Minister for social justice and empowerment Thawaar Chand Gehlot disapproved of the Yogi Adityanath government’s directive to district officials to award SC certificates to people from these 17 groups. On Monday, BSP chief Mayawati had alleged that the state government was depriving people of these 17 castes of their right to reservation. The state government has to send to the Centre the names of the castes it wants included in the lists. If the Uttar Pradesh government wants to include these OBC groups in the SC list, it has to send a proposal under the established procedure. The 17 castes whose categorisation has been changed are Bhar, Rajbhar, Nishad, Bind, Manjhi, Mallah, Kumhar, Kahanr, Kashyap, Dhimar, Dhiwar, Prajapati, Kewat, Turaha, Botham, Gauria and Machchua.

Source: The Telegraph July 03, 2019 01:22 UTC