Bihar’s caste census out: OBCs, EBCs over 63%, general category 15.52%
New Delhi: As the much-awaited caste survey results was released by the Bihar government on Monday, it has been revealed that 84.47 percent population of Bihar belongs to backward communities comprising of extremely backward caste that accounts to 36.01 percent, 27.13 percent of OBC, Scheduled Caste (19.65 percent) and Scheduled Tribes (1.68 percent), and 15.52 percent of the total population belongs to the general communities, including Brahmin, Rajput, Bhumihar and Kayastha.
According to the survey, Bihar’s current population is 13,07,25,310 of which EBCs are 4,70,80,514 (36 per cent) and OBCs are 3,54,63,936 (27 per cent). The data shows that there are about 2.6 crore (20 per cent) SCs, which are commonly called Dalits, and just 22 lakh (1.6 per cent) STs.
The data also stated that Yadavs, the OBC group to which deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs, were the largest in terms of the population, accounting for 14.27 per cent of the total. Kurmi, the OBC group to which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar belongs, accounts to 2.8 per cent of the total population, while Kushwaha community accounts to 4.2 per cent of the total.
The government has released the census of 209 castes surveyed in several month-long survey.
As per the data, the castes belonging to the “unreserved” category, which are commonly known as “upper castes” and dominated politics till the Mandal wave of 1990s, comprise 15.52 percent of the total population.
The survey has also established the fact that Hindus are in majority with 81.99 percent of the total population, followed by Muslims (17.70 per cent).
Christians, Sikhs, Jains and those following other religions as also the non-believers have a miniscule presence, together making up for less than one per cent of the total population.
Applauding the caste census, Nitish Kumar said, “Today, on the auspicious occasion of Gandhi Jayanti the data of caste-based census conducted in Bihar has been published. Many congratulations to the entire team engaged in the work of caste-based enumeration!”
Kumar further said that the government will work for the benefit of the backward communities in the state on the basis of the report. He further said, “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.”
RJD president Lalu Prasad said, “The exercise will set the tone for “a nationwide caste census which will be undertaken when we form the next government at the Centre”.
“The BJP tried to block this (caste survey) repeatedly. However, we had committed to conduct this (caste survey) and did it,” says Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav.
“The results tell you that 85 percent of the people belong to marginalised communities. Today, October 2, is a historic day. Today, the cause of social justice has gained new strength,” said RJD leader Manoj Jha.
