Kerala will have 164 forward caste communities, including 15 Christian communities, which are out of the ambit of any form of caste-based reservation.
The list attains significance in the wake of the Kerala High Court directive to the State government to release it in one month. The Nair Service Society had complained that the government was sitting on the list, thus denying the communities the benefit of economic reservation.
Incidentally, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had stated on Thursday that the government would publish the list following the High Court directive.
The list was held back as the government apprehended that its release may go against the Model Code of Conduct, which was in force in the State, he maintained.
Number comes down
The total number of forward caste communities in the State has came down to 164 after Naidu and Christian Nadar communities were moved to the Other Backward Communities list. Recently, the State government had decided to extend the OBC reservation to the Nadar Christian community.
The list of forward caste Hindu communities of the State include Pothuval, Kurup, Menon, Pillai, Kaimal and Unnithan among others. Then there is Unni, Warrier, Nambeesan, Chakyar, Nedungadi, Ilayathu, Mootthathu and Moosath.
From the Brahmin community, Namboothiri/Namboothirippad, Potty, Bhattathiri/Bhattathirippad, Varma, and Tamil Brahmin communities have been included among others.
The Christian communities on the list include the Church of South India, Malankara Jacobite Syrian, Jehovah Witness, Knanaya Catholic and Jacobite communities, Malankara (Converted) and 7th Day Adventist Christians among others.
The list, which was drawn up by the A.V. Ramakrishna Pillai Commission appointed by the UDF government in February 2016, was submitted to the LDF government in 2019 February. It was drawn up much before the Constitutional amendment introducing economic reservation for the Economically Weaker Sections of society.
The list was prepared after the panel holding sittings and receiving representations from various communities. It had suggested that an income ceiling equivalent to the one fixed for Other Backward Communities to identify the creamy layer sections shall also be considered for the forward caste communities.
