The quota for backward classes and EBCs in Bihar could go up to 43 per cent, said Nitish Kumar (File).
Patna:
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has proposed to increase reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, as well as other backward classes and extremely backward classes, to 65 percent. This excludes the reservation of 10 percent of the Center for persons from economically weaker sections, and takes the total reservation to 75 percent.
The proposals would raise state quotas above the 50 percent limit set by the Supreme Court in 1992.
“We will do the necessary after proper consultation. It is our intention to bring about these changes in the current session,” the chief minister said, adding that the three percent quota for OBC women will be scrapped.
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Under the proposed revised quota, Scheduled Caste candidates will get 20 per cent reservation, while those from OBCs and EBCs will get 43 per cent quota – a significant increase from the earlier 30 per cent. Two percent reservation is proposed for ST candidates.
The current reservation levels are 18 percent for EBCs and 12 percent for Backward Classes, 16 percent for Scheduled Castes and one percent for Scheduled Tribes.
The proposal comes hours after a full report on the controversial state-wide caste survey was submitted to the Bihar Assembly, amid claims by the opposition BJP that the ruling duo Janata Dal(United)-Rashtriya Janata Dal Yadav community had blown up. and Muslims.
Nitish Kumar — whose deputy, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, is from the former outfit — slammed the BJP over the allegations. Earlier, Mr Yadav had demanded critics of the caste probe to provide evidence.
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The Yadavs are the largest OBC sub-group in the state, accounting for 14.27 per of that population.
According to the Bihar caste survey, a total of 36 percent of the state’s 13.1 crore population are from EBCs, 27.1 percent from backward classes and 19.7 percent from scheduled castes. Scheduled Tribes constitute 1.7 percent of the population, and the general category stands at 15.5 percent.
This means that more than 60 percent of Bihar comes from backward or extremely backward classes.
READ |Bihar Caste Survey: 27% Backward Classes, 36% Extremely Backward Classes
More data, released earlier today, shows that 34 percent of all families in the state survive on less than Rs 6,000 per month, and 42 percent of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families live in poverty.
Also according to the data, less than six percent of Scheduled Castes had completed their education; i.e., passed class 11 and class 12. That number totals up to nine percent.
READ | “34% earn Rs 6,000 or less”: Bihar survey reveals wealth and education data
Last month, the release of the first set of caste survey data was followed by speculation about this very announcement: an increase in quotas for backward classes and other marginalized communities.
The Bihar government’s caste probe — now a political hot potato after the opposition pushed for a similar nationwide exercise — started making headlines (again) in November last year.
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This was after the Supreme Court backed the Centre’s 10 percent EWS quota.
The court termed the quota – which was introduced shortly before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections – non-discriminatory and said it does not change the basic structure of the Constitution.
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