KURMI COMMUNITY

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Context: Train services were affected in parts of West Bengal as a result of the Kurmi community's rail-blockade agitation.

Details

Kurmu Community

• Kurmi is a non-elite tiller caste in India's lower Gangetic plain, particularly in the southern regions of Awadh, eastern Uttar Pradesh, and parts of Bihar.
• The Kurmis earned praise from Mughal and British administrations for their remarkable work ethic, superior tillage and manuring, and gender-neutral society.
• The Kurmi community is now categorised as Other Backward Classes in Odisha, West Bengal, and Jharkhand, with the Odisha government additionally recognising the community as Socially and Educationally Backward Classes.
• State Governments of Jharkhand and West Bengal have consistently suggested that this community be added to the ST list.

Must Read Articles:

CRITERIA TO DEFINE STs: https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/criteria-to-define-sts

National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST): https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/national-commission-for-scheduled-tribes-ncst

https://www.timesnownews.com/india/kurmi-community-protests-in-west-bengal-train-services-disrupted-in-bankura-purulia-and-west-midnapore-details-article-99260991