“We are going to suggest a caste-based rely, not census, to keep away from authorized problems,” Nitish Kumar mentioned
New Delhi:
A caste-based “rely” quite than census will likely be held in Bihar to keep away from any wrinkles, Nitish Kumar mentioned at the moment after an all-party assembly on a caste census this night. The Chief Minister mentioned all events, together with the BJP, agreed on a caste rely.
“We are going to suggest a caste-based rely, not census, to keep away from authorized problems,” Nitish Kumar informed reporters.
All events, he mentioned, had been on board with the suggestion, together with the BJP, which has all the time expressed enormous reservations over a caste-based census.
“To implement this a proposal will likely be handed within the state cupboard. The goal is that each part of the society can progress correctly,” Nitish Kumar mentioned. The Bihar Chief Minister, within the assembly, reportedly spelled out a timeframe for the census, assuring events of his authorities’s resolve to proceed on the caste rely. He didn’t elaborate however opposition chief Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD, seated subsequent to him, hinted that the train may very well be carried out after pageant season.
States like Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana have carried out comparable counts within the title of a “socio-economic survey”.
A nationwide caste census befell when the Congress-led UPA was in energy, however the information was not launched on technical grounds. The BJP authorities refused to hold out a caste-based census however left it to states to go for a caste rely.
After the Centre’s refusal to take a headcount of any social group apart from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the Nitish Kumar authorities supplied to spend money on a survey by itself.
Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JDU) and the BJP are alliance companions in Bihar. Nitish Kumar had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi final yr to press for a caste-based census, heading an all-party delegation.
Most events in Bihar, together with the RJD, have referred to as for a caste-based census, whereas the BJP has been caught between the calls for of its Bihar unit and the central authorities’s stand.
The Centre believes a caste-based census is a divisive train. However Bihar political events – together with state BJP leaders – argue that realizing the caste structure of the inhabitants will result in higher, extra targeted insurance policies for essentially the most uncared for in society.
The central authorities informed the Supreme Court docket final yr {that a} caste census of the Backward Courses is “administratively troublesome and cumbersome”.
The RJD says the final caste census in India befell in 1931 and all authorities insurance policies are framed in line with the info again then.