New Delhi:

The Supreme Court today said that the transgender community can’t be considered a separate caste.

The Supreme Court made the observation while hearing a request against the Bihar government’s decision to include the transgender community in the caste list as a separate category, and not as a separate caste. 

Dismissing the petition, the bench headed by justice Sanjiv Khanna said that the Bihar government has provided a separate column for transgenders in the list so their data would be available to the State. “Transgender is never a caste. This has been taken care of. There are now 3 columns – male, female, and transgender. So data will be available,” the bench said.

The top court said that the transgenders can be given certain benefits as the third gender, but not as a separate caste.

People belonging to the community can be of any caste, the bench said.

“What you are wanting really is that transgender persons be treated as a separate caste. That may not be possible. They can be treated separately and conferred certain benefits, but not as a caste. Because there will be transgender persons from across the board – from different castes,” the Supreme Court said.

Bihar has become the first state to release data from a caste-based survey. The report indicates 36 per cent of the population are from Extremely Backward Classes, 27.1 per cent are from Backward Classes, 19.7 per cent are from Scheduled Castes and 1.7 per cent are from Scheduled Tribes. The general population is 15.5 per cent. The state’s total population is over 13.1 crore.

In August, after the exercise was completed, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar stressed the survey will be “beneficial for all” and “enable the development of various sections of society, including the deprived”.

The decision to conduct a caste survey was taken by the Bihar government in June last year.

Patna:

Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav slammed the leaders of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), in Opposition in the state, for criticising the caste survey and implying that the survey data was manipulated to suit his party, the RJD.

In a sharply worded counter, Tejashwi Yadav said that had the figures been altered, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar would have increased the proportion of his caste.

The BJP claimed that the caste survey data was altered only to spread confusion, Mr Yadav said at an event of his party in Bihar’s Saharsa.

“Instead of thanking Nitish Kumar, you’re trying to find faults (with the caste survey). If we wanted to manipulate data, Nitish Kumar would have exaggerated the numbers of his own caste. Please ask the Centre to conduct a caste survey if you have any doubts,” he said.

“Yadavs were 11 per cent of the total population in 1931 when Odisha and Jharkhand were also a part of Bihar. Nearly a century later, they are said to be at 14 per cent. What is so irregular in that?” Mr Yadav said.

“These leaders speak without any information. They feel if they oppose us, Modi ji will be happy and give them tickets,” he said.

The survey shows Kurmis, to which Nitish Kumar belongs, as less than three per cent of the state’s population.

“We are thankful to the Chief Minister for the initiative that is going to set the trend for the nation. Ashok Gehlot has passed it in Rajasthan, while Bhupesh Baghel has announced it in Chhattisgarh. Karnataka has also announced. Remember, how the BJP tried to hinder the process? The party didn’t want such a survey to be conducted. The BJP should remember that we had to undertake the exercise only because of the stubborn refusal of the Narendra Modi government to hold a caste survey for the whole country.

“If Chirag Paswan has a problem with the survey, if Jitan Ram Manjhi has a problem, if the BJP has a problem, why don’t they get a survey done? After all, it is the BJP in power at the Centre,” he said to rousing cheers from the crowd.

Bihar has become the first state to release data from a caste-based survey. The report indicates that 36 per cent of the population is from the Extremely Backward Classes, 27.1 per cent are from the Backward Classes, 19.7 per cent are from the Scheduled Castes and 1.7 per cent are from the Scheduled Tribes. 

The general population is at 15.5 per cent. The state’s total population is over 13.1 crore.

Patna:

At an all-party meeting called a day after results of the caste survey were released, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar promised to put the socio-economic data in the public domain as well, but did not specify a timeline for doing so. The first instalment of the survey, released on Monday, gave a break-up of the numbers of each caste, but did not reveal how they were doing on various socio-economic indicators.

The meeting was keenly watched because the survey, which has been controversial despite an all-party consensus on conducting it – and has even been challenged in various courts – had produced a muted reaction from the Bihar unit of the BJP but had prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to accuse the opposition of “trying to divide the country in the name of caste”.

The state unit of the BJP, which attended the meeting, has been criticising what it calls “errors” in the survey and, at the same time, taking credit for starting work on it when it was in power in Bihar with Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United).

Discussions

The meeting of the nine parties in Bihar that have a presence in the legislature – Janata Dal 
(United), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress, BJP, Hindustani Awam Morcha, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI(ML) and AIMIM – was called by the chief minister to share details of the survey and discuss the road ahead.

