Scheduled caste, article 341 makes it clear that a 'Scheduled Caste' need not be a 'caste' in the conventional sense and, therefore, may not be a caste within the meaning of Article 15(2) or 16(2). Scheduled Castes become such only if the President specifies any castes, races or tribes or parts or groups within castes, races or tribes for the purpose of the Constitution. So, a group or a s. of a group, which need not be a caste and may even be a hotchpotch of many castes or tribes or even races, may still be a Scheduled Caste under Article 341. Likewise, races or tribal communities or parts thereof or part or parts of groups within them may still be Scheduled Tribes (Article 342) for the purpose of the Constitution. Under this definition, one group in a caste may be a Scheduled Caste and another from the same caste may not be. It is the socio-economic backwardness of a social bracket, not mere birth in a caste, that is decisive. Conceptual errors creep in when traditional obsessions obfuscate the vision. The President notifies Scheduled Castes not with reference to any caste characteristics, but their abysmal backwardness, as is evident from the scheme of Part XVI. He appoints, under Article 338, a Special Officer whose duty is to investigate into all matters relating to safeguards for the SC & ST, Akhil Bharatiya Soshit Karamchari Sangh (Railway) v. Union of India, AIR 1981 SC 298: (1981) 1 SCC 246: (1981) 2 SCR 185.
Scheduled Castes, for belonging to a Scheduled Caste, a person must profess Hindu or Sikh Religion, Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, para. 3.
Means certain castes, races, tribes or groups within them in any State or Union Territory of India, notified by the President under Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 and Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Union Territories Order, 1951 under Art. 341 of Constitution of India for providing additional protection to members of these castes taking into account the economic educational backwardness from which they suffer, A Commentary on the Constitution of India, Durga Das Basu, Vol. 1, p. 149.
Means such castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within such castes, races or tribes as are deemed to be Scheduled Castes under Article 341 of the Constitution. [New Delhi Municipal Council Act, 1994 (44 of 1994), s. 2(47)]
In relation to the Capital, means such castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within such castes, races or tribes as are deemed under Article 341 to be Scheduled Castes in relation to the Capital. [Government of National Capital Territory of India Act, 1991 (1 of 1992), s. 2(f)]
Scheduled Castes, the President can declare a group within a caste as Scheduled Castes if that group is educationally or socially backward; President may also specify a caste from a particular area of a State to be declared as a Scheduled Caste for providing additional protection to these persons in that area. [Constitution of India, Art. 341(1)]
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