Centre returns UP Govt proposal on Scheduled Castes list review

 

Lucknow: The Union Government has returned the proposal for inclusion of ‘Koli/Hindu Julaha community’ in the Scheduled Castes list of Uttar Pradesh as a synonym of ‘Kori’.

The UP Government had sent the proposal over a year ago to the Centre.

Official sources said the Centre had returned the proposal for review by the state government.

The Centre examined the proposal in accordance with the laid down modalities and it was not supported by the registrar general of India (RGI).

Sources said the proposal had been returned to the state government with a request to review or further justify the recommendation in the light of observations of the RGI.

The RGI has laid down modalities for deciding claims for modification – inclusion, exclusion, correction – in the lists of Scheduled Castes under which the state government concerned has to initiate the proposal with full justifications.  Only the Union government has the authority to include or delete any caste and tribe from the list of Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Several numerically small castes included in Other Backward Classes list have been demanding their inclusion in SC list.  Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi party government in 2004 had included 17 OBC castes in SC list. And then it made the recommendation to the Union Home ministry.

The then government had also amended the UP Public Services Act and included the 17 castes in SC list. This law provides for the reservation of OBCs and SCs in government services, educational institutions and other state supported institutions and other bodies.

The next government headed by Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party had repealed the amendment in the Act.

The Union government had rejected the proposal of Mulayam Singh Yadav government citing the data from anthropological studies, saying these 17 castes do not qualify the terms laid for determining untouchability.

Several organisations representing various castes listed under OBC had also approached the Allahabad High Court for their inclusion in Scheduled Caste list.  The Allahabad High Court, in a recent order in March, had directed the UP government to decide within four weeks about the inclusion of Rajbhar and a few other castes in the SC list. (Agencies)