After the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) cleared the way for the inclusion of the "Pahari ethnic group" in the Scheduled Tribes list of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the Union Government is likely to introduce a bill to grant Scheduled Tribe status to this community in the ongoing session of the Parliament.
Although there is no official confirmation, reports said that a bill to grant Scheduled Tribe status to Pahari, Padri, Koli, and Gada Brahmin communities in the Union Territory, and Scheduled Caste status to Valmikis, are likely to be introduced in the current session of the Parliament.
Reports said that the Ministries of law, home, tribal affairs, social justice, and the J&K administration are in the final deliberations for piloting the bills this session. The representation for Pandits is likely to be given by amending the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
"States can now grant the Other Backward Caste (OBC) status, but for SC/ST, legislation will have to be presented before Parliament," reports said.
NCST cleared the decks for granting ST status to Paharis
Last month, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) already cleared the way for the inclusion of the "Pahari ethnic group" in the Scheduled Tribes list of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The NCST cleared the way for the inclusion of the "Pahari ethnic group", "Paddari Tribe", "Koli" and "Gadda Brahman" communities to be included in the ST list of J&K.
The NCST examined the proposal received from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. The NCST supported the proposal based on the recommendation of the Office of the Registrar General of India. The suggestion for inclusion had come from the commission set up for socially and educationally backward classes in the Union Territory, headed by Justice (Retd.) G.D. Sharma.
Paharis will be the first linguistic group to get Scheduled Tribe (ST) status in the country. The central government needs to amend the Reservations Act in Parliament to grant ST status to Paharis.
While addressing a rally at the border town of Rajouri of Jammu and Kashmir on October 4, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had promised that the Pahari-speaking people of Jammu and Kashmir will get Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
He, however, announced that ST status will be granted to Paharies, but not at the cost of the rights of existing scheduled tribes of the Union Territory. The Union Minister assured like Gujjar and Bakerwals, Paharis will also get ST status as it was the long pending demand of this community.
He, however, assured Gujjars and Bakerwals that this decision will not dilute the rights of the communities, which are already enjoying the ST status. "There will be no effect on the reservation of Gujjars and Bakewals even by one percent," Shah had assured.
The Gujjars, who already have a reservation under the ST category, had apprehensions that granting the ST status to the Paharis would dilute their quota.
