Why is it in the news?
ST status proposal for Jhodia community not supported by ORGI.
Demand for Soura language inclusion highlighted in Parliament.
Category: Polity
Important Points:
● Odisha ST proposal for Jhodia community referred back
● ORGI did not support inclusion
● Jhodia mainly in Koraput, Rayagada, Kalahandi districts
● Earlier treated as synonym of Paroja tribe till 1997
● Community socially and economically backward
● Depends on subsistence farming and forest produce
● Soura language belongs to Austroasiatic (Munda) family
● Also called Sora, Savara, Saura
● Has Sorang Sompeng script (1936, Mangei Gomango)
● No fixed criteria for Eighth Schedule inclusion