Bihar Survey
03 Oct 2023 6 mins Download PDF
Bihar Survey
Why in the News?
The Bihar govt. has released the results of its survey of castes in the state, which was a result of unanimous decision of an all-party meeting in the state.
- The survey involved a 17-question form on caste, religion, and economic status.
- An app was used to collect the data for tabulation and processing.
Key findings of the Caste survey:
- The share of Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) stand at more than 63%.
- The EBCs form 36.01% and OBCs account for 27.12% of the state’s population.
- The “unreserved” category of so-called “forward” castes is about 15.5%.
- The Scheduled castes form 19.65% and the Scheduled Tribes (STs) form about 1.68% of the state population.
- Hindus comprise 81.99% of the population, and Muslims 17.72%, while Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, and other religious denominations form a minuscule population.
Significance of the survey findings:
- The changed proportion of share of castes in the increasing population can be used to pressure for holding a nationwide caste census in the coming days.
- The results from the survey can support demands for increasing the OBC quota beyond 27%, and for a quota within quota for the EBCs.
- The Bihar survey may push other states to carry out similar exercises.
- When Bihar started to conduct the exercise, the Patna High Court paused it stating that the state government was not competent to conduct what appeared to be a census.
- However, it signalled a green light after the state submitted that it was a “survey”, and assured that no one’s data would be disclosed.
- The survey data will reopen the longstanding debate over the 50% ceiling on reservation.
- In the Indra Sawhney v Union of India (1992) case, a 50% ceiling on reservation was imposed to ensure “efficiency” in administration.
- This ruling has been used by courts to block several attempts by states to breach it.
- With EBCs, OBCs, and SCs together accounting for more than 82% of the state’s population, a vote bank for which fierce battles among political parties will be fought in the upcoming elections.
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