Bihar State Cabinet approved the inclusion of Dusadh caste in Mahadalit category

Bihar State Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on 14 February 2015 approved a proposal of state SC/ST welfare department to include the Dusadh (Dhari and Dhadi) caste in the Mahadalit category.

With this approval, there is no Dalit community in Bihar as all Dalits are now categorised as Mahadalits in the State.

Dusadh caste is now eligible for welfare schemes meant for Mahadalits.

Census 2011 reports that Dalits constitute nearly 16 percent of Bihar’s 104 million population and had identified 21 of the 22 Dalit sub-castes as Mahadalits. Some of the mahadalit castes include Musahar, Bhuiyan, Dom, Chamar, Dhobi, Nat and others.

However, Dusadh was not included into the Mahadalit category in the census and was left behind from the Mahadalit category during the former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar when he constituted a Bihar Mahadalit Vikas Mission (Mahadalit commission) in 2007 and announced a special welfare programmes for them.

Present Chief Minister of Bihar Jitan Ram Manjhi is a Mahadalit and belongs to the Musahar community.

The State Cabinet, in addition to above proposal, also approved 8 other proposals. Some of them are:
• Nod to Bihar Journalists Pension Scheme 2015
• Sanction for over 300 crore rupees for Bailey Road flyover, a project started during Nitish Kumar’s tenure as CM.