Sources told NDTV that most of the parties that attended the meeting expressed happiness and relief that the results of the survey had been released and a promise made to the people had been fulfilled. 

BJP Legislature Leader Party leader Vijay Kumar Sinha expressed his dissatisfaction at some groups allegedly being left out of the report, but top officials and Mr Kumar assured him that, if such a thing had happened, it was an error and would be rectified. 

Sources said there were demands for the release of socio-economic data, but the government is weighing its options. During the meeting, it was discussed that the data could be released during the next session of the Bihar Assembly. 

Congress’ Take

After the meeting, Congress Legislature Party leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan said all parties, including the opposition, were happy and gave their suggestions.

Asked whether the BJP had also welcomed the results, Mr Khan said, “Definitely”.

Pressed further on the “errors” pointed out by the party, he said, “There are certain things that they pointed out and the chief minister has said that they will be fixed if they are found to be true. But, overall, everyone has welcomed the results,

“When there was a demand for a caste survey in the whole country, the BJP was against it. This is a fact. Bihar is the first state (to carry out such a survey) and Nitish ji had said we would do it at our own expense. This is also a fact that the BJP should understand,” Mr Khan said in Hindi. 

What The Survey Found

The data revealed that nearly 63.1% of the state’s 13.1 crore population belongs to a backward class and roughly 85% are members of a backward or extremely backward class, or a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe.

The general category makes up just 15.5 per cent of the population. Among the Other Backward Classes, the biggest group is the Yadav community, which accounts for 14.27% of all OBCs.

Patna:

Bihar BJP president Samrat Choudhary on Tuesday said he saw “80 per cent supporters” of his party in the findings of the caste survey released by the Nitish Kumar government the day before.

Addressing a press conference at the state BJP headquarters here, Mr Chaudhary also alleged that the report was prepared to suit politics of “appeasement practiced by RJD president Lalu Prasad and endorsed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar”.

“The BJP welcomes the caste survey, which was ordered by the state cabinet when it had 16 ministers, including two deputy CMs, from our party,” said Mr Choudhary.

The BJP state president, who was a minister till Mr Kumar snapped ties with his party a year ago, said, “In the data that has come out, eighty per cent of the people who have been counted are supporters of the BJP.” 

The allusion to the survey’s finding that more than 80 per cent of the total population of the state was Hindu, bore a striking similarity to the infamous “80 versus 20” rhetoric of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

However, the Bihar BJP leader also claimed, “People from many Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) like Dhanuks are complaining to us that their numbers have been shown less than estimates. We will seek to know the methodology (of the survey) from the government.”

“We suspect that Nitish Kumar has acted under pressure from Lalu Prasad whose politics of appeasement is well known. If Nitish and Lalu really care about the EBCs, let them give up their hold on power and give the reins to those from the extremely backward classes,” said Mr Choudhary.

Several RJD leaders pointed out that Yadavs, the caste to which Prasad belongs, are the largest caste group in the state, with a population of more than one crore.

Besides, Muslims, who have been firmly with Prasad since he got BJP patriarch Lal Krishna Advani arrested, halting the Ram Rath Yatra in its tracks, account for 17.70 per cent of the state’s total population, which is 13.07 crore.

They also say that as per the survey, the rise in Muslim population in terms of percentage, since the 2011 census, has been less than one per cent. This runs contrary to the BJP’s claims that districts along the porous borders with Nepal and Bangladesh were undergoing a “demographic change” because of unchecked infiltration.

The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar on Monday released findings of its much-awaited caste survey months ahead of the 2024 Parliamentary elections, which revealed that OBCs and EBCs constitute a whopping 63 per cent of the state’s total population.

According to the data, EBCs (36 per cent) were the largest social segment followed by the Other Backward Classes at 27.13 per cent.

The survey also stated that Yadavs, the OBC group to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs, were the largest in terms of the population, accounting for 14.27 per cent of the total.

Dalits, also known as the Scheduled Castes, accounted for 19.65 per cent of the total population in the state, which is also home to nearly 22 lakh (1.68 per cent) people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes.

Those belonging to the “unreserved” category, which denotes the proverbial “upper castes” who dominated politics till the Mandal wave of the 1990s comprise 15.52 per cent of the total population.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Bihar government on Monday released data from a controversial caste-based survey that said nearly 63.1 per cent of the state’s 13.1 crore population belong to backward classes and nearly 85 per cent belong to either a backward or extremely backward class, or a Scheduled Caste / Tribe.

