Socio-Economic Development of the Scheduled Castes, with Special Reference to Agricultural Landless Labourers in Maharashtra

One of the distinctive and pervasive features of Indian Society is its division into castes and sub-castes. After the independence, statutory safeguards were provided to the Scheduled Castes in the Constitution of India. Even after 50 years of Independence, looking in to the trends, there is a need to change the policy governing the programmes. The present study attempts to examine the impact of socio-economic development programmes/or the Scheduled Castes in Maharashtra. The study utilises data from both secondary, as well as, primary sources. To find out the joint impact, the study worked out the multiple regression models. It is observed that only a small proportion of non-land asset group benefited from these developmental schemes.