Following directives of the Allahabad High Court the Uttar Pradesh government has included Kumhar and Prajapati, two castes known for making pottery, in the Schedule Caste category.

The decision of the government was announced here Minister of Mines Gayatri Prasad Prajapati here on Sunday. Till now both these castes were given OBC status.

.Prajapati said that the government ordered inclusion of the Kumhar and Prajapati castes in SC category after Allahabad High Court order for the same on a petition by one Vijay Shankar. "The state government has directed all the divisional commissioners and district magistrates to give the facilities of SC to the Kumhar and Prajapati castes," he said.

"The decision of the UP government should be appreciated because the Samajwadi Party had raised the issue of inclusion of 17 castes in Sc category. Now the fight to include remaining 15 Other Backward Castes (OBCs) to SC would continue," he said.

Prajapati who has been elevated to the rank of Cabinet minister after he led SP’s campaign to include 17 OBCs into the SC rank. "The OBCs are as backward socially and economically as SC so why they should not be included in that rank," he asked. 

Meanwhile, the fourth Samajik Nyay Adhikar Rath Yatra of the Samajwadi Party will be launched from here on February 6 to demand for inclusion of 15 castes in SC category. The fourth yatra will start from lucknow and will end in Ferozabad after covering Unnao, Kannauj, Mainpuri, Auriya and Etawah districts.