"Dalit" refers to socially, economically and historically marginalized communities predominantly in India . It also means "broken/scattered" in Sanskrit and Hindi . The term "dalits" was in use as a translation for the British Raj census classification of "Depressed Classes" prior to 1935. It was popularised by the economist and reformer B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956), who included all depressed people irrespective of their caste into the definition of dalits. Hence the first group he made was called the "Labour Party" and included as its members all people of the society who were kept depressed, including women, small scale farmers and people from backward castes. 