Centre Never Had Any Intention of Creating Hurdles in Caste Survey: Shah At Eastern Zonal Council Meet

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that the Central government never had any intention of creating hurdles in the caste-based survey while underlining that the BJP had supported the census in Bihar when it was in power in the state.

Shah, who chaired the 26th meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council in Patna today, said that there are some issues regarding caste-based survey and hoped that the state government will resolve them, according to the statement in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The Home Minister said that the meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council was “good” and several issues were resolved in the meeting.

“Committees were also formed for some issues. As far as the caste survey is concerned, it was decided when the BJP was a part of the Bihar Government. When the resolution came, we were in support of this and we also supported the report that was given after the survey was conducted and the law was also passed in Bihar Vidhan Sabha but there were several questions regarding the survey which included giving priority to Muslims and some other communities. Several other backward caste delegations met the leaders of BJP, RJD and JDU. I urge a solution for all the questions raised on this survey…,” he said.

Caste Survey Findings

In October, the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar released findings of its much-awaited caste survey months ahead of the 2024 Parliamentary elections, which revealed that OBCs and EBCs constitute a whopping 63 per cent of the state’s total population.

According to the data released by Development Commissioner Vivek Singh, the state’s total population stood at a little over 13.07 crore, out of which the Extremely Backward Classes (36 per cent) were the largest social segment followed by the Other Backward Classes at 27.13 per cent.

Backward caste politicians have long claimed that the population of castes they represented numbered far more than the conventional wisdom based on the 1931 census, which was the last time a caste headcount was conducted and released.

The survey 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.

Dalits, also known as the Scheduled Castes, accounted for 19.65 per cent of the total population in the state, which is also home to nearly 22 lakh (1.68 per cent) people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes.

Those belonging to the “unreserved” category, which denotes the proverbial “upper castes” who dominated politics till the Mandal wave of the 1990s comprise 15.52 per cent of the total population.