New Delhi: In a historic move to address gaps in India’s reservation policy, a NITI Aayog-commissioned ethnographic study has recommended the inclusion of 179 communities in the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) lists. Conducted over three years by the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) and Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs), the study classified 268 denotified, semi-nomadic, and nomadic tribes across India.
The report proposes 85 fresh additions to the central reservation lists, with 46 communities recommended for OBC status, 29 for SC status, and 10 for ST status. Uttar Pradesh leads the list with 19 new inclusions, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, with eight each. Additionally, nine communities have been flagged for reclassification, and many others were found to be partially included in existing records, leading to calls for rectification.
Notably, the study revealed that 63 communities—over 20% of the surveyed groups—could not be traced. These groups are believed to have either assimilated into larger communities, adopted new names, or migrated elsewhere, highlighting challenges in preserving the identities of marginalized groups.
The ethnographic initiative, which began in February 2020 and concluded in August 2022, drew on region-specific expertise from TRIs in Odisha, Gujarat, and Arunachal Pradesh. Despite its comprehensive findings, the report is still under scrutiny by a NITI Aayog panel, with final recommendations pending approval by the Ministry of Social Justice.
The study’s implications are significant amid ongoing debates over caste-based reservations and the lack of a comprehensive caste census. With the proposed additions, the SC, ST, and OBC populations could increase, potentially bolstering demands to revise quota percentages to reflect current demographics.
