Bihar caste-based survey: 'Data will help upliftment of all sections' CM Nitish Kumar's first reaction

Image Source : PTI/FILE Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday hailed the team that engaged in the work of caste-based enumeration and said the data of the survey will help to make appropriate policies for the people from every section. His reaction came hours after a caste-based survey issued by the state government.

Taking to microblogging site X, he wrote, "Today, on the auspicious occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, the data of caste-based survey 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."

The CM said it was decided with the consent of all the 9 parties of Bihar Assembly that the state government would conduct caste-based survey from its own resources and its approval was given from the Council of Ministers on 02-06-2022, he added.

9 parties meetng soon

"The state government has conducted caste based census from its own resources. Caste based survey not only revealed the castes but also gave information about the economic condition of everyone. On this basis, further action will be taken for the development and upliftment of all sections. Soon a meeting of the same 9 parties of Bihar Assembly will be called regarding the caste based survey conducted in Bihar and they will be informed about the results of the survey," he added.

Tejashwi Yadav reacts

Reacting to the development, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said that the government has done a "historic work" releasing the data in such short span of time.

"From the beginning, our demand has been to have a caste-based census. But we have had a caste-based survey. The scientific data of the caste-based survey has been released today...We have done historic work in a short span of time and released the data...Our fight has been for social justice and economic justice. So, Govt will make an effort for the same. We will try to bring in welfare schemes based on the scientific data..." he said.

Earlier, the government released the findings of its much-awaited caste survey, which revealed that OBCs and EBCs constitute a whopping 63 per cent of the state’s total population. The survey also stated that Yadavs, the OBC group to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs, was the largest in terms of population, accounting for 14.27 per cent of the total.

Here's the highlights of the findings from the survey