Odisha’s Sualgiri, Swalgiri communities notified as scheduled castes

Odisha’s Sualgiri, Swalgiri communities notified as scheduled castes

Odisha’s Sualgiri and Swalgiri communities(समुदायों)  have been notified as Scheduled Castes(अनुसूचित जाति)  following President Pranab Mukherjee’s assent(अनुमति) to a new law.The Rajya Sabha had last month passed the bill on it after it was cleared by the Lok Sabha in March. The President gave the nod to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Act, 2017, on Friday, officials said on Tuesday. The SC category status will entitle (समर्थ बनाना) these communities to reservation in government jobs and admission in educational institutions, besides some other financial benefits. Some of the major schemes for the scheduled castes include post-matric scholarship, national overseas scholarship, Rajiv Gandhi national fellowship, concessional(रिआयती) loans from National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation, hostel facilities for the SC boys and girls etc. The Constitution empowers the President to specify the scheduled castes in states and union territories in a list of notified scheduled castes. It also allows the list to be modified by Parliament. As per the modified list for Odisha, the “Sabakhia, Sualgiri, Swalgiri” are notified Scheduled Castes. The new law has also replaced the term Union Territory of Pondicherry to Puducherry in the Constitution (Pondicherry) Scheduled Castes Order, 1964.