Bihar Caste Census Begins Today, Nitish Kumar Says "Will Benefit All"

Asserting that caste-based census will benefit all sections of the society, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said the purpose of the exercise is to carry out developmental work for the people who are deprived.

The enumeration exercise will start in the state from Saturday.

"The caste-based headcount will be beneficial for all... It will enable the government to work for the development of various sections of the society, including those who are deprived. After completion of the enumeration exercise..., the final report will be sent to Centre also," Kumar said while interacting with reporters on the second day of his 'Samadhan Yatra' in Sheohar district.

"The exercise is basically 'Jaati Aadharit Ganana'. People belonging to every religion and caste will be covered during the exercise. Proper training has been imparted to officials who are involved in the process of conducting the caste-based headcount,"Mr Kumar said.

The enumeration exercise will start in the state from Saturday. The government will conduct the exercise in two stages. In the first phase, which will be over by January 21, the number of all households in the state will be counted.

In the second, starting from March, data pertaining to people of all castes, sub-castes and religions will be collected. Enumerators, whose training began on December 15, will also record information about the financial status of all people.

The exercise will be completed by May, 2023. Earlier, the exercise was supposed to be completed by February 2023. The state government will spend Rs 500 crore from its contingency fund for the exercise. The general administration department is the nodal authority for the survey.

"Data will be collected digitally through a mobile application as part of the survey, from the panchayat to the district level. The app will have questions about place, caste, the number of people in a family, their profession, and annual income. Census workers include teachers, Anganwadi, MGNREGA or Jeevika workers," said, Chandrashekhar Singh, Patna District Magistrate.

The exercise will be conducted in total 12,696 blocks in Patna district, he said.

Caste-based count has been a major issue in Bihar politics, with Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and all constituents of the 'Mahagathbandhan' long been demanding that the exercise be undertaken at the earliest. The Congress-led UPA government at the Centre had agreed to conduct the exercise at the national level in 2010, but the data collected during the census were never processed.

The state government embarked on the exercise in the wake of the Centre expressing its inability to undertake caste-based enumeration other than the SCs and STs. It has been the contention of Nitish Kumar, himself an OBC, and the RJD, which emerged in the thick of the Mandal era, a fresh estimate of various social groups was essential since the last caste census held in 1931.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister also visited Sitamarhi district on Friday. He reviewed several ongoing developmental projects of the state government in Dumra sub-division. Later, the CM chaired a high-level meeting attended by senior officials of the state government.

The Chief Minister will visit Vaishali district on Saturday. Subsequently, a similar exercise will be held in Siwan and Saran (Chapra) on January 8 and 9, respectively, marked by night stay at Patna on each day. A total 18 districts will be covered till January 29 by the CM during the yatra.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)