Tamil Nadu Timeline

Social ReformDMK-AIADMK alternation

Internal reservation for Arunthathiyars

· Chennai

Tamil Nadu set aside 3 percent within the Scheduled Caste quota for the Arunthathiyar community.

In 2009 the DMK government enacted a law providing a 3 percent special reservation for Arunthathiyars within the 18 percent quota for Scheduled Castes in education and state jobs. The Arunthathiyars, traditionally engaged in sanitation and leather work, were among the most disadvantaged Dalit groups. The measure followed a commission headed by Justice M. S. Janarthanam. Challenges to such internal quotas were settled in 2024, when a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court upheld the power of states to sub-classify Scheduled Castes.

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  3. 1989

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  4. 1990

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  5. 2006

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  6. 2007

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