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Synopsis The Dalits is India constitute 23 percent of the total population of the country. They have been economically and socially most depressed and backward in the past. Independent Indian leadership had made constitutional provisions for the uplift of the down trodden. Now with the release of the Mandal Commission Report by the V.P. Singh Government, a section of the population comprising of 27% of the total population, with the tag of, ‘other backward classes’ has been included in the ambit of reservation. The Indian political leadership was committed to the development of the weaker sections of the society, right from the days of the independence movement. It was felt that due to various historical reasons a large section of the Indian population was economically very poor, socially degraded and politically very depressed and it was proper that after the attainment of freedom, constitutional provisions were made to give this section more attention and help. On the basis of the population figures about 23% people were declared as scheduled caste and scheduled tribes. They were given representation in national and state legislatures, in services and in the programmes of the social welfare and this has led to their development. These issues about the welfare of the Dalits and other backward classes have been discussed in this book.