Scheduled Castes in Pakistan

Scheduled Castes in Pakistan are communities that are recognised as being poor and disadvantaged. To help members of this community, the Government of Pakistan labelled 40 castes as "Scheduled Castes" through a law passed in 1957 - this is known as "ordinance No. XVI".[1][2] This was done to help create policies to help these communities and improve their access to education, employment, and social welfare.[3][4]

Population profile

The Scheduled Caste population is mainly in Sindh province and they are a large part of Pakistan's Hindu community. Although hard to work out exactly, it is thought that Scheduled Castes are about 90-95% of the Hindu population in Pakistan.[5]

Hindus are believed to be 1.85% of Pakistan's total population, which is about 4 million people.[6] That means Scheduled Castes are probably 3.6 million to 3.8 million.[7]

List of scheduled castes

Recognised Scheduled castes in Pakistan are:[8]

Scheduled Castes
Ad Dharmi Bangali Barar Bazigar
Bawaria Bhangi Bhanjra Bhil
Chanal Charan Chmar Chuhra or Balmiki
Dagi and Koli Dhanak Dhed Dumna
Gagra Gandhila Halal-Khor Jatia
Kalal Khatik Kolhi Kori
Kuchria Marija or Marecha Megh Menghwar
Nat Odh Pasi Perna
Ramdasi Sansi Sapela Sarera
Shikari Sirkiband Sochi Wagri

See also

Caste

References

  1. ↑ Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Law and Justice (1957). A collection of the central acts and ordinances for the year 1957 (PDF). Government of Pakistan Ministry of Law and Justice.
  2. ↑ "Religious Minorities in Pakistan By Dr Iftikhar H.Malik" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 May 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  3. ↑ Yudhvir Rana (4 June 2013). "Hindu parents don't send girl children to schools in Pakistan: Report". Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  4. ↑ Abbasi, Kashif (2021-06-11). "Literacy rate stagnant at 60pc". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
  5. ↑ "Scheduled castes have a separate box for them, but only if anybody knew". Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  6. ↑ Rehman, I.A. (18 June 2015). "The miserable scheduled castes". Dawn (newspaper).
  7. ↑ Patel, Shaista Abdul Aziz (15 Dec 2020). "It is time to talk about caste in Pakistan and Pakistani diaspora". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 15 Dec 2020.
  8. ↑ Shah, Zulfiqar (December 2007). "Information on Caste Based Discrimination in South Asia, Long Behind Schedule, a Study on the Plight of Scheduled Caste Hindus in Pakistan" (PDF). Indian Institute of Dalit Studies (IIDS) and International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN). Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
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