New Delhi  - The ethnic Gujjar community disrupted rail and road traffic in India's north-western state of Rajasthan as the death toll from protests that erupted last week climbed to 37, officials said.

The Gujjars, who raise livestock and sell dairy products, have been holding protests since May 23 demanding to be classified as a scheduled tribe to qualify for government jobs and quotas in schools.

Clashes between the police and Gujjars had erupted Friday as thousands of protestors attacked policemen and blockaded a railway in Bayana town, about 160 kilometres east of state capital Jaipur.

Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria said the death toll in the clashes had reached 37, including two policemen.

According to state officials, 70 people were injured in the agitation and some were being treated at hospitals in Jaipur.

Army and paramilitary forces were patrolling five districts in the state as protestors damaged buses, vandalized government property and blocked roads and rail tracks.

The NDTV network reported that the army was closing in on Gujjar-dominated areas including Bayana as state agencies jammed mobile phone networks in the affected regions to break the protests.

Police said between 6,000 to 7,000 Gujjars continued with the rail blockade in Bayana and had gathered around the bodies of victims killed by police.

In Sikandra town, more than 300 Gujjars with six dead bodies blocked a national highway.

Rail and road traffic through Rajasthan was disrupted leaving hundreds of passengers stranded as the railways and bus companies cancelled their services in the desert state.

Gujjar leader KS Bainsla said the protests will go on unless the Rajasthan government intervenes with the federal government asking for a scheduled tribe status for the community.

The Gujjar community are currently included in the "other backward classes" list. They want to be downgraded and classified as a scheduled tribe to qualify for special benefits.

Under India's affirmative action policy, quotas have been set for government jobs and admission to schools for disadvantaged sections of society who are listed as scheduled tribes and scheduled castes.

The latest violence came one year after protests by Gujjars in Rajasthan claimed 26 lives. (dpa)