BIHARI VS 'BAHARI'

'Native' or not? The debate creates a domino effect beyond electoral rolls. Nitish puts a binding clause on gender quotas: it will be exclusively for women domiciled in Bihar now

- By Amitabh Srivastava

BIHAR, IN MANY WAYS, IS GROUND ZERO for post-Mandal reservation politics. Innovations on that had started back in 2013, when the Nitish Kumar government introduced a landmark policy, reserving 35 per cent of police jobs-within caste quotas and beyond-for women. By 2016, this policy was extended to all government posts in the state. Now, nearly a decade later, there's a new twist to reservation policies.

Amid a raging debate about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and its concomitant focus on natives and outsiders, a piece of evolution has crept into that old schema of quotas that readjusts it to this new reality of electoral politics.

In a quiet yet politically charged manoeuvre on July 8, the Bihar cabinet amended its flagship gender quota, restricting the 35 per cent state government jobs exclusively to women domiciled in Bihar. For the first time, aspirants from outside the state—baharis—have been formally excluded. On paper, this appears a mere tightening of bureaucratic criteria.