CASTE YOUR NEW VOTE

The recently-released caste data has already created political ripples in Bihar. But the real tectonic shift will happen when the socio-economic data is released

- Umesh Kumar Ray

Finally, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government has let the cat out of the bag. On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti this year, the Bihar government released the head count data of 209 castes. The last caste census was conducted during the colonial period, in 1931, when India was undivided. Till now, experts and the media had been using that year’s data for their reports. But now as the latest official figures have emerged, it is believed that the caste data will envisage new political forces in Bihar which will change the current political scenario.

According to the report, backward classes (BCs) and extremely backward castes (EBCs)—which together form the other backward classes (OBCs)— have emerged as the biggest caste groups. The total population of BCs is 27.31 per cent and the population of EBCs is 36.1 per cent. Both BCs and EBCs together make up 63.41 per cent of the OBC population.

The population of upper castes, according to the latest data, is 15.52 per cent, which includes the forward castes of the Muslim community. If the upper castes of Muslims are removed, the population of Hindu upper castes is about 10 per cent.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo, Lalu Prasad Yadav, termed the caste survey a historical work and talked about bringing development plans based on these data. Janata Dal (United) (JDU) leader Neeraj Kumar told