Cabinet okays modification in Scheduled Castes list

The union cabinet on Wednesday approved modification in the list of Scheduled Castes (SC) in five states including Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Kerala, Odisha and West Bengal.

The union cabinet on Wednesday approved modification in the list of Scheduled Castes (SC) in five states including Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Kerala, Odisha and West Bengal.

While in Chattisgarh, Sais, Sahis, Sarathi, Soot-Sarathi and Thanwar will be included in the SC list, Aheria, Aheri, Hari, Heri, Thori, Turi and Rai Sikh will be included in the SC list in Haryana.

In Kerala, Peruvannan caste will be included in SC list, and in West Bengal the area restrictions for Chain caste will be removed and it will be considered SC in the entire state.

In Odisha, Bariki and Kummari, the two castes will be excluded from the list. The SC list will be modified by introducing a bill that will amend the Constitution Order, 1950.

After the bill becomes an Act, members of the communities included in the list of Scheduled Castes will be able to derive benefits meant for Scheduled Castes under the existing schemes. Some of the major schemes of this kind include Post Matric Scholarship, National Overseas Scholarship, Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship, Top Class Education, Concessional Loans from National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation, Hostels for SC boys and girls etc.