Patna, April 19: Union minister Ramvilas Paswan today said all hostels having at least two-third of students belonging to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (OBC) in Bihar will get 15 kg of grains at BPL rates.

The OBC students would include the OBCs among the minorities, the Union food and public distribution minister said here. The scheme would be extended to other states also.

"This is a historic decision. I have written letters to all the chief ministers asking them to send the list of beneficiaries," Paswan said.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had demanded allocation of grains at BPL rate for these categories on B R Ambedkar's birth anniversary on April 14 at a function here.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)