SC/ST Enumeration UPSC relevant
Every Indian census since 1951 has recorded whether a person belongs to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, as notified for each State/UT under the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 and the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950.
A legal asymmetry applies: under Paragraph 3 of the SC Order, only persons professing Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism can be Scheduled Castes (a restriction the Supreme Court reaffirmed in March 2026, per newsonair), while ST status carries no religion bar. SC/ST data drive reservation quantums, delimitation of reserved constituencies and welfare allocation. In Census 2027, SC/ST status is captured in question 10 of the Household Schedule — 'Scheduled Caste (SC)/Scheduled Tribe (ST)/Caste' — alongside the new general caste enumeration.