Specifically, 36 per cent of the state is from an extremely backward class, 27.1 per cent is from a backward class, 19.7 per cent is from a Scheduled Caste and 1.7 per cent is from a Scheduled Tribe. The general category, including so-called upper castes, account for 15.5 per cent.

The report also underlines the minority status of those who identify as Muslims in Bihar; they constitute less than 18 per cent of the population while those who identify as Hindus account for 82 per cent. In the 2011 Census these numbers were 16.9 per cent and 82.7 per cent, respectively.

A deep-dive shows the Yadav community – the group to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs – is the largest sub-group, accounting for 14.27 per cent of all OBC categories.

A further deep-dive shows that Kushwahas and Kurmis form 4.27 and 2.87 per cent of the population.

Brahmins constitute just 3.66 per cent of Bihar’s people.

READ | Bihar Caste Survey: 27% Backward Classes, 36% Extremely Backward Classes

The data – coming months before next year’s Lok Sabha poll – underlines the electoral importance of OBCs and marginalised communities – both for the BJP, which has opposed calls for a national caste census, and the opposition, which has been increasingly more and more vocal on the subject.

Over the past five Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has won over OBC votes at the expense of the Congress.

In the 1999 national election the OBC vote division was even – 23 to 24 per cent. This jumped to 34 per cent to 15 per cent in 2014 and then a massive 44 per cent for the BJP five years later.

READ | Bihar Caste Survey Results Out, Nitish Kumar Shares The Plan Ahead

In Bihar, that 63 per cent OBC+ EBC is a headline number for the BJP. In 2019 the BJP-led NDA won 39 of the state’s 40 seats; the BJP won 17, JDU (then its ally) 16 and the Lok Janshakti Party got six.

The BJP and its allies, then, benefitted from OBC votes, as they did in the 2020 Bihar election, when 81 per cent of Kurmis, 51 per cent of Koeris, and 58 per cent of other OBCs/EBCs voted for them.

Representation, though, hasn’t always been equal to population – a point Congress MP Rahul Gandhi made when he said only three of 90 Secretaries to the Indian government were from OBCs.

READ |“Important To Know Caste Statistics Of India”: Rahul Gandhi On Census

In fact, comparing the 2015 Bihar Assembly to the 2020 one shows a drop in MLAs from OBC and EBC communities from 48.6 per cent to 40.7. MLAs from the so-called upper castes increased from 23.9 per cent to 29.2 per cent, while those from the Muslim community fell from 9.9 to 7.8 per cent.

The party-wise division of these numbers identifies the BJP as having only 27 MLAs from OBC communities (compared to 34 from so-called upper castes). For the JDU this split was 22-10.

The RJD skew was even bigger in terms of OBC representation – 39-13.

Meanwhile, what the Bihar caste survey report also does is spotlight the significance of OBC + EBC communities for the BJP, the Congress and all political parties across the country, with particular focus on states voting this year – Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Telangana.

In Telangana OBCs (as a percentage of households in rural areas) account for over 57 per cent. In Chhattisgarh that number is 51.4 per cent. This is 46.8 in Rajasthan and 42.4 in Madhya Pradesh.

The Bihar caste survey has been a polarising topic among India’s political parties, with battle lines drawn between (primarily) the ruling BJP on one side and a number of opposition parties on the other.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at an election event in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior today, hit out at those “trying to divide the country in the name of caste” – seen as a sharp response to Bihar’s caste survey.

READ |“Trying To Divide Country…”: PM After Bihar Releases Caste Survey Report

The INDIA bloc, which is pushing for a national caste census to ensure better targeting of development initiatives, has been boosted by the Bihar report. Rahul Gandhi – whose Congress is part of INDIA – said his party will order a similar exercise if it wins the Madhya Pradesh election due this year.

New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused the opposition of “trying to divide the country in the name of caste”, in a sharp comment that came hours after the Bihar government released details of its controversial state-wide caste-based survey. The Prime Minister did not refer to the survey or any specific party but, in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, he lashed out at the opposition for having failed to secure development while in power and attacked them for “playing with the feelings of the poor”.

“They played with emotions of the poor back then… and even today they are playing the same game. Earlier they divided the country in the name of caste… and today they are committing the same sin. Earlier they were guilty of corruption… and today they are even more corrupt,” he said in Gwalior.

