DALIT OWNED MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN INDIA Dr. C. PARAMASIVAN Assistant Professor & Research Supervisor, P. MARI SELVAM, Ph.D (F.T) Research Scholar, Department of Commerce, Periyar EVR College, Tiruchirappalli 620 023. Tamilnadu. Email: paramselp@yahoo.in Cell: 9442384207 ABSTRACT _____________________________________________________________________ The Schedule caste and Schedule Tribes in India economical deprecate in the country, and many more discrimination to affect to the Dalit people and Dalit Entrepreneurs. The Dalit Entrepreneurs in low average of literacy level and to improve the business traits and untrained in particular field. Dalit owned by enterprise are below average in India as per the Report of MSME. But now the scenarios have been changing fast with modernization, urbanization and development of education. But still it can not be said that the Dalits entrepreneurship movement has taken off the ground and it is felt that movement is still in a transition period. Dalit entrepreneurs can be planned and developed and the need for providing appropriate awareness and environment to promote entrepreneurship is vital importance. This article focused on the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Entrepreneurs in India, with reference to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in India. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Key words: Scheduled Castes, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Dalit Entrepreneurs Introduction The 1931 census, for the first time systematically categorized certain castes as ‘depressed classes’. Thereafter, the Government of India Act, 1935, for the first time, provided for notification of socially disadvantaged castes as ‘Scheduled Castes’, and a list of such castes was accordingly notified in the Government of India (Scheduled Caste Order, 1936). The history of categorizing some castes as Scheduled Castes commenced with the Government of India Act, 1935. This step, on the part of the then British Government, was meant to treat the most oppressed and exploited castes with a degree of special political dispensation. Most of these castes were known as ‘untouchable’ in the context of the Hindu social structure. Thus, the