Bihar Cabinet gives nod to caste census; Feb 2023 is deadline

A day after an all-party meeting in Bihar decided on a “caste census” of its population in a timebound manner, the state cabinet on Thursday gave its nod to the proposal and decided to hold the exercise from its own resources.

A day after an all-party meeting in Bihar decided on a “caste census” of its population in a timebound manner, the state cabinet on Thursday gave its nod to the proposal and decided to hold the exercise from its own resources.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar along with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav during an all-party meeting on the caste census in Patna. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

“The state government will spend ₹500 crore from its Contingency Fund,” chief secretary Amir Subhani told reporters after the cabinet meeting. The general administration department (GAD) of the state government will be the nodal agency at the state level while district magistrates have been made nodal officers at district level, he said.

Subhani said the census work would be completed by February 2023. Asked when the actual enumeration work would start, he said, “The ground work will start immediately while the enumeration process will start within two-three months or even sooner than that.”

The chief secretary said related training programmes would start immediately. “The DMs can take the services of employees working in different departments at village, panchayat and the district level for the purpose of census,” said Subhani.

Earlier, on Wednesday, an all-party meeting chaired by chief minister Nitish had decided to conduct a caste census in Bihar.

While Bihar assembly has passed two unanimous resolutions in the past favouring caste census, the Centre had last year ruled out any such exercise at the national level.

The last caste-wise enumeration was conducted in India in 1931, during the British rule.