Bill to include UP’s Gond community in ST category passed in RS

NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed a bill for recognising the Gond community hailing from four districts of Uttar Pradesh as a Scheduled Tribe after excluding them from the Scheduled Castes list.

The Bill passed in the Upper House amends the Scheduled Caste order that Gond community, which was as a Scheduled Caste in four districts -- Chandauli, Kushinagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, and Sant Ravidas Nagar of Uttar Pradesh -- be recognised as the ST, and amended the ST order to recognise Gond community as a Scheduled Tribe in these four districts.

Replying to the debate for the bill, the tribal affairs Minister Arjun Munda criticised the previous governments' stand on the Scheduled Tribes issue, and said, "the people opposed the first tribal Presidential candidate and should have supported it."

RJD MP Manoj Jha raised a point of order and a member of CPI(M) requested the chair to direct the minister to only speak on the subject.

The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha earlier and had sought to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) (Uttar Pradesh) Order, 1967 (ST Order) and the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 (SC Order) with respect to Uttar Pradesh.