Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar yesterday held an all-party meeting and later in the day announced the outcome from the discussions. He said that the government has proposed a caste-based census for the state. He said that all parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has agreed to this proposal and would like a caste-based count of the population in the state.
“We will propose a caste-based count, not census, to avoid legal complications,” Nitish Kumar told reporters.
Furthermore, Kumar said that the proposal will be passed by the state cabinet. This census will help the state to understand the loopholes and ensure that every class of the society is progressing equally.
The Chief Minister also laid out time-frame and other details of the census, but these have not yet been shared with the public. However, sources say that census is likely to take place after the festival season.
It is important to know that BJP, until now, has expressed reservations regarding the caste-based count. The last time caste-based count was taken was when Congress-led UPA was in power, but the results were not revealed. Ever since BJP has formed the government at the centre, they have refused to undertake a caste-based census.
That said, Bihar will not be the first state to undertake this task. Several other state including Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana have done a caste-based census before.
