New Delhi: A bill to include certain synonymous names of communities under Scheduled Castes category in Haryana, Karnataka, Odisha and Dadra and Nagar Haveli was passed by Rajya Sabha today.
The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2014 was passed by a voice vote.
Replying to a debate on the bill, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot said the law has been further amended to modify the SC list in three states and one Union Territory.
Expressing concern over the diversion of the SC sub-plan fund in various states including Delhi and atrocities on SC people, he said the government is taking several measures to help them and is also taking active measures.
He also mentioned that the government has a proposal from the Bihar government with regard to inclusion of more castes in SC list.
“This will entail some additional recurring and non-recurring expenditure on account of benefits of schemes meant for the development of SCs to which the persons belonging to the newly-added communities will become entitled, as a result of enacting the bill,” the bill reads.
As per the bill, communities such as ‘Kabirpanthi and Julaha' in Haryana, ‘Bhovi, od, odde, Vaddar, Waddar' in Karnatka, ‘Dhoba, Dhobi, Dom, Dombo, Duria Dom, Katia, Kela, Nalua Kela, Khadala and Turi' in Odisha and the community of ‘Chamar' in Dadra and Nagar Haveli are included in the SC list.
Participating in the debate, Ali Anwar Ansari (JDU) Ali Anwar (JDU) sought inclusion of Haryana's Mev community under Scheduled Tribe (ST) category on par with Meena tribe.
He alleged that the community, which fought against Babar's invasion and sacrificed 1200 lives, was not included in the list simply on basis of their religion because they fell under Mewati Muslim category.
