The Nitish Kumar Government of Bihar has finally conducted the long-awaited caste survey in the state. This is a pivotal moment as the Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections are around the corner in 2024 and 2025 respectively. The census has been carried out by the government in over 4 months and around a time of battles over caste between political parties.
source: Wikipedia
The largest Community in Bihar is…
According to the reports, released by Vivek Singh, the state development commissioner, the Extremely Backward Classes are the largest social segment in Bihar, with a population of 36% of the total, followed by the Other Backward Classes who constitute 27.13%. Together, the two groups comprise 63% of the state’s total population, which stood at a little over 13.07 crore. The general category comprises 15.52% of the total. The survey revealed that 81.99 percent of the population encompasses Hindus, while Muslims make up 17.7 percent, Christians 0.05 percent, Sikhs 0.01 percent, Buddhists 0.08 percent, and other religions 0.12 percent.
The survey stated that the OBC group to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs, is largest in terms of population, accounting for 14.27 percent of the total. Kushwaha and Kurmi communities comprise 4.27 percent and 2.87 percent of the population, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar belongs to the Kurmi community.
source: TOI
These figures will now be used to pursue Mandal politics…
The former head of the economics department at Patna University, NK Chowdhary, spoke regarding this new development stating that while the caste survey would allow the government to target welfare measures towards specific groups, it can be speculated that the real intention behind the survey is targeted towards Bihar’s caste politics. He stated “The political perception is that the BJP is dominated by upper castes. It is clear that these figures will now be used to pursue Mandal politics, and if that takes hold, it is advantageous for Grand Alliance in Bihar,” referencing the Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress, and Left alliance currently in power in the state.
SOURCE: Hindustan Times
Bihar Government will be taking up measures for the development and upliftment of all sections: Nitish Kumar.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar congratulated the team for conducting the census and stated that this survey has given details about the economic status of the people in the state and the government will be taking up measures for the development and upliftment of all sections. Bihar CM took to site ‘X’ with the caption “Today, on the auspicious occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, the data of the caste-based census conducted in Bihar has been published. Many congratulations to the entire team engaged in the work of caste-based enumeration! The proposal for caste-based enumeration was passed unanimously in the Legislature. It was decided with the consent of all 9 parties of the Bihar Assembly that the state government will conduct a caste-based census from its resources and its approval was given by the Council of Ministers on June 6, 2022. On this basis, the state government has conducted caste-based census from its resources,” he said.
https://x.com/RahulGandhi/status/1708788188142239822?s=20
Following the survey release, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi once again dwelled on his demand for caste statistics at the national level on dite ‘X’, “The caste census of Bihar has revealed that OBC (other backward classes), SC, and STs are 84 percent there. Out of 90 secretaries of the Central Government, only three are OBCs, who handle only 5 percent of India’s budget.”
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