No proposal to include Gujjar community in ST list: Govt

New Delhi, Mar 17 (UNI) The Government today said there was no proposal to include Rajasthan's Gujjar community in the Scheduled Tribes list since the state Government had so far not sent a recommendation to this effect as per procedure.

Replying to a supplementary in the Rajya Sabha, Tribal Affairs Minister P R Kyndiah said there was no uniform policy on inclusion of a community in the ST List and it differed from state to state.

''The Gujjars in Jammu and Himachal Pradesh are already in the ST list. The set procedure is that the state government recommends it to the Centre and then we take it up. So far, the Rajasthan Government has not done it,'' the Minister replied to the question raised by BJP member from Rajasthan Gyan Prakash Pilania.

The BJP members from Rajasthan were then up in arms with Mr Ramdas Aggarwal pointing out that in 1982, the state Government had recommended the names of Sapera and Banjara communities for the list but till now they were not included in the list.

The Minister said the in view of the persistent demand of the Gujjar community, the Rajasthan Government had constituted a High Powered Committee headed by Justice (Retd) Jasraj Chopra to examine the matter and submit its report.

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