Caste Survey in Bihar Decoded: Data Reveals Alarming Poverty and Employment Challenges

WHAT DOES THE CASTE STUDY SAY ABOUT POVERTY?

The Bihar caste survey paints a bleak picture of the poverty situation in the state as the government informed the state assembly that one-third of families live on ₹200 a day, that is ₹6,000 per month, or less. It is said that 34.13 percent of all families in Bihar earn an income ₹6,000 per month, while 29.61 percent have to survive ₹10,000 or even less.

Only four percent of the total population earns above that ₹50,000 per month, of which 28 percent fall in the income category ₹10,000 to ₹50,000.

Nearly 43 percent of Scheduled Caste families and 42.70 percent of Scheduled Tribe families (over 20 percent of Bihar) are poverty-stricken; 33.16 percent of individuals in the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and 33.58 percent in the Extremely Backward Classes (which is over 60 percent of the state) face poverty in Bihar and 25.09 percent of families in the General category is poor.

JOBS IN BIHAR, ACC TO CASTE STUDY

The majority, accounting for 67.54 percent (that is 88,291,275 people), are housewives and students in the state.

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The survey found that government employees make up only 1.57 percent (2,049,370 people) of the state’s population. Of these, 6.41 lakh persons are from upper castes.

The workers in the organized sector constitute 1.22 percent, while the workers in the unorganized sector constitute 2.14 percent.

After the details were out, CM Nitish Kumar proposed to increase the quota from 50 percent to 65 percent and another 10 percent for EWS. 16.73 percent of the total population works as laborers.

LITERACY IN BIHAR

In Bihar, the literacy rate among women is higher and 79.7 percent of the population is literate. The caste survey report says that about 6.11 percent of the total population, i.e. nearly 80 lakh persons, are graduates from Bihar. According to the report, 24,534 people belonging to the Other Reported Classes (ORC) have the maximum number of graduates, accounting for 13.45 percent of their total population.

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Of the 80 lakh, a total of 26,95,820 (13.41%) graduate from the general category, which adds up to 7,83,050 Scheduled Caste graduates, which is a paltry 3.05 percent of their total population.

There are 10,76,700 postgraduate students, which is 0.82 percent of the population, and the number of people who have PhDs and are chartered accountants is only 0.07 percent.

Only 9.19 percent of people (1,20,12,146) have cleared the higher secondary examination and 14.71 percent (19,22,99,97) have passed class 10, the report said.

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Updated: Nov 8, 2023 2:00 PM IST