A day after releasing data from a caste-based census in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has called an all-party meeting to discuss the results of the survey and deliberate on the next course of action. “A meeting will soon be convened of all the nine political parties with an electoral presence in the state legislature and the facts and figures will be shared with them,” Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Monday, PTI reported.
1)According to the data, the state’s total population stood at a little over 13.07 crore, out of which the Extremely Backward Classes (36 per cent) were the largest social segment followed by the Other Backward Classes at 27.13 per cent.
2)The survey also stated that Yadavs, the OBC group to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs, was the largest in terms of the population, accounting for 14.27 per cent of the total.
3)Dalits, also known as the Scheduled Castes, accounted for 19.65 per cent of the total population in the state, which is also home to nearly 22 lakh (1.68 per cent) people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes.
4)Those belonging to the “unreserved” category, which denotes the proverbial “upper castes” comprise 15.52 per cent of the total population.
5) The Congress also welcomed the Bihar government’s move to release the findings of a caste census and called upon the Centre to immediately conduct a similar exercise at the national level. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said the caste census of Bihar has proved that 84 per cent of people in the state are OBCs, SCs, and STs and their share should be according to their population. “Out of 90 secretaries of the central government, only 3 are OBC, who handle only 5 per cent of India’s budget. Therefore, it is important to know the caste statistics of India…,” Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.
6) RJD president Lalu Prasad issued a statement, in which he said that the survey will set the tone for “a nationwide caste census which will be undertaken when we form the next government at the Centre”.
7) Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the opposition of “trying to divide the country in the name of caste” for six decades — a “sin” that it is committing now as well. “Even they had a chance & it is their failure that they could not do it. Even then they used to play with the feelings of the poor & they are doing it even now. Even then they used to if the country on the basis of caste & even now they are doing the same,” PM Modi said in Gwalior on Monday.
8) The caste-based survey was ordered last year after the Narendra Modi government at the Centre made it clear that it would not be able to undertake a headcount of castes other than SCs and STs as part of the census.
9)The state cabinet gave its nod to hold a caste survey on June 2 last year when it also allocated an amount of ₹500 crore for the mammoth exercise.
10) The last time a census of all castes was conducted was in 1931.
-With agency inputs
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Updated: 03 Oct 2023, 11:28 AM IST