Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950

The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 (C.O. 19), issued under Article 341(1) of the Constitution, specifies which communities are to be treated as Scheduled Castes. Clause 3 of this Presidential Order states: "Notwithstanding anything contained in paragraph 2, no person who professes a religion different from the Hindu, the Sikh or the Buddhist religion shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste." The Order was originally limited to Hindus when issued in 1950. It was amended to include Sikhs in 1956 (The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Act, 1956) and Buddhists in 1990 (The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Second Amendment) Act, 1990) — the Buddhist inclusion following B.R. Ambedkar's mass conversion of Dalits to Buddhism in 1956. Islam and Christianity remain outside the Order's purview because the framers held that the caste system in the strict sense is specific to the social hierarchy within Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism.