Bill for inclusion of new communities in SC category

A bill to include two dozen new communities including Kabirpanthi and Julaha (weavers) from Haryana in the Scheduled Castes category was introduced in Rajya Sabha today.

The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2014, was introduced in the House amid din by Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Manikrao Gavit.

The governments of Haryana, Karanataka, Odisha and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli had proposed inclusion of certain communities in the list of Scheduled Castes.

The bill was brought to full the requirement of amending the two Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders, 1950 and 1962 in respect of Haryana, Karnataka and Odisha clubbed together and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

"The bill seeks to introduce certain synonymous communities in respect of entries in the list of Scheduled Castes for the states of Haryana, Karnataka and Odisha and the UT of Dadra Nagar Haveli.

"This will entail some additional recurring and non-recurring expenditure on account of benefits of schemes meant for the development of the Scheduled Castes to which the the persons belonging to the newly added communities will become entitled, as a result of enacting this bill," the Financial Memorandum of the bill said.