The Socio-Economic Conditions of Scheduled Castes: An Indian Perspective

The study analysed the socio-economic condition of scheduled castes in terms of education, occupation, life condition, socio-economic statuses and extent of discrimination faced by SCs which ultimately leads to lower earnings and occupational segregation for them. The study used the primary survey to analyse the socio-economic condition of sample SCs and secondary data has also been used to capture the extent of caste and gender discrimination in earnings and occupational segregation between social groups.

Affirmative policies (reservation system) have contributed to a much extent in improving the level of education for marginalised, job opportunities in government (public) sector and in representations in legislature but special attention should be needed to mitigate the huge human capital gap between SCs and generals and the ambit of affirmative action policies should be enlarged with rationality. Lower return to education for SCs indicates the need for government policies focusing on education and employment opportunity both simultaneously.