|
|
|
From the 1951 census onwards the census questionnaire contains items of enquiry to ascertain whether the respondent belongs to a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe and if yes, the name of the scheduled caste/tribe to which he belongs with a view to collecting information for discharging the Constitutional obligations towards these communities. In the individual Slip (universal) adopted for the 1981 Censu, question 9 makes an enquiry about the scheduled caste or scheduled tribe status and question 10 about the name of the specific scheduled castes/tribes. Likewise, question 3 of the household scheduled enquires whether the head of the household belongs to scheduled caste or scheduled tribe and question 4 the name of the scheduled caste/tribe of the head of the household, if the answer to question 3 is in the affirmative.
The statutory lists of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are notified in pursuance of articles 341 and 342 of the Constitution. The lists of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes were notified for the first time under the Constitution (Schedule Castes) Order, 1950 and the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950. These lists have been modified or amended or supplemented from time to time. On the reorganisation of the States, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, list (Modification), Order came into force from 29th October, 1956. Thereafter, a few orders specifying Scheduled castes/tribes in respect of a few individual states also came into force. For instance, the Constitution (Jammu & Kashmir) Scheduled Castes Order was issued in 1956, while the Constitution (Dadra & Nagar Haveli) Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders were issued in 1962. In Uttar Pradesh the Scheduled Tribes were notified for the first time in 1967 vide the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) (Uttar Pradesh) Order, 1967. Likewise, the Constitution (Pondicherry) Scheduled Castes Order was enforced in 1964. In the case of the union territory of Goa, Daman & Diu the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes order was issued in 1968. Likewise, the Constitution (Nagaland) Scheduled Tribes Order came into force in 1970. Later, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Act 1976, came into force. The main purpose of this Amendment act was to remove area restrictions in respect of most of the Scheduled Castes and Schedulted Tribes. The Amendment Act of 1976 did not include the lists of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in respect of states/union territories like Chandigarh, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir and Pondicherry which were not affected by the Act. Each enumerator was furnished with a list of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in relation to his state/union territory as notified under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Act, 1976, and other relevant Acts and Orders. If the person enumerated belonged to a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe he/she was recorded as such. If the person belonging to a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe was reckoned as scheduled caste or scheduled tribe only if the name found place in the list furnished to the enumerator. The general terms, like Harijan/Girijan or Achhut/Adivasi were not reckoned as belonging to scheduled caste or scheduled tribe as the case may be. In such cases the name of the caste/tribe, was ascertained fully and if that name found place in the list furnished to the enumerator he/she was treated as scheduled caste/scheduled tribe as the case may be. If a person merely claimed to be a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe, but said that he/she did not belong to any of the notified communities applicable to the area, as reflected in the list supplied to the enumerator, he/she was not reckoned as belonging to a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe. Scheduled castes could belong to Hindu or Sikh religion, whereas scheduled tribes could belong to any religon.
(From the 1971 census.) Each enumerator was furnished with a list of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes applicable to the state under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes List (Modification) Order (1956) as amended from time to time. He was instructed to record a person as belonging to a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe only when the name of the scheduled caste or scheduled tribe as returned by the persons figured in the list. If the person belonging to a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe returned his caste or tribe by any synonym or generic name of the caste or tribe not mentioned in the list, he was not eligible to be entered as belonging to a scheduled caste or tribe.
In the 1961 Census, the enumerators in some States had been provided with a set of synonyms and generic names of the scheduled castes and tribes so that a person who returned his caste or tribe by any synonym or generic name was enumerated as a scheduled caste or schedule tribe irrespective of whether such synonym or generic name found a place in the notified list. In the 1971 census, however, in view of a Supreme Court judgement on the subject, the notified list of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes had to be strictly followed and the synonyms or generic names of such communities could not be recognized for purpose of enumeration as a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe, as such synonyms or generic names were not included in the list. There is, therefore, a possibility that despite specific instructions to the enumerators to make all efforts to elicit the correct name of the caste or tribe, some persons might have returned themselves by some synonym, local name or generic name and suffered omission from enumeration as a member of a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe. Care was, however, taken to include those who returned themselves merely as scheduled caste or schedule tribe, and in whose case the enumerator did not record the actual name of the caste or tribe.
| Return to: Scheduled caste codebook |
|
||
| Last updated October 1, 2000 |
comments to: Reeve Vanneman.
reeve@umd.edu
|