New Delhi [India], October 2 (ANI): Reacting to Bihar‘s caste survey report, which was released earlier today, Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh said that the caste survey should be conducted across the nation. “The caste survey should be conducted across the nation. People belonging to backward classes, Scheduled Castes and the minorities have been demanding it for a long time. How government’s schemes will be implemented in fair manner if you do not know the numbers of people belonging to different classes?” Sanjay Singh told reporters here in the national capital.
“Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hates backward class people, this is why they were not in the favour of implementing it”, he added.
Earlier today, the Bihar government released caste survey data, with the figures that have ramifications for the Lok Sabha polls next year, showing that Other Backward Caste (OBC) and Extremely Backward Class (EBC) together account for 63 per cent of the state’s population. The report of the caste-based survey conducted in Bihar was released at a press conference in the state capital.
“The extremely backward class is 36.01 per cent, the general category is 15.52 per cent and the Other Backward Caste (OBC) is 27 per cent,” Vivek Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary said.
According to the data, Scheduled Castes make up 19.65 per cent and the Scheduled Tribes 1.68 per cent of the population of the state.
The data also said that the Hindus comprise 81.99 per cent of the population, Muslims 17.7 per cent, Christians 0.05 per cent, Sikhs 0.01 per cent, Buddhists 0.08 per cent and other religions 0.12 per cent.
The data said that Yadavs, the OBC group to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs, is the largest and accounts for 14.27 per cent of the state’s population.
Kushwaha and Kurmi communities form 4.27 per cent and 2.87 per cent of the population, the caste survey said. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar belongs to the Kurmi community in the state. The total population of Bihar is more than 13 crore.
Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar congratulated the entire team engaged in the work of caste-based enumeration stating that the survey not only revealed the castes but also gave information about the economic condition of everyone.
“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!” Bihar CM posted on X (Formerly Twitter).
“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 own 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 own resources,” he said.
“Caste-based census not only revealed the castes but also gave information about the economic condition of everyone. On the basis of this report, further action will be taken for the development and uplift of all sections,” he added. (ANI)
