Dalit and Scheduled Caste are not synonymous categories.

Evidence

Today ‘Untouchable’ has been substituted with the Marathi word ‘Dalit’ (Broken People), which is, in turn, used interchangeably with ‘Scheduled Caste’. This, as the scholar Rupa Viswanath points out, is incorrect practice, because the term ‘Dalit’ includes Untouchables who have converted to other religions to escape the stigma of caste (like the Paraiyans in my village who had converted to Christianity), whereas ‘Scheduled Caste’ does not. The official nomenclature of prejudice is a maze that can make everything read like a bigoted bureaucrat’s file notings. To try and avoid this, I have, mostly, though not always, used the word ‘Untouchable’ when I write about the past, and ‘Dalit’ when I write about the present. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 34

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the precise distinction between Dalit and Scheduled Caste — key terminology for anyone studying the caste question.