The Prime Minister also called any attempt at “division on caste lines” a “sin”.

The PM’s comments were seen by many as a two-for-one swipe at the Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal (United), an ex-BJP ally, and the Congress, its primary opposition in Madhya Pradesh, and which has vowed to conduct a similar caste-based survey if it returns to power after elections later this year.

On Saturday Mr Gandhi – who has been vocal about the need for a caste census – said, “After coming to power, first thing we will do is to go for caste-based census to know exact number of OBCs…”

Responding to the Bihar government report today, Rahul Gandhi said on X, “… the Congress reiterates its demand that the union government conduct a national caste census at the earliest.”

“The (Congress-led) UPA government had, in fact, completed this census but its results were not published by the Modi government. Such a census is essential for providing a firmer foundation for social empowerment programmes and for deepening social justice,” Mr Gandhi’s party said today.

Pressure on the BJP to conduct a national caste census will increase after today, following the Bihar government report that said around 63 per cent of the state’s population hail from backward classes, and over 20 per cent are from Scheduled Castes or Tribes. The ‘general population’ – which includes so-called upper classes that dominated Bihar politics till the Mandal report – is about 15.5 per cent.

The report – released months before a general election in a state that has 40 parliamentary seats, 39 of which were won by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in the 2019 election – will ramp up tension as states push for similar exercises and the opposition demands the centre hold a nation-wide count.

READ |Bihar Caste Survey: 27% Backward Classes, 36% Extremely Backward Classes

It also suggests the opposition is likely to make this a poll issue before the 2024 election, something underlined at the INDIA opposition bloc meeting in Mumbai early last month, although the weight of that demand was affected by Bengal’s ruling Trinamool refusing to support the call.

READ | Opposition Bloc INDIA Pushes For Caste Census In First Tactical Meeting

However, state and national BJP leaders haven’t always been on the same page on this topic, with the former unable, or unwilling, to fully support or resist the move, unlike the latter. On this occasion too, the party’s state unit boss Samrat Choudhary, telling NDTV the party will first “study methodology”.

Ex-Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, once Nitish Kumar’s right-hand man, said it was the BJP-JDU Bihar government – before Nitish Kumar quit the alliance – that resolved to hold a caste survey.

#WATCH | On the caste-based survey, BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi says, “When BJP was a part of the Bihar government, that government only took the decision to do a caste-based survey in Bihar. Today the Bihar government has made the data public. BJP is analysing the data. We will… pic.twitter.com/PVSLnLrPb6

— ANI (@ANI) October 2, 2023

Nitish Kumar, his deputy Tejashwi Yadav and RJD boss Lalu Prasad Yadav hailed the release of the caste-based survey report as a “watershed” moment. The Chief Minister also said he will call a meeting of all parties in the Assembly – including the Prime Minister’s BJP – to discuss the next step.

READ | Bihar Caste Survey Results Out, Nitish Kumar Shares The Plan Ahead

The last time a caste-based headcount was conducted was in 1931.

In 2011 the Congress-led UPA central government conducted a socio-economic caste census and, five years later, that data was published. However, data relating to castes was not, and has not since.

Bihar is the first state to have completed and published the results of such an exercise.

Karnataka conducted a caste-based survey in 2014 but did not make data public. Telangana announced one for 2021 but it was never carried out. Odisha, this year, said it too would hold a caste-based survey.

Patna:

The publication of Bihar’s caste survey data this afternoon sparked sharp exchanges between the ruling coalition of Janata Dal United and Rashtriya Janata Dal, and the Opposition BJP. While JDU leader and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his ally and RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav termed the publication of the report “historic”, leaders of the BJP called it an “eyewash”.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the publication of the report has coincided with Gandhi Jayanti and congratulated the survey team for its work. On what comes next, he said a meeting of the nine political parties in Bihar Assembly, who had unanimously voted in support of the survey, will be called soon, and they will be informed about the findings of the survey. “The caste survey has also provided information about the economic condition of various castes. Steps will be taken for the development of all communities on the basis of this data,” he said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The BJP was among the nine parties that had backed the caste survey exercise.

RJD founder and former Chief Minister Lalu Yadav, too, welcomed the publication of the survey report and said the exercise was completed despite “BJP’s conspiracies and legal hurdles”.

“These figures will set a benchmark for the country in giving representation to deprived and oppressed sections and the poor as per their population and to make policies for their development,” he posted on X.

