Caste census: Nitish to lead 11-member delegation to meet PM on Aug 23

The last caste-based census was done in the country was in 1931. As per its projections for specific Hindu castes, backward castes constitute 51.3% of Bihar’s population.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar will be leading an 11-member delegation when he meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 23 to push for a caste-wise enumeration in the Census 2021, state’s education and parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar inspecting at a flood relief camp in Samastipur on Saturday. (Santosh Kumar/Ht photo)

Besides Kumar, other members of the delegation will be RJD’s Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, who is also the leader of Opposition in the state, JD(U) legislature party leader Vijay Kumar Choudhary, who is also the minister for education and parliamentary affairs, former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, who heads Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), Congress legislature party leader Ajeet Sharma and BJP legislature party leader and minister Janak Ram, CPI-ML legislature party leader Mahboob Alam, Akhtarul Imam of AIMIM, Mukesh Sahni of VIP, Suryakant Paswan of CPI and Ajay Kunar of the CPM.

Minister Choudhary said the information regarding two resolutions passed by the Bihar Legislative Assembly on February 18, 2020, and February 27, 2020, in favour of caste-based census had been sent to the home ministry and the registrar general-cum-census commissioner promptly.

The last caste-based census was done in the country was in 1931. As per its projections for specific Hindu castes, backward castes constitute 51.3% of Bihar’s population.