Question: Gowlan is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Gowlan people, a Scheduled Caste, the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are various officially designated groups of historically disadvantaged people, in which country?

Context articles: Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
Tribes of Assam
Reservation in India
Health care access among Dalits in India
SC, ST Sub-Plan (Andhra Pradesh)
Mata Prasad
Other Backward Class
Gowlan tongue
Bhalay-Gowlan language
Forward caste

The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are various officially designated groups of historically disadvantaged people in India.
 The terms are recognised in the Constitution of India and the various groups are designated in one or other of the categories.
 For much of the period of British rule in the Indian subcontinent, they were known as the Depressed Classes.
 The combined percentage of people in scheduled castes and scheduled tribes is essentially the official percentage of people in the lowest part of Indian society.
According to the 2001 census, the Scheduled Tribes population as in percentage of the total population of Assam was 12.4 percent.
 The Assam Tribune reported in 2009 that the tribal communities of Assam now officially account for 15.64 percent of the total population.
 The Constitution of India categorizes the tribes of Assam into two groups: Scheduled Tribes (Hills) and Scheduled Tribes (Plains).
 Since hills tribes living in the plains and plains tribes living in the hills in large numbers are not recognised as scheduled tribes in the respective places, the census data may not reflect the correct figures.
 The Assam Tribune has claimed that if these categories of tribes are counted the actual population.
 Assamese language is used as the lingua franca by most of the tribes.Various other indigenous communities of Assam were all tribes but were later converted into caste like the Keot/Kaibartta community (recognised as a Scheduled Caste community by the Government of India) of Lower Assam along with various other indigenous communities.
The system of reservation in India comprises a series of affirmative action measures, also known as 'positive discrimination' in the UK, such as reserving access to seats in the various legislatures, to government jobs, and to enrolment in higher educational institutions.
 It is intended to favour historically disadvantaged castes and tribes, listed as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by the Government of India.
 The reservation is undertaken to address the historic oppression, inequality and discrimination faced by members of those communities.
 It is intended to realise the promise of equality enshrined in the Constitution.
The Dalit (formerly "Untouchable) community of India, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, are subject to many disadvantages in health care access.
 As of 2008, there are 166.6 million Dalits in India.
 Scheduled indigenous tribes and scheduled castes have been and continue to be the most socially disadvantaged groups in India that continue to be identified as needing affirmative action in terms of employment and education, for example, by the Indian government.
SC, ST Sub-Plan, also known as Indiramma Kalalu, refers to the financial commitment of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, in India, for the welfare of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
 An implementing law was passed in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly in May 2013.
 The groups were to have independent panels for auditing expenditure.
 The plan is meant to prevent the Government from diverting funds meant for SCs and STs to other programs, which was the historical practice.
Mata Prasad is aretired Indian Administrative Service officer.
 He was one of the first people from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to become an IAS officer.
 He is a former chairman of the Union Public Service Commission of India.
 He served as the chief secretary of the state of Uttar Pradesh from June 1995 to October 1996, thus becoming the first Scheduled Caste officer to head the state bureaucracy.
 The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 2012, for his contributions to civil service.
Other Backward Class (OBC) is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify castes which are socially and educationally disadvantaged.
 It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs and STs).
 The OBCs were found to comprise 52% of the country's population by the Mandal Commission report of 1980, a figure which had shrunk to 41% by 2006 when the National Sample Survey Organisation took place.
 There is substantial debate over the exact number of OBCs in India; it is generally estimated to be sizable, but many believe that it is lower than the figures quoted by either the Mandal Commission or the National Sample Survey.
Gowlan is an Indo-Aryan language of India spoken by the Gowlan people, a Scheduled Caste.
 Gowlan speakers are situated in the Amravati district of Maharashtra, the Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh and northern Karnataka.
 According to Ethnologue, Gowlan belongs to the Southern Zone, and possesses substantial lexical similarities with Bhalay.
Bhalay is an Indo-Aryan language of India spoken by the Bhalay people, a Scheduled Caste situated in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
 According to Ethnologue, it belongs to the Southern Zone, and possesses substantial lexical similarities with Gowlan.
Forward caste (also known as Forward Class, Forward Community, and General Class) is a term used in India to denote groups of people who do not qualify for any of the affirmative action schemes operated by the government of India.
 These schemes are known as Reservation Benefits.
 Forward castes form about 20–30 percent of the population, the number varying by region.
 Those groups who qualify are listed as Other Backward castes or Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, and they can take advantage of defined quotas amongst other benefits for education, tax benefits , special government schemes, government employment and political representation.
 The lists of Forward, Other Backward and Scheduled castes, and Scheduled tribes are compiled irrespective of religion.
 The lists are subject to change from time to time, dependent upon social, educational and economic factors.
 However, although lists are produced for those groups entitled to take advantage of the quotas, there is no such list for the Forward caste group; if a person does not belong to any of the listed groups then that person is by default a member of a group classed as Forward caste.