Ministry:
Social Justice and Welfare
- The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced in Lok Sabha on March 1, 2016 by the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Thawar Chand Gehlot. It was passed by Lok Sabha on March 15, 2016. The Bill amends the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950.
- The Constitution empowers the President to specify the Scheduled Castes in various states and union territories. Further, it permits this list of notified Scheduled Castes (SC) to be modified by Parliament.
- Recently, some states proposed certain modifications to this list. The Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill states that the Bill has been introduced to give effect to the changes proposed by the states.
- Communities added to the list of SCs in Haryana: For the state of Haryana, members of the i) Aheria, ii) Aheri, iii) Hari, iv) Heri, v) Thori, vi) Turi and vii) Rai Sikh communities have been included in the Schedule to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950.
- Communities added to the list of SCs in Kerala: For the state of Kerala, members of the i) Malayan (in Kannur, Kasaragode, Kozhikode and Wayanad districts), ii) Mannan, iii) Pathiyan, iv) Perumannan, v) Peruvannan, vi) Vannan, and vii) Velan communities have been included in the Schedule to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950.
- Communities added to the list of SCs in Chattisgarh: For the state of Chattisgarh, the communities of i) Sais, ii) Sahis, iii) Sarathi, iv) Soot-Sarathi, and v) Thanwar have been added to the entry that comprises the communities of i) Ghasi and ii) Ghasia in the Schedule to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950.
- Modification to the list of SCs in West Bengal: For the state of West Bengal, the Schedule recognises the community ‘Chain’ as SC only in certain districts (namely Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia and Dakshin Dinajpur). The Bill replaces this entry to give the ‘Chain’ community SC status across the state.
- Communities removed from the list of SCs in Odisha: For the state of Odisha, members of the i) Bariki and (ii) Kummari communities have been removed from the Schedule to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950.
