Patna: The welfare hostels meant for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs and minorities in the state will get foodgrain at subsidised rates.

Union food and consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Sunday said that on the demand of chief minister Nitish Kumar, his department has decided to provide foodgrain to students living in these hostels at below poverty line (BPL) rates.

Paswan said: "My department has taken a decision to allot foodgrain at subsidised (BPL) rates to all 117 Ambedkar hostels for Scheduled Castes apart from hostels meant for Scheduled Tribes, OBCs and minorities."

The boarders of these hostels will get 15kg of foodgrain each on a monthly basis. The department will start allocating foodgrain to boarders after the state government announces the list of beneficiaries. The union minister said: "The department has taken a decision after the chief minister raised the issue with him on Saturday, during a Dalit Sena event to mark the birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar in the state capital." The BPL families at present get rice at Rs 3/kg and wheat at Rs 2/kg.

The state NDA leadership on Saturday had a show of strength in Patna on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Ambedkar where the chief minister announced that members of the Paswan or Dusadh community belonging to Scheduled Castes would now get the status and benefits given to Mahadalits in Bihar.

Paswan on Sunday thanked the chief minister for his decision saying that the move will help Paswan or Dusadh community to get the benefits of Scheduled Castes. Only Paswans of the 22 communities categorised as SC in Bihar were excluded from the Mahadalit category which was created by the Nitish government in 2007 to ensure development of the most poor among Dalits.

The union minister earlier on several occasions had spoken that despite the Modi government taking various schemes for Scheduled Castes, their perception towards the Modi government had not changed.

Paswan said: "In the next three four months, the NDA government will take several other initiatives keeping in mind interests of the Scheduled Castes. The government will work for changing the perception of Scheduled Castes ahead of next year's general elections."

The Union minister who was accompanied by his son and MP Chirag Paswan, brothers Ram Chandra Paswan and Pashupati Kumar Paras, once again demanded reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes in the higher judiciary saying that people of these communities have not enough representation in the Supreme Court and high courts.