for scheduled castes in the policymaking

Ritually ordered inequality, poverty, identity, deprivation, isolation and marginalization existing since the dawn of human civilization denote the rules of exchange and practices have left a crippling mark on certain groups and communities. There has been a widening of the gap between the rich and the poor for the last several decades. Significant discrepancies in terms of distribution of resources and opportunities exist among certain groups and one such marginalized social group is the scheduled caste which has been pushed systematically to the periphery by the age-old caste-hierarchical tradition in the society. The present study makes a survey of literature and ascertains implementation of policies provided to scheduled castes. This paper looks through the paradox that despite several policy and programme interventions for improving socio-economic conditions of the scheduled castes in India, serious gaps still exist when they are compared with other social groups. In the backdrop of analyzing implementation of various constitutional welfare measures and policies, the study also attempts to highlight the facts and fallacies in the implementation of these policies which has not made any material difference in the social and economic conditions of these scheduled castes.