Caste-based census in Bihar soon as all-party meet gives nod to exercise

Express News Service

PATNA: Decks have been cleared for the caste-based census in Bihar following a meeting of all political parties on Wednesday. 

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the caste-based census would be conducted within a time frame.

Talking to the media after the all-party meeting, Nitish said that a proposal to conduct the caste-based census in the state will be presented in the meeting of the state cabinet soon for its approval. “Everything related to the census will be done within a limited period,” he added.

The census will cover all castes, sub-castes and religions. To make it foolproof, the government will ensure proper training of the personnel assigned the arduous task. “The government will ensure that nobody is left out of it,” Nitish pointed out.

The meeting was attended by nine political parties — BJP, JDU, RJD, Congress, CPI-ML (Liberation), CPI, HAM and AIMIM and VIP. CM Nitish, his deputy Tarksihore Prasad, RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and Congress legislature party leader Ajeet Sharma and HAM chief Jitan Ram Manjhi were among others present at the meeting.

Nitish said that the leaders of all political parties took a unanimous decision to conduct the caste-based census. The census will be done with the resources of the state government. The government will arrange funds for the purpose.

To a query, Nitish said that the all-party meeting was delayed due to elections. “Earlier, we had demanded from the centre to conduct a caste-based census at the national level. Even a delegation had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue last year,” he asserted.

Later, it was decided that the census will be conducted by the state government. “Everything related to the caste-based census will be put in the public domain so that people could get information about the census,” Nitish clarified.