"Socio-Economic Data Soon": Nitish Kumar At All-Party Meet On Caste Survey

At an all-party meeting called a day after results of the caste survey were released, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar promised to put the socio-economic data in the public domain as well, but did not specify a timeline for doing so. The first instalment of the survey, released on Monday, gave a break-up of the numbers of each caste, but did not reveal how they were doing on various socio-economic indicators.

The meeting was keenly watched because the survey, which has been controversial despite an all-party consensus on conducting it - and has even been challenged in various courts - had produced a muted reaction from the Bihar unit of the BJP but had prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to accuse the opposition of "trying to divide the country in the name of caste".

The state unit of the BJP, which attended the meeting, has been criticising what it calls "errors" in the survey and, at the same time, taking credit for starting work on it when it was in power in Bihar with Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United).

Discussions

The meeting of the nine parties in Bihar that have a presence in the legislature - Janata Dal 
(United), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress, BJP, Hindustani Awam Morcha, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI(ML) and AIMIM - was called by the chief minister to share details of the survey and discuss the road ahead.

Sources told NDTV that most of the parties that attended the meeting expressed happiness and relief that the results of the survey had been released and a promise made to the people had been fulfilled. 

BJP Legislature Leader Party leader Vijay Kumar Sinha expressed his dissatisfaction at some groups allegedly being left out of the report, but top officials and Mr Kumar assured him that, if such a thing had happened, it was an error and would be rectified. 

Sources said there were demands for the release of socio-economic data, but the government is weighing its options. During the meeting, it was discussed that the data could be released during the next session of the Bihar Assembly. 

Congress' Take

After the meeting, Congress Legislature Party leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan said all parties, including the opposition, were happy and gave their suggestions.

Asked whether the BJP had also welcomed the results, Mr Khan said, "Definitely".

Pressed further on the "errors" pointed out by the party, he said, "There are certain things that they pointed out and the chief minister has said that they will be fixed if they are found to be true. But, overall, everyone has welcomed the results,

"When there was a demand for a caste survey in the whole country, the BJP was against it. This is a fact. Bihar is the first state (to carry out such a survey) and Nitish ji had said we would do it at our own expense. This is also a fact that the BJP should understand," Mr Khan said in Hindi. 

What The Survey Found

The data revealed that nearly 63.1% of the state's 13.1 crore population belongs to a backward class and roughly 85% are members of a backward or extremely backward class, or a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe.

The general category makes up just 15.5 per cent of the population. Among the Other Backward Classes, the biggest group is the Yadav community, which accounts for 14.27% of all OBCs.

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