“Caste Census” is a long-standing demand of Nitish Kumar. (File)
Patna:
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday welcomed the women’s reservation bill introduced by the Narendra Modi government at the Center but with a few riders, including quota for women from OBCs and extremely backward classes.
The JD(U) supreme leader, whose party has 16 MPs in the Lok Sabha, also slammed the Centre’s “inability to conduct the census, which should have been conducted in 2021”, following which a fresh delimitation of constituencies would take place in parliaments and parliament. according to the bill, precede the implementation of the women’s reservation.
Nitish Kumar, in a statement issued by the CMO, said there should be quota for women from other backward classes and extremely backward classes.
“If the census had taken place, the quota for women would have been possible much earlier. The Center should expedite the census and also conduct a caste count,” the Bihar Chief Minister said.
Notably, the ‘caste census’, which includes social groups other than SCs and STs, has been a long-standing demand of Nitish Kumar, which was rejected by the Modi government, prompting him to order a similar survey on caste to carry out. at the state level.
The JD(U) leader is backed by allies like RJD in his claim that a fresh assessment was “desperately needed” since the last caste census in 1931.
The opposition bloc INDIA, seen as the fruit of the efforts of Nitish Kumar, who started uniting parties opposed to the BJP after he quit the NDA, has promised a caste census if it returns to power after next year’s Lok Sabha elections comes.
In his statement, Nitish Kumar also elaborated on his own efforts, such as introducing quotas for women in urban local bodies and panchayats, as well as in government jobs, including the police station.
The Center on Tuesday introduced a constitutional amendment bill that will reserve 33 per cent of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. This revives a proposal that has been under consideration for years and combines history, politics and social imperatives on the first day in the new parliament building.
The Women’s Reservation Bill, called Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam and introduced in the House by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, will come into force only after a delimitation exercise is completed and is therefore unlikely to be in force during the next Lok Sabha elections in 2024. .
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