ABSTRACT
One of the consequences of the changing realities of rural India is that either by choice or by compulsion, Dalits are moving away from the traditional agrarian economy. Growing privatization of India's economy and declining avenues of employment in the state sector also meant shrinking of jobs available under the quota system for the reserved categories. With changing aspirations and state support, larger numbers of Dalits are getting educated and looking for employment outside their traditional sources of livelihood. Demographically the Scheduled Castes are often treated as a single/homogenous and pan-Indian category of traditionally marginalized and excluded sections of the population. A large majority of Dalits in the two states live in rural areas, much larger than their proportions in the total population. A typical Dalit in business is a first-generation entrepreneur, relatively young and educated.
