India’s ‘Absolute Bar’ on Scheduled Caste Status After Conversion Faces Rising Constitutional and Policy Pressure
The article argues that India’s religion-linked Scheduled Caste recognition framework, reaffirmed by the Supreme Court as an “absolute” exclusion for Dalit converts to Islam and Christianity, is increasingly misaligned with evidence that caste disadvantage can persist after conversion. With a long-pending constitutional challenge and a government commission delayed until April 2026, the issue is positioned as a growing governance and equality dilemma.