The Union Social Justice Ministry on Monday introduced the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023 in the Lok Sabha to add two synonyms for the Mahar community in Chhattisgarh to the State’s Scheduled Castes list.
The Bill, introduced by Social Justice Minister Virendra Kumar, adds “Mahara” and “Mahra” as synonyms of the Mahar community, thereby expanding government schemes and benefits meant for SCs in the State to around 2 lakh more people. Chhattisgarh is set to see its next Assembly elections later this year.
In the Bill, the government said the inclusion of these two synonyms was first proposed by the State Government, as required by the rules. Subsequently, the office of the Registrar General of India and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes had given their approval for the same, allowing for this Bill to be brought.
Additional expenditure
“This [the Bill] will entail some additional recurring and non-recurring expenditure on account of benefits of schemes meant for the development of the Scheduled Castes to which the persons belonging to the newly added communities will become entitled, as a result of this Bill,” the Financial Memorandum of the Bill said. It, however, added that it was not possible to estimate likely expenditure at this moment.
Currently, over 12% of Chhattisgarh’s population is categorised as Scheduled Caste, with around two lakh expected to be added to this once this Bill goes through Parliament and is assented to by the President.
In Madhya Pradesh too, “Mahra” had been added to the SC list in a decision of the Union Cabinet in 2002. However, this was a result of approving a proposal from an undivided Madhya Pradesh. While the 2002 decision made the change for Madhya Pradesh’s SC list, it left out people of these caste groups who had now found themselves living in Chhattisgarh.
