Odisha’s Sualgiri, Swalgiri communities notified as scheduled castes

The Rajya Sabha had last month passed the bill on it after it was cleared by the Lok Sabha in March.

Odisha’s Sualgiri and Swalgiri communities have been notified as Scheduled Castes following President Pranab Mukherjee’s assent to a new law.

The SC category status will entitle these communities to reservation in government jobs and admission in educational institutions.(Representative image)

The Rajya Sabha had last month passed the bill on it after it was cleared by the Lok Sabha in March.

The President gave the nod to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Act, 2017, on Friday, officials said on Tuesday.

The SC category status will entitle these communities to reservation in government jobs and admission in educational institutions, besides some other financial benefits.

Some of the major schemes for the scheduled castes include post-matric scholarship, national overseas scholarship, Rajiv Gandhi national fellowship, concessional loans from National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation, hostel facilities for the SC boys and girls etc.

The Constitution empowers the President to specify the scheduled castes in states and union territories in a list of notified scheduled castes.

It also allows the list to be modified by Parliament.

As per the modified list for Odisha, the “Sabakhia, Sualgiri, Swalgiri” are notified Scheduled Castes.

The new law has also replaced the term Union Territory of Pondicherry to Puducherry in the Constitution (Pondicherry) Scheduled Castes Order, 1964.