‘Constantly ignored’: Bihar minister attacks Centre over Cabinet’s ST decision

The Union cabinet on Thursday approved proposals for the inclusion of tribes of Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh.

PATNA: Bihar’s parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, who also holds the finance portfolio, on Thursday hit out at the Centre for ignoring Bihar’s old demand to include certain castes in the category of Scheduled Tribe (ST).

Bihar’s parliamentary affairs and finance minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary criticised the Centre for not clearing inclusion of some castes in Bihar as scheduled tribes (Twitter/VijayKChy)

”Bihar has been demanding inclusion of castes such as Lohar, Nonia, Beldar, Nishad, Bind etc. in the category of ST for years, but it is unfortunate that it is being constantly ignored… It was ignored yet again when the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal on inclusion of several tribal communities in Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh,” he added.

Choudhary said the demand for inclusion of Bihar’s tribal community in the ST category has been regularly raised since 2008 and the state government has also written several times to the Centre in this regard.

“But the Centre seems to be working with political vendetta towards Bihar and always ignores state’s demands, while castes from Himachal Pradesh have been included in a hurry in view of the forthcoming election. What was the fault of Lohar, Bind, Nonia, Beldar and Nishad castes of Bihar,” he asked, adding the Centre should consider their inclusion without much delay.

The Union cabinet on Thursday approved proposals for the inclusion of tribes of five states - Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category.

In 2018, the state government also presented an ethnographic study report prepared by Bihar’s AN Sinha Institute of Social Sciences to the Union tribal affairs ministry in support of its demand.

Since Bihar’s EBC category currently has close to 100 castes, shifting some backward classes into the ST category will not only create more space but also benefit politically, as the five castes account for a significant proportion of the population in parts of the state.