Jamshedpur MP meets President Kovind, demands inclusion of Mal in SC, separate language code for Kurmali 

Jamshedpur, February 8: Jamshedpur MP Bidyut Baran Mahto met President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday. In the meeting, he brought to his notice many subjects of his Jharkhand state as well as his Lok Sabha constituency.

The MP gave in writing to the President about increasing Naxalism and extremism in Jharkhand, inclusion of Dand-Kshetra (Majhi) and Mal caste of Jamshedpur Lok Sabha constituency in the category of Scheduled Castes and inclusion of the old caste in the Scheduled Tribe and demanded separate language codes for Kurmali in the current census.

“Naxalite/militant activities have increased significantly in the state of Jharkhand within the last one or two years. Violent activities are being carried out by these people. Due to which the problem of law and order in the state of Jharkhand has reached a very serious stage. A large number of women and girls are being raped. Due to this, the development work of tribal and backward dominated areas like Jharkhand has almost been hampered. Therefore, would like to take appropriate steps after taking this matter into consideration,” MP wrote in the letter.

“People of Dand Chhatra (Manjhi) and Mal caste reside under Jamshedpur Lok Sabha constituency. Their living and standard of living is very pathetic, these people have been demanding to be included in the Scheduled Caste (SC) category for a long time and fulfill all its qualifications. Similarly, the old caste people are demanding to be included in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category. Therefore, it is requested for issuing proper instruction to include the Dand Chhatra (Manjhi) and Mal caste in the Scheduled Castes and the Old castes in the Scheduled Tribes category,” MP wrote.

“Under the entire Chotnagpur plateau, in addition to Jharkhand and West Bengal and Odisha, in different districts of the state of Assam, with an estimated population of more than two crores, the autonomous tribal mother tongue of the Kudmi tribe community is ‘Kurmali’. But sadly, the Kurmali language code has not been given in the language list of the Census of India, due to which the proper number of Kurmali language is not being recorded in the census. At the same time, there is a danger of extinction of a language full of primitive uniqueness and its associated specific culture and tradition,” the MP wrote.

Bidyut was also accompanied by Giridih MP Chandra Prakash Choudhary, Purulia MP Jyotirmai Singh Mahto, Gomia MLA Lambodar Mahto.