Caste census: PM agrees to meet CM-led Bihar delegation on Aug 23

Earlier in the day, leader of Opposition, RJD’s Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, told reporters that the PM had given time to the CM and a representative of the Opposition alliance to meet him on August 23 at 11 am

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar will lead an all-party delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 23 to discuss the issue of caste-based census, a demand all parties in the state have endorsed in the past through resolutions in the state legislature.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar (Santosh Kumar/ HT Photo)

“I had sought time from the PM to meet him with a delegation. The PM has given time on August 23. Many thanks to him,” Kumar tweeted on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, leader of Opposition, RJD’s Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, told reporters that the PM had given time to the CM and a representative of the Opposition alliance to meet him on August 23 at 11 am.

“The Opposition has consistently raised the issue of caste-based census in the Bihar Legislative Assembly and two proposals were also unanimously passed by the House in the past,” said Tejashwi, who had also written to the PM on the need for caste-based census, after Kumar’s letter last month, seeking time for a meeting with all-party delegation on the issue.

Earlier this week, Kumar had praised the Prime Minister for removing the confusion on state’s right to decide on other backward castes (OBCs) and said he was hopeful of getting him to discuss the matter related to caste-based census. His reference was to the 127th Constitution Amendment passed by Parliament in the monsoon session that concluded last week, which restores the rights of states to identify and maintain a list of backward classes.

In 2011, socio-economic and caste census was done, though caste data could never be made public due to several discrepancies.

The last caste census in the country was held in 1931. As per its projections for specific Hindu castes and the 1961 Census for all others, backward castes consisted of 51.3% population in the state.

However, there is a widespread view among political parties that the numbers might have changed, and a fresh caste-based census is the need of the hour.

In this regard, both the Houses of the Bihar Legislature had passed a resolution in 2020 also, while the Legislative Assembly passed a second resolution also.