The central government, Mr Yadav said, should ensure that sections of the society get a share in development as per their numbers. “We will get a caste Census done when we form the government in 2024,” said the RJD leader, who is among the prominent faces in the Opposition’s INDIA bloc that plans to take on the BJP in the general election next year.

Mr Yadav’s son and Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said the publication of the report is a milestone in a decades-long struggle. “This survey has not just provided caste-based numbers, but also given a context about their socio-economic condition. Now the government will ensure all-round development on the basis of this data,” he said.

Targeting the BJP, the Deputy Chief Minister added, “History is witness to how the BJP leadership tried to create hurdles. Bihar has set an example. Bihar has shown the way.”

Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh termed the survey report an “eyewash”. “This survey is just going to spread doubts among the people,” Mr Singh said.

State BJP chief Samrat Choudhary said the party will study the report in detail and then share its opinion. He stressed that the BJP had firmly supported the survey. “The BJP had given its full support to this survey. We started the work when we were part of the government in Bihar,” he said.

On the findings of the survey, he said the numbers are in line with what they had expected. “But we will give an official response only after studying the methodology and mechanism followed in the survey,” Mr Choudhary said.

The findings of the caste-based survey are likely to trigger demands to increase reservation of OBCs, now capped at 27 per cent. According to the survey results, backward classes account of about two-thirds of Bihar’s population. The findings, which come months ahead of the general election, will also emerge as a key talking point in the run-up to the polls.

On whether he thinks quotas need to be increased in line with the survey findings, the state BJP chief said, “Babasaheb Ambedkar had introduced this provision for backward classes, then the Mandal Commission came, then Rohini Commission. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has consistently ensured that the various findings are studied. The government will ensure whatever action is required,” he said.

New Delhi:

The centre’s affidavit in Supreme Court on the Bihar government’s decision to conduct a caste survey, and its correction hours later, has “exposed the BJP” and its “motive to block the survey”, the Opposition has alleged.

This comes after an affidavit filed yesterday said only the centre can conduct a “census or any action akin to the census”. Hours later, the centre submitted a fresh affidavit in which this remark was purged. The fresh affidavit said the paragraph had “inadvertently crept in”.

The back-to-back affidavits sparked a massive row, with Janata Dal United (JDU) and its ally Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) hitting out at the BJP.

Manoj Kumar Jha, Rajya Sabha MP from RJD, alleged that the Prime Minister’s Office is trying every trick in the book to block the caste survey. “This proves that it is paramount for BJP and Sangh Parivar to deprive such a huge part of the population of their rights,” Mr Jha said. Mentioning the back-to-back affidavits filed by the centre, the MP said, “This was not inadvertent. It was deliberate. I am warning the government. You will create a volcano if you try to block the rights of this section through back door and front door methods.”

“I assure you, you cannot stop this. This is just exposing you,” he said.

JDU leader and Bihar’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary told NDTV that the centre is saying that the right to hold a census rests with them. “This is hilarious. The Bihar government has been saying this from the beginning. What we are conducting is not a census, but a survey,” he said.

“This has unmasked the centre. This shows their desperation. Even BJP leaders are confused. The BJP had expressed support for the survey in the all-party meeting in Bihar. Now there is a question mark on that too. This is not a census. Who has challenged their right to hold a census,” he said.

State BJP president Samrat Choudhary stressed that the Bihar party unit backs the caste survey. Asked about the affidavit row, he said, “The Home Ministry would be able to explain that,” he said, stressing that the centre has not made any attempt to stop the survey.

“We have only one demand. If Nitish Kumar government has completed the survey, the report should be released in 24 hours,” he told NDTV.

Responding to questions on the row, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar reiterated that his government was not conducting a census but a survey. “We are not counting numbers of people from different castes, we are also surveying their economic condition so that we have proper data. We are working for the welfare of the people,” he said, adding that work on the survey was nearly over. 

The Bihar government decided to hold a caste survey on June 2 last year, months after the centre ruled out such an exercise in the census.

The survey aims to cover a population of about 12.70 crores and was to be completed by May 31 this year. In May, the Patna High Court paused the survey. But earlier this month, the high court gave the Nitish Kumar government a go-ahead after its assurance on the protection of data collected during this survey.

The high court’s green signal has now been challenged in Supreme Court.

Results of the caste survey can be of immense political significance ahead of the 2024 general elections, especially against the backdrop of Opposition parties, including the JDU and RJD, joining ranks under the INDIA bloc to take on the BJP.