Introduction

This essay draws upon research conducted in the National Archives of India, along with an examination of other relevant documents, to shed new light on the making and meaning of the Constitutional (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 (hereafter, the “1950 Order”). It not only explains the historical process through which the 1950 Order was formulated, but also critically examines how it has been misinterpreted over the decades by both the state and the judiciary, including in recent Supreme Court judgments concerning the protection available to Dalit Christians under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The available evidence suggests that the Scheduled Castes list in the 1950 Order was compiled primarily for the purpose of creating reserved seats in legislative bodies, rather than for other purposes. It was only through subsequent executive and judicial misinterpretations that Dalit Christians came to be systematically excluded from the benefits of reservations in government employment and educational opportunities. The exclusion of Dalit Christians from the Scheduled Castes (hereafter, SC) category in India has recently re-entered public discourse following the Supreme Court of India’s judgment in Chinthada Anand v. State of Andhra Pradesh (24 March 2026). The judgment held that members of Scheduled Castes who convert to Christianity lose their SC status, along with the benefits and protections available to them. What, then, is the logic underlying the Supreme Court’s reasoning? The identification of Scheduled Castes is governed by Article 341 of the Indian Constitution, which empowers the President of India to specify the castes that shall be deemed Scheduled Castes through a public notification. This provision was operationalised through the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, commonly known as the Presidential Order of 1950 (a corresponding Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 was also issued to identify Scheduled Tribes). A critical clause in this Order stipulated that only those persons who “professed” the Hindu religion would be recognised as Scheduled Castes. Although the Order has been amended twice—first in 1956 to include Sikhs, and later in 1990 to include Buddhists—the restriction continues to exclude Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims from the SC category. Furthermore, the Supreme Court and various High Courts have, in several judgments, generally upheld the executive position that, under the 1950 Order, Scheduled Caste converts to Christianity are not entitled to SC status. These judgments have also advanced the view that such converts are no longer subject to caste-based disabilities, on the grounds that they have achieved a degree of socio-economic mobility, have severed ties with their original caste identities, and belong to a religion that does not formally endorse caste.

This argument, which has persisted for a long time, is highly contested in social science scholarship as well as in various government commission reports, which demonstrate that caste practices persist across religions in India, including Christianity. For instance, the Kaka Kalelkar Commission (1955) and the more recent Ranganath Misra Commission recommended that Scheduled Caste status be made religion-neutral, noting that Dalit Christians continue to face multiple forms of disadvantage. Dalit Christians often experience segregation within churches (although this has declined in recent decades), separate burial grounds, endogamous marriage practices, and social discrimination both from upper-caste Christians and from the broader society. Thus, while the state’s legal framework assumes that caste disappears upon conversion, lived reality demonstrates its persistence. However, these recommendations have not been implemented.

What I seek to highlight is that the historical information and analysis concerning the making of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 have been largely absent from public debates. This essay examines how Hindu majoritarian politics and caste ideology, which shaped the Indian state, influenced the framing of the 1950 Order in ways that prevented Scheduled Caste converts to other religions from being included in the SC list. Further, the essay interrogates the purview, purpose, and ambiguities of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 on the basis of newly unearthed archival material. It argues that Dalit Christians were, in principle, similarly situated to Scheduled Castes with respect to entitlement to reservations and protections beyond the political domain. This archival evidence, however, was neither identified by the Supreme Court of India nor brought to its attention by counsel in Chinthada Anand v. State of Andhra Pradesh.

Historical evolution of the SC category:

During colonial rule, from the early twentieth century onwards, Dalits were categorised as the “Depressed Classes” in order to implement welfare schemes and provide employment opportunities. The British also began nominating representatives of the Depressed Classes to provincial legislative assemblies under the Government of India Act, 1919. However, there were several problems with both the category of the Depressed Classes and its implementation. The category included not only Dalits but also other communities, thereby diluting its specificity. More importantly, on many occasions, the British nominated individuals who were not from the Depressed Classes to legislative assemblies as their representatives. Consequently, Dalit activists opposed these practices. They demanded full political representation in the form of separate electorates before the Simon Commission in 1928, as well as on other occasions.

Therefore, the British, through the Government of India Act, 1935, first institutionalised Dalits as “Scheduled Castes” as a distinct category for political safeguards (the nationalist politics behind the making of the 1935 Act will be discussed further below). The Act provided reserved seats for the Scheduled Castes in legislative bodies. However, colonial administrators did not include Dalit Christians in the list of Scheduled Castes announced through the Scheduled Castes Order of 1936, which was issued under the provisions of the 1935 Act. This exclusion was based on the reasoning that Indian Christians had already been granted representation in legislative bodies and access to government employment under earlier arrangements, particularly the Government of India Act, 1919. Including Dalit Christians in the Scheduled Castes list would amount to granting them a “double benefit.” Thus, the colonial state’s exclusion of Dalit Christians from the Scheduled Castes list in 1936 was not intended to deny them access to reservations, nor was it based on the assumption that conversion to Christianity would eliminate caste-based discrimination. (Another important dimension of the 1936 Scheduled Castes Order will be discussed below.)

