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An amendment bill has been introduced in the Loksabha to group seven Scheduled Caste communities in certain districts of Tamil Nadu under ‘Devendrakula Velalars’.
Key amendments
- The Bill amends the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950.
- Constitutional backing: The Indian Constitution empowers the President to specify the Scheduled Castes (SCs) in various states and union territories. Further, it permits Parliament to modify this list of notified SCs.
- Replaces the entry for Devendrakulathan community with Devendrakula Vellalar that includes: The communities that are currently listed separately within the Act. These are: (i) Devendrakulathan, (ii) Kalladi, (iii) Kudumban, (iv) Pallan, (v) Pannadi, and (vi) Vathiriyan.
- The 1950 Order also includes the Kadaiyan community within the list of notified SCs in the state.
- The Bill creates a distinction for the Kadaiyan community based on residence.The separate entry for the Kadaiyan community is replaced with the Kadaiyan community from the districts of:
- (i) Tirunelveli, (ii) Thoothukudi, (iii) Ramanathapuram, (iv) Pudukottai, (v) Thanjavur, (vi) Tiruvarur and (vii) Nagapattinam.
- Members of the Kadaiyan community living in other districts are included in the Devendrakula Velalar grouping.
Recent update:
Recently, the Centre has decided to call members of the Devendrakula Velalar community by their heritage name and not by the names listed on the Schedule of the Constitution,
About Devendra Kula Vellalar
Devendra Kula Vellalar is one community that has been talked about in Sangam literature.
Nowadays, community members prefer to refer to themselves as Devendra Kula Velalar (DKV), a name connoting that they were created by the god Devendra.
Source: The Hindu & PRS India
