Bihar caste survey: Nitish Kumar proposes 65 per cent caste quota, up from 50 per cent cap

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has proposed to extend caste reservation to 65% in the state. He made the announcement after releasing the full report describing the economic condition of 215 Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes and Extremely Backward Classes from the Bihar government's caste-based survey.

With the Centre's 10 per cent quota for the Economically Weaker Sections quota (EWS), the proposed reservation will go up to 75 per cent.

As per the proposed reservation percentage by the Bihar government, Scheduled Castes (SC)would get 20 per cent reservation, while Scheduled Tribes (ST) would get 2 per cent reservation.

Meanwhile, Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) would get 43 per cent reservation.

A detailed report of Bihar caste survey was tabled in the state assembly on Tuesday.

At present, there is 18 per cent reservation for EBCs, 12 per cent for the backward classes, 16 per cent for scheduled castes, 1 per cent for scheduled tribe and 3 percent for women from backward classes in Bihar in state jobs and educational institutions.

The Supreme Court upheld 10 per cent EWS in 2022.

Preliminary findings of the caste survey were released on October 2. However, the second part of the data from the Bihar government's caste-based survey was tabled in the Bihar Assembly today.

The Nitish Kumar government ordered the exercise following the Centre's reluctance to hold a caste census.

The preliminary findings established that OBCs and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) constituted more than 60 per cent of the state’s total population, while the upper castes accounted for about 10 per cent.