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Congress and Caste:

Now let us examine how the Congress, the ruling political party that framed the 1950 Order, approached this issue at the time. From its inception in 1885, the Congress was dominated by English-educated elites such as Dadabhai Naoroji, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and later Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru emerged from the same social milieu shaped by upper-caste norms and values. While the Congress gradually expanded its mass base under Gandhi, especially after 1920, its leadership remained disproportionately upper caste. This structural imbalance influenced the party’s priorities. Issues such as untouchability were often addressed in a limited, reformist manner with mostly lip-service rather than fundamentally transforming caste hierarchies.

Gandhi’s and the Congress’s role was particularly significant in shaping the trajectory of Dalit political representation in the 1930s. In 1932, following the demands of B. R. Ambedkar and other Dalit leaders, the colonial state proposed separate electorates, (under which Dalits would exclusively elect their own representatives in reserved constituencies). Gandhi, however, opposed this proposal, arguing that Hindus could not be politically divided, and undertook a fast unto death. Under these circumstances, Ambedkar agreed to a compromise: reserved seats within joint electorates, where both Dalits and other communities would vote for Dalit candidates. This agreement between Congress leaders and Ambedkar is famously known as the Poona Pact. Subsequently, the Government of India Act, 1935 provided reserved seats for Dalits within joint electorates rather than separate electorates, effectively limiting the autonomy of Dalit political representation. Ambedkar later expressed dissatisfaction with this arrangement, arguing that it subordinated Dalit political agency to upper-caste Hindu dominance. This dynamic became evident in the 1946 elections, when candidates of the Scheduled Castes Federation (founded by Ambedkar) were defeated by Congress Dalit candidates. In the context of joint electorates, the Hindu majority largely supported Congress nominees. This episode illustrates how the Congress used the idea of Hindu unity, combined with its organisational dominance, to constrain the possibilities of independent Dalit political assertion. The results of the 1946 elections further consolidated the Congress’s position as the dominant political force in India, as it secured a majority of the general (Hindu) seats, while the Muslim League won most of the Muslim seats.

Hindu Nationalism of Congress and Reservations:

Furthermore, the Partition of British India and the violence ( several lakh deaths) that accompanied it provided an opportunity for Congress leaders to shape the postcolonial state with hegemony of Hindu nationalism. For many within the Congress, an underlying assumption emerged that, since Muslims had obtained a separate state in the form of Pakistan, India should now evolve as a predominantly Hindu state. The Hindu dominant classes looked with suspicion towards sections of religious minorities. There was, in fact, a wide range of public opinion questioning whether religious minorities could fully belong to the Indian nation. Contemporary newspapers, including the Hindi daily Vartmaan and others, frequently debated the nationalism and loyalty of religious minorities, including Indian Christians, during 1947–48. In this atmosphere, it became exceedingly difficult to articulate demands for governmental protection or political rights for religious minorities, as such demands were often portrayed as anti-national.

This complex situation of religious minorities becomes clearer when we examine the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly regarding political reservations. An Advisory Committee on the Subject of Certain Political Safeguards for Minorities, under the chairmanship of Vallabhbhai Patel (with Jawaharlal Nehru and B. R. Ambedkar as prominent members), was formed in January 1947. In its initial report of August 1947, the Committee recommended the reservation of seats in legislative bodies for religious minorities. However, after Partition and independence, some members of the Committee reconsidered their position. As the Committee’s report noted, “conditions having vastly changed since the Advisory Committee made their recommendations in 1947, it was no longer appropriate in the context of free India and of present conditions that there should be reservation of seats for Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, or any other religious minority.” Furthermore, the report stated that “the reservation of seats for religious communities… did lead to a certain degree of separatism and was to that extent contrary to the conception of a secular democratic state.” (This report was submitted to the Constituent Assembly in May 1949.)

In this context, Christian members of the Constituent Assembly, such as H. C. Mookerjee and others, agreed that “there should be no reservation of seats in the Legislatures for any community (emphasis added) in India.” It is important to note that most Christian members of the Constituent Assembly came from elite and upper-caste backgrounds. As a result, at this historical juncture, religious minorities—including Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, and Sikhs—did not receive reservations in legislative bodies.

