JAIPUR: Rajasthan , known for its caste-based hostels, has witnessed a much needed change with the state government opening the doors of 19 such hostels to everyone, irrespective of their caste. Under the new rule, 60% seats at these hostels would be reserved for students belonging to a particular caste, while 40% are open for all.The department of social justice and empowerment (SJE) has total of 750 hostels divided among SC, ST, OBC, SBC and general class."So far, 19 SJE hostels have made the provision of admitting students of all caste. This experiment, gradually done over the past two years, has helped in breaking myths and building new relationship among students of different communities. It will be extended to all 750 hostels," said Arun Chaturvedi , minister, SJE.“The caste specific hostels are located in areas having sizable population of a particular caste. The restriction of admitting caste-specific students has left seats vacant in almost all hostels due to less number of students against the number of seats,” said SJE department director Samit Sharma.Rajasthan has a deep rooted system of caste based hostels in every district, endorsed by consecutive governments.Hostels, be it at the school, college or university levels, are run by the government and also by registered societies.Sources said these castes-based hostels aggressively helped in mobilizing youths in different districts of the state in the recent ST and SC Bharat Bandh on April 2.The National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) 2016 (released in 2017) revealed that schedule tribes (ST) and schedule castes (SC) continue to face domination and illtreatment in the state. Rajasthan is at the number three and number two positions for atrocities against SC and ST.