UPSC Express

Recently Odisha’s Sualgiri and Swalgiri communities have been notified as Scheduled Castes.

Criteria for inclusion in SC list:

 Scheduled Castes (SCs):- Extreme social, educational and economic backwardness arising out of traditional practice of untouchability.

Procedure:

 The Constitution of India empowers the Parliament of India to modify the list of notified scheduled castes, which upon receiving the assent of the President of India can be notified as Scheduled Castes.

 Under the provision of Article 341, list of SCs in relation to a states/UT is to be issued by a notified Order of the President after consulting concerned State Government.

 However, the clause (2) of Article 341 envisages that, any subsequent inclusion in or exclusion from the list of Scheduled Castes can be effected only through an Act of Parliament.

 Further, Government has laid down Modalities in June, 1999, as amended in June, 2002 for processing of modifications in the lists of SCs and STs.

 The Modalities envisage that only such proposals of the concerned State Governments / Union Territory Administrations, which have been agreed to by the Registrar General of India (RGI) and National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), in the case of SCs, are further processed in accordance with provisions of clause (2) of Articles 341 and 342 respectively.