18 castes to be included in ST category

Jharkhand's Bhokta and Puran are among the 18 communities across India that are likely to be designated as Scheduled Tribes (STs) by the government, the National Commission for STs said on Friday.

"Very soon the central cabinet will give approval to include 18 castes of different states to be included in the ST category," commission chairman Rameshwar Oraon told reporters here.

A cabinet note in this regard has already been prepared and approved by the commission, he said.

After the approval of the cabinet, the proposal would go to the parliament as an amendment to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders Act, he said.

Over the last three years, the commission has been making recommendations to the government as regards inclusion of communities into the ST list, Oraon said.

The 18 communities include two from Jharkhand: Bhokta and Puran.

"Bhokta is at present in Schedule Caste category and Puran does not belong to the reserved category," he said.

While Bhokta cummunity has a sizable population in the state, members of Puran cummunity number about 10,000.