In India, lower house passes constitutional amendment bill to amend list of scheduled tribes in Jammu and Kashmir

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2024. The historic Bill aims at empowering Pahari Ethnic Group, Padari Tribes, Koli and Gadda Brahmin by providing Scheduled Tribe status. This has been long pending demand of these communities. The inclusion of these communities in the list of Scheduled Tribes in Jammu and Kashmir will have absolutely no impact on current level of reservations available to the existing Scheduled Tribe communities such as Gujjars and Bakarwals. They will continue to get reservation like before, said the government in an official handout. “Reservation to the newly listed Scheduled Tribes will be provided in such a manner that it does not cause any harm to the communities which are already listed as Scheduled Tribes. After the Bill is passed by the Parliament, the Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will issue necessary notifications on reservation, which will ensure that the people included in the existing list of Scheduled Tribes continue to get the same level of reservation,” it added.
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