Written by Naina Mahajan, a grade 7 student.

A new bill has been passed recently, on March 30^th, 2022; the Constitution (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Orders (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022. As the name suggests, the bill seeks to better the conditions and opportunities of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes of India.

What are Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes?

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are the terms that are assigned officially to those groups of people who are on the very bottom rung of the socio-economic ladder in India. The groups are recognized by the Constitution of India and are designated to a particular category.

What’s this bill all about?

The Bill was first introduced in the Lok Sabha on March 28^th. The Bill is not a new one, on the contrary, it is an amendment, or an improvement, of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950. The Bill is to remove certain castes and tribes from the Scheduled list and to recognise certain communities as Scheduled.

The Bill has excluded the Gond community as a Scheduled caste in four districts of Uttar Pradesh: Chandauli, Kushinagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, and Sant Ravidas Nagar, and amended the Scheduled Tribe order to acknowledge the Gond community as a Scheduled Tribe. The Bill also sought the inclusion of the Darlong community as a sub-tribe of the Kuki community in Tripura.

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