Bihar: 1st phase of caste-based census begins

PATNA: The first phase of the caste-based census kicked off in Bihar on Saturday, with deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav hailing the exercise as “historic”.

The exercise is being conducted in two stages.

In the first phase, which is scheduled to end on January 21, the number of all households in the state will be counted.

“The first leg of the survey will be conducted from January 7 to January 21, when house-listing will be conducted according to the prescribed format. The surveyors will number each household in their respective areas in urban and rural areas. Following this, all information will be uploaded on portals,” a senior government official said, asking not to be named.

In the second phase, set to begin in March, data pertaining to people of all castes and religions will be collected. Nearly 350,000 enumerators, who's training began on December 15, will also record information about the financial status of all people, officials said.

Calling the exercise “historic”, deputy CM and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav said that the Bharatiya Janata Party created roadblocks in the survey because of its “anti-poor mindset”.

“The BJP is now scared after having tried their level best to stop the exercise. The BJP never wanted the caste head count because it has an anti-poor mindset,” he told reporters in Patna.

The Bihar cabinet on June 2 last year decided to conduct the caste-based census in the state, months after the Centre ruled out such an exercise at the national level. The normal decadal census counts religious groups and Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) separately.

For the survey, an estimated population of 127 million in over 25 million households across 38 districts, which have 534 blocks and 261 urban local bodies, will be covered.

Of the total households across the state, over 2 million are in Patna district alone, where Chandrashekhar Singh, the district magistrate and nodal officer of the exercise, said, “We are working towards completing the survey by May.”

The state government will spend ₹ 500 crore from its contingency fund for the exercise. The general administration department (GAD) is the nodal authority for the survey.

Even temporary dwellings, like people living on the roadside, under a bridge, homestead

PTI An enumerator marks a house during the census exercise in Patna on Saturday.