Samajwadi Party MP Shafiqur Rahman Barq on Monday questioned the Bihar government for releasing the caste census survey report.
“What was the need for these figures at this time? They are looking at the elections next year and doing these activities. The nation wants service, development, education, and a better Prime Minister. None of this is there. They should be asked if you are running the country, what have you done for its development”, the Lok Sabha MP from Sambhal told ANI.
The Nitish Kumar government released the Bihar caste census survey which revealed that the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Extreme Backward Classes (EBC) comprise 63 per cent of the state's population. Out of the state's total populatin of 13.07 crore, EBCs at 36 per cent were the largest social segment followed by OBCs at 27.13 per cent.
Yadavs, the OBC group to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs, were the largest in terms of the population, accounting for 14.27 per cent of the total. Dalits, also known as the Scheduled Castes, accounted for 19.65 per cent of the total population in the state, which is also home to nearly 22 lakh (1.68 per cent) people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes.
Those belonging to the “unreserved” category, which denotes the proverbial “upper castes” who dominated politics till the Mandal wave of 1990s, comprise 15.52 per cent of the total population.
The survey also establishes that the state’s population is overwhelmingly Hindu, with the majority community comprising 81.99 per cent of the total population, followed by Muslims (17.70 per cent). Christians, Sikhs, Jains and those following other religions as also the non-believers have a miniscule presence, together making up for less than one per cent of the total population.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said a meeting will soon be convened of all the nine political parties with an electoral presence in the state legislature and the facts and figures will be shared with them.