Caste based census beneficial for all sections of the society: Nitish

Bihar CM supports Congress demand for updated caste census in the country Nitish Kumar said on Monday that it would be beneficial for all sections of the society.

The Chief Minister said that the survey report would help the government in better implementation of welfare schemes for socially and economically disadvantaged groups.

“We have been in favor of caste census since the beginning. When the central government refused to do so, we decided to conduct a caste survey ourselves. This is happening in the state. This exercise will provide data to the government to work for the benefit of the weaker sections of the society”, Kumar told reporters here.

A month-long second phase of caste enumeration is going on in Bihar from April 15 to May 15. The enumeration exercise, which began on January 7, will be completed by May. The Congress is an ally of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) government in Bihar.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has written a letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi Demanding an updated caste census on April 16, said meaningful social justice and empowerment programs are incomplete in the absence of such data.

Congress leader addressing a rally in Kolar, Karnataka Rahul Gandhi challenged Prime Minister Modi on Sunday to make the 2011 caste-based census data public and also demanded removal of the 50 per cent cap on reservation.

The cap of 50 per cent refers to the Supreme Court judgments, which said that overall reservation in government jobs and education for different communities should not be violated, although there are exceptions for some states exceeding this figure.

“The caste census data was not made available in 2011, after which it was found that it was not done properly. We started demanding to do it right. All parties in Bihar were of the same view when we decided to conduct caste-based survey and it is currently being conducted in the state,” said the chief minister.

The Congress-led UPA government had compiled the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) in 2011. Census reports have been published excluding caste data.

“The caste survey is a good initiative taken by the Grand Alliance_ government. During the census, data related to people’s economic status and their caste will be collected so that the state government can know how many people are poor and what kind of steps should be taken to bring them into the mainstream.

He said that people will be greatly benefited after identifying their economic status, whether they belong to upper caste, backward caste or the weaker section of the society.

The decision to conduct the caste survey was taken by the Bihar cabinet on June 2, 2022. The resolution in support of the caste census was passed unanimously by the bicameral legislature in Bihar twice in 2019 and 2020. The state had also met the Prime Minister in this regard.

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