LS passes Bill to omit 'Bhogta' community from list of Scheduled Castes

New Delhi: 'The Constitution (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Orders (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022' has been passed in Lok Sabha on Friday.

On March 30, Rajya Sabha passed the Constitution (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2022 to omit the 'Bhogta' community from the list of Scheduled Castes in relation to the state of Jharkhand. The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on March 28, 2022.

The Bill, which seeks amendment to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, was passed with a voice vote.

It was moved in the Upper House by the Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda. The Bill seeks amendment to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 to omit the Bhogta community from the list of Scheduled Castes in relation to the State of Jharkhand and the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 for inclusion of certain communities in the lists of Scheduled Tribes in relation to the State of Jharkhand.

According to their traditional beliefs, the Bhogta people emerged from a union of religious preachers and tribal women. The children from these unions became the Bhogta people, most of whom now live in India's eastern states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa, and Bihar.