Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has defended the state’s ‘head count of caste’ initiative, saying that conducting a survey based on caste is not a crime. However, he clarified that the state is not conducting a caste census but only collecting information related to people’s economic status and their caste. Mr Kumar believes that this data will help the government to serve the people better.
‘The ongoing caste survey is a good initiative taken by us. People will be hugely benefited after the recognition of their economic status, whether they belong to the upper caste, backward caste or extremely weaker sections of the society. I don’t understand why a section of people are against this exercise… They are challenging it. Is it a crime? No, it is not,’ said the Bihar CM while addressing a conference of Civil Servants in Patna.
An organisation had moved the Supreme Court against the state government’s decision to conduct the caste-based survey. However, the court refused to entertain the plea and allowed the petitioner to approach the Patna High Court and directed it to decide the petition expeditiously.
According to Mr Kumar, the data collected during the headcount will help the state government to know how many people are poor and what sort of steps need to be taken to bring them into the mainstream. He added that all parties in Bihar had the same view when the state government decided to hold the caste-based survey. The first round of caste survey in Bihar was conducted between January 7 and 21, and the second round started on April 15 and will continue till May 15.
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