This comes after Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday said his government will undertake the socio-economic survey, following the Centre’s reluctance to conduct it
File image of Nitish Kumar. PTI
Headcount of castes in Bihar, which the Nitish Kumar government has taken up following the Centre’s inability to conduct a caste-based census, received the state cabinet’s nod on Thursday.
Briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting chaired by the chief minister, Chief Secretary Amir Subhani said a budgetary allocation of Rs 500 crore has been made for the exercise.
“The survey shall be completed by 23 February next year. Work will start no sooner than the notification is issued by the general administration department,” he said.
The united decision
This comes after Kumar on Wednesday said his government will undertake a socio-economic survey of all castes and communities in the state, following the Centre’s reluctance to conduct a caste census nationally. The decision was taken at an all-party meet.
Following the meet, the Bihar chief minister said, there was unanimity among members of all parties on the issue, as had been evident earlier when unanimous resolutions favouring a caste census were passed by the state legislature in 2019 and 2020.
He believes a caste census will enable a detailed enumeration of OBCs and help identify sections that remain off the government’s social welfare radar or have benefitted less. A caste census will help the state identify those at the bottom of the social and economic ladder and pull them up using proactive measures.
Past clamourings
The idea for a caste census was pitched by Kumar in August 2021. He had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5 August, 2021, seeking an appointment to press for a caste-based census.
Earlier, the Bihar Legislature passed resolutions twice for caste-based census and and an 11-member all-party delegation too had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to demand the exercise. However, the Central government had rejected their demand saying it would be a “divisive exercise” but said “states can hold caste census on their own”.
A countrywide exercise to count the population of all caste groups was last conducted in 1931. In 1941, data on castes was collected but not published, according to The Indian Express. In independent India, census reports have published data noting the population of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, but not other caste groups.
The UPA government, in 2011, undertook the Socio-Economic Caste Census to get data on the caste and economic status of every household in the country. The socio-economic data from the census was made public in 2015 but the caste data was withheld citing discrepancies, according to a report by India Today.
With input from agencies
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Explained: What is the caste-based census announced in Bihar by Nitish Kumar?
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