The Catholic Bishops’ Con-ference of India (CBCI) Office for Scheduled Caste/BC (Dalits and Backward Classes) has welcomed the Andhra Pradesh’s bill to accord Scheduled Caste (SC) status to Dalit Christians.

Already some of the states have passed the same resolution in their assemblies. The resent one was by the Pondicherry assembly. Already the United Andhra Pradesh Assembly passed the resolution on Feb 7.

“Passing of the resolution in the assemblies to include Dalit Christians in the SC list is a sign that the State Governments support the move to include the Dalit Christians in the SC list. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh and his allies of other regional parties will play a great role in the formation of the next Central Government,” Father Devasagayaraj M Zackarias, national secretary of CBCI Office for SC /BC told Matters India. This gives a great hope to the Dalit Christians that the long pending rightful demand to be included in the SC list will become a reality.