Bihar Caste Census / SC on caste census- 'For now we will not say anything', hearing on October 6

Bihar Caste Census: The issue of release of Bihar caste census data was raised in the Supreme Court today. The petitioner raised the matter in the Supreme Court today after the state government released the figures. The petitioner's lawyer said that the Bihar government has made the caste census data public. On this the Supreme Court said that it will not comment on the matter right now. The matter has been posted for hearing on 6th October, we will hear it at that time.

Caste Census in Bihar | Supreme Court says it will take up the matter on October 6. Petitioner's lawyer mentions before Supreme Court that the Bihar Government has published caste survey data. pic.twitter.com/8MJysRmKSP

— ANI (@ANI) October 3, 2023

Supreme Court did not give order to stop

This petition is from non-governmental organizations ‘Youth for Equality’ and ‘Ek Soch Ek Prayas’. In the earlier hearing, Bihar government had assured not to make the data public. Due to this, the Supreme Court did not order a ban, whereas a demand was made by the petitioner to ban the release of data.

OBC-ECB share in the state is 63 percent

Let us tell you that yesterday the Nitish Kumar government of Bihar had released the caste census figures of the state. It tells what is the population of which caste and religion in the state. According to statistics, the population of the state is more than 13 crores. The share of Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Extremely Backward Classes (ECB) in the total population is 63 percent. The population of social class EBC is 36 percent and OBC is 27.13 percent.

The proposal was passed by the Assembly in 2020

It is noteworthy that the Nitish government had passed the proposal to conduct caste census in the Assembly on 27 February 2020. This decision of the government was challenged in the Patna High Court and it was said that the state government has no right to conduct the census. The High Court had initially banned the census, but later after the intervention of the Supreme Court, the High Court lifted the ban after hearing it. Now the matter is again in the Supreme Court.