This volume represents as accurate a list of India's Scheduled Castes as can currently be made. It reveals a highly heterogeneous profile of Scheduled Caste communities, which are spread across the country and which are mainly landless, with little control over resources such as land, forest and water. It also shows the persistence of 'untouchability' in many pockets, and the variable measures of equality that have so far been achieved in the struggle for social upliftment by the Scheduled Castes. It reveals that these castes have been increasingly involved in modern occupations, such as service in government departments wherever traditional industries have declined. As a consequence, a new sense of self-respect is in the air, gradually replacing some of the old myths which sought to legitimize their degradation.

Attempts have been made in this study to present an over-all profile of the Scheduled Castes from different dimensions i.e., facts, figures and their interpretations, the policy of segregation of a sizable section of Indian population on the basis of caste.

This Book Studies The Behaviour Pattern Of The Scheduled Caste And Scheduled Tribe Mlas In The Legislative Assembly Of West Bengal. The Purpose Of The Study Is To Investigate How Far They Reveal An Interest In, And Take An Initiative In The Matters Relating Directly To The Schedules Castes And Scheduled Tribes.