Bill to amend SC/ST list introduced in Lok Sabha

A bill seeking to transfer certain communities from the list of Scheduled Castes (SC) to Scheduled Tribes (ST) and include new communities in the ST list was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The Constitution (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2016 seeks to transfer 'Bhogta' community of Jharkhand from the list of SCs to the STs list.

The Bill, introduced by Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram amid din over the note ban issue, also seeks to include certain more communities in the list of STs relating to Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Tripura.

The government keeps amending the lists originally notified in 1950 based on requests made by various state governments.