However, V. I. Muniswamy Pillai, a Scheduled Caste member of the Constituent Assembly, supported by other Scheduled Caste members (including B. R. Ambedkar), argued that reservations for the Scheduled Castes should be retained. This position was broadly in line with the framework established by the Poona Pact. It is also important to note that there were discussions between Vallabhbhai Patel and Ambedkar, wherein the latter agreed to forgo the demand for separate electorates and accept joint electorates for the Scheduled Castes. In return, the Congress supported his entry into the Constituent Assembly. Here I would like to add that Ambedkar had initially been elected to the Constituent Assembly from Bengal as a member of the Scheduled Castes Federation, with the support of Muslim League legislators; however, following Partition, his seat fell within the territory of Pakistan. He subsequently re-entered the Constituent Assembly with the backing of the Congress in 1947. At this time, Vallabhhai Patel and Ambedkar agreed upon the reservations for Dalits in the legislative assemblies. Therefore, it was not surprising that the Congress agreed to retain reservations for the Scheduled Castes in 1949.

What was the Fate SC converts to Christianity:

However, the debate continued regarding Scheduled Castes who converted to Christianity. Given that the Constituent Assembly had already decided not to grant reservations to religious minorities, there was an attempt to extend the same logic to Scheduled Castes who converted to Christianity. At this juncture, B. R. Ambedkar intervened and proposed that the matter be entrusted to the President of India, who would determine which castes should be included in the Scheduled Castes category, after consulting the state authorities (the Governor or Rajpramukh). Accordingly, this approach was incorporated into the Constitution under Article 341. Through this intervention, Ambedkar prevented the incorporation of a rigid constitutional provision that would have explicitly denied Scheduled Caste status to those who converted to Christianity.

Subsequently, the question of whether Scheduled Caste converts should retain SC status was discussed among the President’s office, the Ministry of Law, and the state governments. The Ministry of Law sought the views of all state governments on this issue. As a majority of the states responded that they did not support the inclusion of Scheduled Caste converts to Christianity, the President’s office, after consulting the Ministry of Law, decided that such converts would not be included in the Scheduled Castes category. Accordingly, the President of India issued the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, specifying the Scheduled Castes list.

It is important to note that, during my research in the National Archives of India, I examined a significant file containing correspondence (about creating the list of SC category) between various ministries, communications between the state and union governments, and petitions submitted by different community organisations to the Union government, and to Ambedkar. What is striking is the absence of petitions from Dalit Christians addressed to any authority, including Ambedkar (this remains a preliminary observation). Therefore, my preliminary findings suggest that, similar to upper-caste Christians, Scheduled Caste Christians did not articulate a demand for reservations during this period.

Did Dalit-Christians lose all forms of Reservations and Protections:

What do the Constitution and the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 really mean for Dalit Christians? The 1950 Order was created primarily for the purpose of reserving seats in legislative bodies, and not for all other purposes. This becomes clear from the response of K. V. K. Sundaram, Secretary to the Ministry of Law, in his letter (recently found) to the Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office shortly after the publication of the 1950 Order.

Sundaram wrote:

“The enumeration of the Scheduled Castes among Hindus is mainly for the purpose of reserving seats for their representatives in the State Legislature. Articles 16(4), 46 and 340(1) of the Constitution make it very clear that ‘all state aid and facilities’ are to be given not only to members of the Hindu Scheduled Castes, but also equally to all other educationally and socially backward classes, whether they profess Hinduism, Christianity, or any other religion. So far as I am aware, no distinction is made in this regard between the Hindu ‘Scheduled Castes’ and, say, Christian backward classes; but if necessary, you may verify this from the Home or Education Ministry.”

A similar position had earlier been expressed by the Secretary to the Governor-General in 1943, who noted (in another recently found document) that the Government of India (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1936 had been made “for the purpose of the First, Fifth, and Sixth Schedules to the Government of India Act, 1935, i.e., for electoral purposes only.” These statements categorically state that the Scheduled Castes category was conceived primarily to provide political representation through reservations in legislative bodies. Indeed, whenever the Constituent Assembly discussed the Scheduled Castes category, it did so largely in the context of legislative representation. Therefore, the Scheduled Castes category as defined in the 1950 Order was not intended to be extended to other domains, such as employment and educational benefits and other protections.

