Patna: Chief minister and JDU national president Nitish Kumar went into social engineering mode with an eye on next year's Lok Sabha polls by sending recommendations to the Centre on Saturday to include Mallah, Nishad and Nonia castes into Scheduled Tribes (ST).

The recommendation sent to the Union ministry of tribal affairs is accompanied with an ethnographic study report on the three castes, presently clubbed under Extremely Backward Castes (EBC) in Bihar. The Nishads include sub-castes like Bind, Beldar, Chayien, Tiyar, Khulvat, Surahiya, Godhi, Vanpar and Kewat.

The decision has been taken in view of economical, educational, social and political backwardness of the three castes across the state.

Nitish's move is being seen as a leaf out of the social engineering exercise he started soon after coming to power in 2005. He had created EBC category at that time, which included more than 100 castes that lagged severely on socio-economic development parameters, but represented around 29 per cent of state's population - equal to the RJD's MY (Muslim-Yadav) combination.

Since then, EBCs have stuck with Nitish, giving him an edge in Bihar's caste-dominated politics. He had also carved a Mahadalit category from the Scheduled Castes, giving them more benefits on socio-economic front in comparison to the Dalits or SC. As expected, the Mahadalits stuck with Nitish in many important elections.

The chief minister's latest move also follows his declaration in April that all Dalits will get benefits given to Mahadalits. The Bihar government had sent a similar recommendation to the Centre in 2015, demanding inclusion of three castes in ST after passing a resolution in this regard at a cabinet meeting. But at that time the ministry of tribal affairs had asked the state government to send the recommendation along with an ethnographic study report of the castes.

An ethnographic study of the three castes was conducted by the Anugrah Narayan Sinha Institute of Social Studies (ANSISS). The report favours inclusion of Mallahs, Nishads and Nonias in the Scheduled Tribes.

If the Centre accords tribal status to the three castes, they will be able to derive various educational and employment benefits given to the ST.

The three castes had been demanding ST status for a long time. Of them Nishads and Mallahs had been very vocal about it. In fact, the Nishads had organised a massive demonstration in Patna in 2015 to press for their demand and clashed with the police.

The state cabinet's resolution back then had come immediately after it.

Welcoming the latest recommendation by the state government, food and consumer protection minister Madan Sahni, who hails from Mallah caste, said: "We give heartfelt thanks to chief minister Nitish Kumar and express gratitude on behalf of our entire community. We demand that the Centre gives ST status to the three castes quickly and also ensure that reservation for ST is increased in such a manner that they get its benefit as per their proportionate population."

Incidentally, the last caste from Bihar to be anointed ST status by the Centre was Tharu during the reign of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee between 2009 and 2014.