Bhubaneswar: Union Education Minister and Sambalpur MP Dharmendra Pradhan has urged the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) to include 14 communities from Odisha, including the Khandayat community, in the central list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

Taking to social media platform X, Pradhan said he has written to NCBC Chairman Hansraj Ahir, requesting that communities listed in the Odisha state Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) list—Khandayat, Paika, Chasa Paika, Alia, Paikali, Kalingi Shudra Khandayat, Mahanayak Shudra, Oda-Khandayat, Bayalisha, Oda, Oda Paika, Oda Paiko, Haladia Teli, and Rajashribalasi/Balasi—be included in the Central OBC list.

Highlighting the disparity between the state and central lists, Pradhan said many communities recognised as

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