Tribals demand inclusion in caste census

PUDUCHERRY: Around 1,000 activists of the Puducherry Scheduled Tribes People’s Federation staged a day-long hunger strike on Sunday, demanding their inclusion in the on-going caste census under the ‘tribal’ category.According to the protesters, the government had not recognised the tribals as ‘Scheduled Tribes’ in the Union territory, and hence officials were recording them as ‘others’ in the census.Meanwhile, a census official, when contacted, reasoned out that they had no choice but to record the tribals as ‘others’, as the Centre was yet to recognise them as ‘STs’ in the UT.