This raises the question: how did the Constitution provide reservations for Dalits (SCs)? It is important to note that the Constitution of India, with regard to reservations in public employment, states, according to Article 16(4), that: “Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which, in the opinion of the State, is not adequately represented in the services under the State.” Therefore, the Constitution uses the term “backward class of citizens,” rather than Scheduled Castes. Nevertheless, in practice, reservations in public employment were extended to Dalits. Furthermore, the explicit reference to Scheduled Castes was incorporated related to the jobs through the 77th Constitutional Amendment (1995), which provides that: “Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any provision for reservation in matters of promotion, with consequential seniority, to any class or classes of posts in the services under the State in favour of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes which, in the opinion of the State, are not adequately represented in the services under the State.” Even here, the term “Scheduled Castes” is specifically invoked in the context of reservations in promotions but not for the reservation in jobs. Therefore, the term “Scheduled Castes” and the 1950 order are not necessary and sufficient for Dalits to get the reservations in jobs and protections. But the Articles 16(4), 46 and 340(1) provided the reservations and protections to Dalits by considering them a part of the “backward class of citizens,” of article 16(4). It was understood and considered by the makers of the constitution as reflected in the words of K. V. K. Sundaram, Secretary to the Ministry of Law, the Dalit Christians would meet the requirements to get reservations and protections according to the Articles 16(4), 46 and 340(1). Also the Secretary to the Law Ministry, who issued the 1950 Constitutional (Scheduled Castes) Order, made it clear the 1950 Order did not prohibit the reservations and welfare programs, and protections to the Dalit Christians. Therefore, the Dalit-Christians have been provided with the reservations and other welfare programs by the government of India at that time.

Further, the category “Scheduled Castes” was not used by the Union and state governments for the purpose of providing welfare programs to the Dalits. In governmental language, a variety of terms—such as “Depressed Classes” and “Harijans”—were used for a considerable period for purposes other than elections and legislative processes. Government reports, official references, and policy discussions concerning Dalits, employed multiple terminologies. This practice, followed by both central and state governments, continued for several years. Indeed, several states maintained departments for Dalit welfare under the name “Harijan Welfare” for decades after the issuance of the Constitutional (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950. For instance, Tamil Nadu had a Harijan Welfare Department until 1988, when it was renamed the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department. Therefore, not referring to the term Scheduled Castes, the governments (union and states) provided reservations in jobs and educational institutions and welfare schemes for decades. Therefore, it should be noted that all this was possible because of Articles 16(4), 46 and 340(1)

Therefore, the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 was primarily made for the purpose of providing reservations for Dalits in legislative bodies, rather than for reservations in employment or other state benefits. With regard to other benefits provided by the state, Dalits across all religions—including Dalit Hindus and Dalit Christians—should be treated equally. Accordingly, Dalits belonging to all religions should be eligible for reservations under Article 16 as backward classes. And both Dalit-Hindus and Dalit-Christians were provided with the reservations and protections equally for some time after passing of the 1950 Order.

However, the postcolonial state in the coming decades, drawing upon the multiplicity of terms used to refer to Dalits, and administrative orders governing reservations (both legislative and in public employment), operationalised practices that worked against Dalit (Dalit-Christian) interests. Rather than resolving these ambiguities, the state and the judiciary often utilised them in ways that curtailed the benefits available to Dalit Christians. This should not be understood as an attack on Christianity per se, but rather as indicative of an anti-Dalit approach of the state. More broadly, the state’s approach has frequently involved the inadequate implementation and gradual dilution of reservations, thereby limiting avenues for Dalit upward mobility (without implying that reservations alone constitute a complete framework for Dalit emancipation). Nor is this an isolated phenomenon. Historically, there have been several instances of non-implementation or partial implementation of reservation policies—for example, inadequate publicising the vacancies, lack of transparency regarding the actual number of posts available, and the recurring claim that “suitable candidates” could not be found.

Conclusion:

The religious minorities (including the Dalit-Christians) lost political safeguards because of the issue of national unity not for other reasons. There was conception in the constituent assembly debates that Dalit-Christians achieved socio-economic development or Christianity has no caste when the political protections for the were removed.

Then, it is necessary to understand that the term “Scheduled Castes” used in the 1950 Order was primarily intended for the purposes of elections and reservations in the legislative processes, and not for other purposes. However, in the later decades the government altered the purview and purpose of the Constitutional (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 through subsequent governmental practices and orders (since the 1980s). The governmental practice (castiest and Hindu hegemony) brought a different meaning to the Constitutional (Scheduled Castes) Order,1950 that it was there to provide all forms of the reservations: reservation in jobs, education facilities and other protections. Also, it made it that not being included in the 1950 Order would make Dalits of any religion ineligible to get reservations, benefits and protection. Therefore, the 1950 Order got several powers that were not there at the time of its announcement. As a result, Dalits who convert to Christianity lose their eligibility for Scheduled Caste status, in the sense of access to reservations in education and employment, as well as protection under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.