Dalit Caste List of Nepal: The 26 Scheduled Dalit Communities

In Nepal, "Dalit" is a legal and constitutional category, not merely a social label. The Government of Nepal maintains an official schedule of caste groups recognised as Dalit, and only communities on this list can access the specific rights, reservations and welfare programmes reserved for Dalits under the law. The list is administered in practice by the National Dalit Commission (Rashtriya Dalit Aayog), the constitutional body mandated to protect and promote Dalit rights.

The schedule currently contains 26 caste groups, divided into two clusters by geography and culture: 7 Hill (Pahadi) Dalit castes and 19 Madhesi or Terai Dalit castes. This division reflects real differences — Hill and Madhesi Dalits speak different languages, follow different rites, and have historically faced distinct forms of caste-based discrimination and untouchability. Both clusters, however, sit at the bottom of the traditional caste hierarchy and share a history of being treated as "untouchable" before such practice was legally abolished.

The current schedule traces back to a 2011 (2067 BS) list prepared by the erstwhile National Dalit Commission and endorsed by the Government of Nepal, which formalised the count of 26 Dalit castes. Caste-based discrimination, untouchability and "schedule" status are governed together with the Caste-Based Discrimination and Untouchability (Offence and Punishment) Act, 2011, which makes such discrimination a criminal offence.

Hill Dalits live mainly across Nepal's mid-hills and are the demographically largest Dalit cluster. Three of these communities — Bishwokarma, Pariyar and Mijar — are the community-chosen umbrella names that the 2021 census formally adopted in place of the older occupational labels Kami, Damai and Sarki. Two of the seven, Pode and Chyame, are Dalit castes within the Newar community of the Kathmandu Valley.

Each Hill Dalit caste is associated with a traditional occupation, and several older surnames and sub-groups are folded under each scheduled name. Using the community-chosen name is now the officially preferred and legally correct form.

Madhesi or Terai Dalits live across the southern plains and are culturally and linguistically part of the wider Madhesi society, speaking languages such as Maithili, Bhojpuri and Bajjika. Although they are more numerous as a cluster of communities, several individual Terai Dalit castes are quite small in population. Human-development indicators for many Terai Dalit groups — especially the Musahar and Dom — are among the lowest of any community in Nepal.

The 19 scheduled Madhesi Dalit castes, with common sub-caste and surname variants, are listed below. Several share occupational roles similar to Hill Dalits (for example, Chamar leatherwork parallels Mijar), reflecting the pan-South-Asian structure of the traditional caste-occupation system.

According to the National Population and Housing Census 2021 (2078 BS), Dalits together make up roughly 13.6% of Nepal's population — the third-largest social bloc after the Khas-Arya and Janajati groupings. Dalit advocacy organisations argue the real share is higher because of under-counting and mis-classification.

A defining change in the 2021 census was the adoption of community-chosen names: the census counted Bishwokarma, Pariyar and Mijar rather than Kami, Damai and Sarki. This is why searches for "Kami population 2021" return the Bishwokarma figure. Bishwokarma is the sixth-largest single caste in all of Nepal.

The figures below are the exact 2021 census counts for the larger Dalit castes; the smallest scheduled Terai Dalit groups (such as Kalar, Chidimar and Halkhor) number only a few hundred to a few thousand people each.

The Constitution of Nepal 2015 (2072 BS) gives Dalits some of the strongest textual guarantees of any group in the country. Article 40, "Rights of Dalit," is a dedicated fundamental right. It guarantees Dalits proportional participation in all bodies of the State, and directs that special legal provision be made for Dalit representation and empowerment in the public service and other employment sectors — the constitutional basis for Dalit reservation.

Article 40 further guarantees free education with scholarships from the primary to the higher level for Dalit students, with additional provision for technical and vocational study; special provision for health services and social security; the right of Dalits to protect and develop their traditional occupations, skills and technology; land for landless Dalits; and housing settlement for homeless Dalits. Crucially, it requires that these facilities be distributed justly so that Dalit women, and Dalits in every community and region, benefit proportionately — a safeguard against benefits being captured only by the largest Hill Dalit groups.

Reservation flows through implementing laws such as the Civil Service Act (which sets aside a share of open competition posts for Dalits within an inclusion quota) and through separate seats in federal and provincial legislatures and local bodies. Being on the scheduled Dalit list is the eligibility gateway for these reservations, Dalit scholarships and targeted welfare schemes.

The National Dalit Commission (NDC) is a constitutional body established under Article 255 of the Constitution of Nepal 2015. Its governing statute is the National Dalit Commission Act, 2074 (2017). The Commission's mandate is to protect and promote the rights and interests of Dalits, monitor implementation of laws and policies against caste discrimination, investigate violations, and recommend legal and institutional reforms to the Government of Nepal.

The Commission is composed of a Chairperson and up to five other members, appointed on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council, and is headquartered in Kathmandu. It succeeds an earlier, non-constitutional National Dalit Commission that had operated since 2002 (2058 BS) under executive decision. The elevation of the body to constitutional status was one of the signature Dalit gains of the 2015 Constitution.

Because the NDC maintains and advises on the schedule of Dalit castes and monitors Dalit rights, it is the reference authority for questions of who is legally Dalit in Nepal. Its recommendations on discrimination cases and on inclusion policy are, however, advisory rather than binding on the government.