Patna,(BiharTimes): Stating that there are many poor and deserving people in the Paswan community chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said that he is in favour of ending the difference between the Dalit and Mahadalit castes.

Speaking at the state-level Musahar Chetna Sammelan at the Shri Krishna Memorial Hall on Wednesday the chief minister said that he had sought recommendations from the Mahadalit Aayog and SC/ST Commissions to bridge the gap between Dalits and Mahadalits.

According to him Dalits constitute 1.50 crore of the population of Bihar. He said that he would try to end the division between Dalits and Mahadalits.The chief minister’s move in this direction is being interpreted as another sign of assertion as it was none else but the then JD(U)-BJP government, which created a Mahadalit category including 21 out of 22 Dalit sub-castes. Thus Manjhi, in a way, wants to emerge as a leader of the entire Scheduled Castes community, rather than just of his own sub-caste, Musahar or Bhunyan.

On this occasion Manjhi announced a number of measures for the Scheduled Castes, such as, removing the condition of 75 per cent attendance in classes for students to become eligible for scholarship and other benefits. The Nitish Kumar government, a few years back, had made this a criteria for the beneficiaries.

Manjhi said that on the pretext of the rider of 75 per cent attendance, the vested interests were denying the benefits to the poor students.