RS passes bill to include certain communities in SC list

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.

Ahmed Hassan (Trinamool Cong) demanded socio economic survey by the Rural Development department to be completed to enable the government decide on who to be included in the SC/ST list.

A W Rabi Bernard (AIADMK) demanded that Dalit Christians be included in the list of SCs.
Veer Singh (BSP) sought enhancement of reservation quota for SC saying that their population had increased over time but the quota remained stagnant.

"Also, there should be check on diversion of funds meant for such communities like in case of diversion of Rs 744 crore Scheduled Caste Sub Plan to projects related to Commonwealth Games," he said.

T K Rangarajan (CPI-M) demanded formation of a Commission which should visit every state to assess communities inclusion into SC/ST categories besides evolving some mechanism for it.

Ramdas Athawale (RPI), Vijaylaxmi Sadho (Cong), Nand Kumar Sai (BJP) and S Thangavelu (DMK) wanted increase in reservation quota for SC/ST while Bhushan Lal Jangde (BJP) drew the attention of the governemnt towards SC/ST communities in Chhattisgarh which were devoid of ration cards.

Anil Kumar Sahani (JDU) said successive Bihar governments have been advocating for inclusion of certain communities in the list but in vain.

Dilip Kumar Tirkey (BJD) sought the government to dalit Muslims and Christians should also been included.