Patna,(BiharTimes): The Jitan Ram Manjhi cabinet on Saturday decided in favour of including Dussadhs (Paswans) in the list of Mahadalits. Thus all the 22 Scheduled Castes are now in this category.

It was former chief minister Nitish Kumar, who during his first term initially declared 18 out of 22 Dalit sub-castes in the list of Mahadalits. However, sometimes later his government included Ravidas, Pasi and Dhobi sub-castes in the list leaving out just Paswan.Nitish Kumar then came under strong criticism from the LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan, but both JD(U) and BJP leaders had defended the chief minister’s decision. The cabinet also approved a proposal, in principle, to appoint Vikas Mitra among Scheduled Tribes families to speed up welfare of STs in numerous programmes.