Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today hailed the Bihar caste survey saying that the country needs a caste-based census to give people their due rights as per their population. Rahul Gandhi again highlighted that there are only 3 OBC secretaries out of a total 90. "The caste census of Bihar has revealed that OBC + SC + ST are 84%. Out of 90 secretaries of the Central Government, only 3 are OBC, who handle only 5% of India's budget! Therefore, it is important to know the caste statistics of India. The greater the population, the greater the rights – this is our pledge," said Gandhi.


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Reacting to the survey, Congress party said that the Caste Survey figures in Bihar will help the leadership address socio-economic inequality in the state and a similar Census at the national level will help the govt give due participation to OBCs, Dalits, tribals and women.


"Rahul Gandhi has always raised his voice, demanding a Caste Census. Under the leadership of Dr. Manmohan Singh ji, the UPA government conducted a Caste-based Census. But the Modi government is not disclosing the figures. The Congress government in Karnataka has also conducted a Caste-based Census, and we have always supported it. If the Modi government fails to conduct a Caste Census, we will undertake the exercise as soon as the Congress government is formed in 2024. We will ensure that every section of society receives its fair share!" said the Congress party.


The Bihar government today released caste survey data showing that Other Backward Caste (OBC) and Extremely Backward Class (EBC) together account for 63 per cent of the state’s population. The report of the caste-based survey conducted in Bihar was released at a press conference in the state capital.



“The extremely backward class is 36.01 per cent, the general category is 15.52 per cent and the Other Backward Caste (OBC) is 27 per cent," Vivek Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary said.


According to the data, Scheduled Castes make up 19.65 per cent and the Scheduled Tribes 1.68 per cent of the population of the state. The data also said that the Hindus comprise 81.99 per cent of the population, Muslims 17.7 per cent, Christians 0.05 per cent, Sikhs 0.01 per cent, Buddhists 0.08 per cent and other religions 0.12 per cent.  


The data said that Yadavs, the OBC group to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs,  is the largest and accounts for 14.27 per cent of the state’s population. Kushwaha and Kurmi communities form 4.27 per cent and 2.87 per cent of the population, the caste survey said. The total population of Bihar is more than 13 crore.