NITISH CASTS A LONG SHADOW

Having delivered on the promise of a caste-based survey in his state and proportional quota, the Bihar chief minister proceeds to make some electoral capital out of it 

- AMITABH SRIVASTAVA

Nitish Kumar ko gussa kyon aata hai? The Bihar chief minister and patriarch of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) has been venting his frustration quite openly of late. If, on November 3, he appeared to censure the Congress for being too preoccupied with the assembly elections to pay attention to the newly-formed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), a week later, he took on erstwhile protege, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) founder and the Supreme Court. Now, SCs will have 20 per cent (from 16 per cent earlier), STS 2 per cent (from 1 per cent), EBCs 25 per cent (from 18 per cent) and BCs 18 per cent (from 12 per cent) quota in the state. The earlier quota of 3 per cent for EBC women has been done away with. Along with the 10 per cent quota for the economically weaker sections (EWS), Bihar will now have 75 per cent reservations.

Alongside, Nitish also disclosed the socio-economic findings of the survey, which gave an insight into the extent of poverty in Bihar. Some 34 per cent of the state's 9.4 million households were classified as poor, with a monthly income under Rs 6,000. Though many enumerators privately conceded that several respondents are likely to have under-reported their income for a variety of reasons, including the anticipation of government assistance, there is no denying that poverty cuts across caste groups. It was found to be the highest among the SCs at 43 per cent, followed by the EBCs (36 per cent) and BCs (33 per cent). Based on these findings, the government announced a onetime financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to each such family and an additional Rs 1 lakh to 63,840 homeless families, mostly from the Dalit communities, to build houses. The cost of this collective largesse to the state exchequer? Rs 2.5 lakh crore over the next five years.