Centre ensures place for Madiga member in Scheduled Caste panel

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CategoryPolity

Last Updated12/03/2024

The Union government has chosen to constitute the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) by ensuring the presence of at least one member from the Madiga community
Community has a large presence in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

The government formed an internal committee for sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes in response to the decades-long demand of the Madiga community in the two States.
The Madiga community has argued that despite being among the most populous of the SCs
- It is routinely crowded out of benefits and reservation by the relatively dominant Mala community.
While the Supreme Court is yet to decide on whether SC quotas can be sub-categorised, the committee is looking into ways of targeting benefits towards this section of the Scheduled Castes.

It constitutes at least 50% of the total Scheduled Castes in Telangana.
The 2011 census puts the total SCs at a little over 15% of the population of the State.
The Madiga community had been struggling since 1994 for the sub-categorisation, and the Prime Minister’s announcement was considered an important step in that direction.

It initially provided for recognising only Hindus (with exceptions) as SCs, to address the social disability arising out of the practice of untouchability.
The Order was amended in 1956 to include Dalits who had converted to Sikhism (in entirety) and once more in 1990 to include Dalits who had converted to Buddhism.
Both amendments were aided by the reports of the Kaka Kalelkar Commission in 1955 and the High-Powered Panel (HPP) on Minorities, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in 1983 respectively.