For sceptics of surveys, Jodhka's findings are reinforced by a study done by political scientist Ashutosh Varshney, who teaches at Brown University, US, along with Harvard Business School professors Lakshmi Iyer and Tarun Khanna. Studying the numbers from the Economic Census of India, which enumerates every non-agricultural enterprise in the country, the trio revealed that as late as 2005, SCs (Scheduled Castes) owned only 9.8 per cent of all the 42 million enterprises that employ around 99 million workers in 2005, well below their 16.4 per cent share in the total population.

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