NEW DELHI/CHENNAI: Giving effect to the recommendation of the Tamil Nadu government, the Centre on Saturday introduced a legislative proposal to group seven Scheduled Caste communities that are listed separately. The Centre said that the Registrar General has given concurrence for the grouping. The move comes just months ahead of the impending polls to the State Assembly.
The grouping will include Devendrakula Velalar [Devendrakulathan, Kadaiyan (excluding in the coastal areas of Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Ramanathapuram, Pudukkottai, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts), Kalladi, Kudumban, Pallan, Pannadi, Vathiriyan] and Kadaiyan (in the above said districts).
The Bill seeks to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, in respect of the State of Tamil Nadu, added the note of the legislative proposal. Union Minister of State for Social and Justice, Krishan Pal Gurjar, introduced “The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2021” in the Lok Sabha on the day.
“The Tamil Nadu government has proposed certain modifications in the list of scheduled castes, by way of grouping the seven castes, which presently exist therein as separate castes in the said list,” the legislative proposal in its statement of objects and reason stated. The lower House will take it up for discussion after recess in the second half of the Budget session, which will meet again from March 8.
‘Chief Minister had taken up our demand to group the sub-sects in full swing’
Expressing happiness over the move, M Thangaraj, president of Devendrar Thannaarva Arakkattalai Madurai, told Express: "I am the petitioner for this demand. I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami for making this happen." "For the first time, such an amendment is being brought for renaming many sub-sects. In August 2015, the then BJP president Amit Shah had visited Madurai and signed our representation for this demand.
The following month, I, along with 100 representatives of our community, met the PM and submitted a representation. He, too, had assured us to fulfil this demand," Thangaraj recalled. He added that CM Palaniswami had taken up the issue in full swing. "Accepting our request, the State government had ordered for an anthropological study to prove the justification behind our demand and recommended renaming of the sub-sects to the Centre.
In the recent period, the Registrar General had sought many clarifications from the State, following which a few officials were sent to New Delhi to clarify these doubts." Under clause (1) of Article 341 of the Constitution, six Presidential Orders were issued specifying scheduled castes in respect of various States and Union Territories. These have been amended from time to time by Acts enacted under clause (2) of Article 341.
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