Putting an end to the decade long campaign of the Samajwadi party, the Center has rejected the proposal of the UP government for the inclusion of 17 Most backward castes (MBCs) in schedule caste list. In last ten years the Center has rejected this proposal of the UP government for three times. The process was initiated by the then chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav in 2005. The proposal was first rejected by the Center in 2006.
In anticipation of the approval by the Center the state government had also amended the UP Public Services (Reservation for Schedule Castes, Sch
edule Tribes and Other Backward Castes) Act, 1994, to include these Most Backward Castes in the SC category. The MBCs include Banjara, Kahar, Kashyap, Kewat, Nishad, Bind, Bhar, Prajapati, Rajbhar, Batham, Gaur, Tura, Majhi, Mallah, Kumhar, Dheemar and Machhua. The amendment was however stayed by the Allahabad high court.
The Samajwadi party for mobalising the popular support for its campaign had also organized state wide RsSamajik Nyay Adhikar Yarta’ several times in last eight years. The first Yatra was taken out in 2007, than in 2009 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and also in 2011 ahead of the state assembly elections in March 2012. The last such Yatra was taken out from November 2013 to March 2014 ahead of the parliament elections. The Yatra were led by the mining minister Gyatri Prajapati
The BSP had consistently opposed the proposal by the Samajwadi party as it apprehended that objective of the move was more to dent its vote bank rather than benefitting the 17 MBCs. The Mayawati led BSP government had also made the same recommendation to the Center in 2008. . However the then Chief minister Mayawati added the condition that the 17 MBCs be added in SC list after the expansion of the quota for the dalits and the constitution be amended for the purpose.
After the Samajwadi party was voted to power in March 2012, the Akhilesh Yadav government again pursued the matter with the Center. In 2013 November Akhilesh Yadav also met the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to reiterate the UP’s demand for the inclusion of 17 MBCs caste into SC list. The outgoing UPA government in March 2014 citing the study undertaken by the office of the Registrar general and census commissioner of India (ORGI) rejected the proposal saying it was neither Rs feasible’ not backed by the social indicators about the 17 MBCs castes.
With the NDA government taking over at the Center in May 2014, UP government sent a fresh proposal to the Center for the same. The matter was again referred to the Registrar general and census commissioner of India under the Union home ministry. The registrar general sough a 17 point clarifications and ethnographic study data about the 17 castes. The ORGI in its latest report in 2015 said RsRs the proposal has already been examined twice , the justification offered by the UP government is that 52 percent of the 17 castes were victims of tangible form of social disability, the state government could not substantiate its claim on the basis of the ethnographic sources’’. The ORGI further said RsRsthe historical ethnographic literature and contemporary study of Indian communities brought out by the anthropological survey of India do not corroborate the fact that castes like Kahar, Kewat and fisherman were subjected to any tangible form of untouchability’’.
The Union minister for social Justice and empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot informed the UP chief minister that ORGI has rejected the proposal. Chief Minister it his third letter to the NDA government has again requested the 17 MBCs in SC list.
Vishambhar Nishad, Rajya Sabha MP of the Samajwadi party said the party will intensify the campaign for the inclusion of the 15MBCs in SC list. The two MBCs Kumhar and Prajapati were deleted after the Allahabad high court in February 2014 had ordered for their inclusion in SC list. RsRsThe SP had organized a big dharna at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on July 29, but it was postponed due to the death of the former President APJ kalam, now the dharna would be held on December 2’’, said Vishambhar Nishad.
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