Kurmi community withdraws stir in Jharkhand after Centre’s assurance on meeting to discuss ST status

Members from the Kurmi community in Jharkhand on Sunday withdrew a railway blockade that had been called to demand Scheduled Tribe status, after the Centre assured them of a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss the matter, PTI reported.

The protest had been organised by the Adivasi Kurmi Samaj, an umbrella Kurmi organisation, in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha on Saturday.

Sheetal Ohdar, Adivasi Kurmi Samaj member and Kurmi Vikas Morcha central president, told the news agency on Sunday that an assurance had been received from Shah’s office on a meeting, but the date had not been allotted yet.

“In view of the development, we have decided to withdraw the agitation from all but two stations,” he said.

The agitation at the Sini railway station in Seraikela-Kharswan district will be withdrawn soon, Ohdar said, adding that the one at Pradhan Khanta in Dhanbad will continue till a date for the meeting is allotted.

Kurmis had been included among the communities classified as Scheduled Tribes in the 1931 Census, The Indian Express reported. However, it was excluded from the Scheduled Tribes list in 1950.

In 2004, the Jharkhand government recommended that the community be included in the Scheduled Tribes list, rather than classified as part of the Other Backward Classes.

The Adivasi Kurmi Samaj had called...

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