Inclusion of New Castes in SC List

In a written reply given in Rajya Sabha, The Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment has informed that government of UP had sent an earlier proposal to include a total of 17 castes into the SC category. This proposal was put forth in front of the Registrar General of India (RGI).

What happened?

• The proposal put forth by the UP government was examined by the RGI as per the approved modalities.
• The RGI did not support the proposal and along with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, favors the amending of legislation in clause (2) of Article 341 of the Indian Constitution.
• It must also be noted that during the previous 10 years, a detailed ethnographic report of these 17 castes was received only once in the year 2013.

Registrar General of India

• The Registrar General of India was a post founded in 1961 by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India to arrange, conduct and analyze the results of the various surveys of India.
• These may include the Census of India and Linguistic Survey of India.
• The position of Registrar is usually occupied by a civil servant holding the rank of Joint Secretary.
• On matters such as the inclusion of communities in the reserved category lists, the RGI can only furnish his comments and can not ask for a justification.

Past Context

The attempt by the UP government to get these 17 communities inducted into the SC list has already failed twice in the past and is likely to be rejected again by the Central Government.