The Telangana government has taken a pioneering step by becoming the first state to notify the categorisation of Scheduled Castes (SCs) into three distinct groups. This decision follows the Supreme Court’s landmark verdict in August 2024, which permitted such classification, recognising the stark disparities within the SC community itself. Seventy-five years after Independence, it is an uncomfortable truth that the benefits of reservation have not reached all sub-castes of the SC community equally. A few relatively better-off groups among them have been able to repeatedly access government jobs, educational seats, and other entitlements. Meanwhile, the most marginalised remain on the fringes, unable to compete with their........

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