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Synopsis Socio-Economic Development of Dalits in India study that Dalits are commonly clustered together in segregated hamlets at the edge of a village.  They are a small and vulnerable minority in any given region, making resistance to exploitation and violence very difficult.  Dalits constitute over 16 percent of the total Indian population.  The 1991 Census estimates the total dalit population in India at 138 million, and in Karnataka state as seven and a half million (7.5), or 16% of the total state population.  The creation of Dalit Bikas Samitee in 1978 has become an asset to Dalit community, although the budget allocation to its programme is nominal.  In May 2002, the government constituted National Dalit rights.  After the political change in 2007, the situation of women has certainly changed but not to the extent it should have been.  The fact is that Dalit women also consist of one-forth of the total women population.