More communities listed under SC

The government on Thursday decided to include some communities in the list of Scheduled Castes in Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Tripura.

In Kerala, Pulluvan and Thachar communities will be included in the list of Scheduled Caste, an official release said here.

However, the carpenters in the Thachar community will not be included in the SC list.

The Dahiya community of Madhya Pradesh and Amata, Amath, Bajia, Jaggili, Jagli and Buna Pano communities of Odisha will also be included in the SC list.

In Tripura, Chamar Rohidas, Chamar Ravidas, Dhobi and Jhalo-Malo communities will be included in the list.

The Majhi (Nepali) community in Sikkim will be excluded from the SC list, the release said.

The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved the proposal to introduce a Bill in Parliament in this regard, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said.

After the Bill becomes an Act, members of the communities included in the SC list will be able to derive benefits meant for Scheduled Castes under the existing schemes.

Some schemes of this kind include Post-Matric Scholarship, National Overseas Scholarship, Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship, concessional loans from national Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation, hostels for SC boys and girls.