The Rajya Sabha on Monday passed the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2021, that seeks to put seven castes in poll-bound Tamil Nadu under one nomenclature of ‘Devendrakula Velalars’.
Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot said the sub-castes will be regrouped and no caste will be included or excluded from the reserved category. He said the proposal sent by the Tamil Nadu government was forwarded to the Registrar General of India and then the SC/ST Commission and after getting clearance, it was presented before the Cabinet. He said the process had been on since 2015 and was not linked to the upcoming election. The Bill was earlier passed in the Lok Sabha.
Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, while welcoming the Bill, said the timing was suspect as the assembly election had been announced in Tamil Nadu.
“A delegation met the Prime Minister in 2015. Now when the election is due, they have brought this amendment,” he said.
Mr. Kharge accused the Centre of gradually doing away with reservation as it was privatising railways and other public institutions.
‘Right direction’
A. Navaneethakrishnan of the AIADMK said the Bill was a step in the right direction. Devendrakula Velalars means descendants of Lord Indra (god of rain) and they are the best agriculturists, he added.
Mr. Gehlot said the government had no intention to end reservation and it was the Congress government that turned Jamia Milia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University into minority institutions, thereby snatching away reservation rights in these two central universities.
