As Bihar government released the data on social and economic status of people based on the recently conducted caste census, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Tuesday proposed to increase the reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, as well Other Backward Classes and Extremely Backward Classes, to 65 per cent.
This will take the state’s quota past the Supreme Court cap of 50 per cent. Also, it will take the overall quota to 75 per cent after including Centre’s 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker section.
Kumar said that his government intends to effect the proposed changes in the quota during the current session of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. “We will do the needful after due consultation. It is our intent to effect these changes in the current session,” the Bihar chief minister said.
Earlier, the state government also rleased the data on the social and economic status of people which was collected during the recently concluded caste census. According to the data, 34 per cent of all families in Bihar earn Rs 6,000 per month and 29.61 per cent of them survive on Rs 10,000 or less.
Nearly 28 per cent earn between Rs 10,000 and Rs 50,000 per month. As per the report, only four per cent of Bihar’s total families earn more than 50,000 per month.
In the General Category or the so called Upper Caste, only 25.09 per cent families are below the poverty line. In this category, 25.32 per cent of Bhumihars, 25.3 per cent of Brahmins, and 24.89 per cent of Rajputs are said to be poor.