After Bihar releases caste-based census, Rahul says it is important to know caste statistics

New Delhi: Hours after Bihar government released the case based census, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday once again reiterated his demand of the greater the population, the greater the rights.

He said that the census has revealed that OBC, Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribes (ST) are 84 per cent in the state and therefore it is important to know the caste statistics of India.

“The caste census of Bihar has revealed that OBC (other backward classes), SC and STs are 84 per cent there. Out of 90 secretaries of the Central Government, only three are OBCs, who handle only 5 per cent of India’s budget,” Rahul Gandhi wrote on X.

“Therefore, it is important to know the caste statistics of India. The greater the population, the greater the rights – this is our pledge,” the Lok Sabha MP from Kerala’s Wayanad said.

His remarks came after the Bihar government on the occasion of the Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary released the much-awaited caste-based survey.

Even Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh in a post on X, said, “The Bihar government has just released the results of the Caste Survey conducted by it in the state.”

“While welcoming the initiative and recalling similar earlier surveys in other states like Karnataka by Congress governments, the Indian National Congress reiterates its demand that the Union government conduct a national Caste Census at the earliest.

“The UPA-2 government had, in fact, completed this Census but its results were not published by the Modi government. Such a Census has become essential for providing a firmer foundation for social empowerment programmes and for deepening social justice,” Ramesh said.

As per the report, Bihar has a population of over 13 crore people, of which the Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) comprise 36.01 per cent of the population, the Other Backward Classes (OBC) 27 per cent, Scheduled Castes 19.65 per cent, Scheduled Tribes 1.68 per cent, while the Upper Castes constitute 15.52 per cent of the population.

Among the Backward Classes, Yadavs constitute 14.26 per cent of the population while the Kushwahas and Kurmis are 4.27 per cent and 2.87 per cent, respectively.

The caste-based survey was passed in both Houses of the Bihar Vidhan Mandal last year and every political party gave consent for it.

IANS