Bihar Caste Survey: 34% Households In State Poor, Over 50 Lakh Live Outside For Livelihood, Education

Bihar Caste Survey Report: The Nitish Kumar government says that over 34% of households in Bihar are poor and that more than 50 lakh Biharis live outside the state for livelihood or education

The Nitish Kumar government says that over 34% households in the state are poor, earning less than Rs 6,000 per month.

Source : PTI

Bihar Caste Survey Report: As per the Bihar caste survey, 34.1% of the state's households are poor, earning less than Rs 6,000 a month, the Nitish Kumar-led government told the assembly on Tuesday. The caste survey further revealed that more than 50 lakh Biharis live outside the state for livelihood or education.

Caste Division Of Poverty

The revelations were part of the Bihar government's caste survey report. The government also tabled the full report on the economic condition of 215 Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes, and Extremely Backward Classes. Reading out the report, Finance Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary said that around 42% of the members from the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, 33% from backward classes, and 25% from the general castes in Bihar are poor.

Education

The government further said that only 7% of the population has achieved graduation, while 22.67% of the people in the state have studied up to Class-5. According to the report, 14.33% of the population has education from classes 6 to 8 and 14.71% of the people had studied up to Class 10. Apart from this, 9.19% of the population has education up to Class 12.

The first tranche of the caste census report was released on October 2. In the socio-economic report of the Bihar caste survey, the average income of the people of Bihar, their educational qualifications, etc were mentioned.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has, however, questioned its findings. It alleged that the Bihar government had inflated the numbers of certain castes and reduced the number of others for appeasement politics and to gain political advantage. Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the numbers of Yadavs and Muslims have been inflated in the caste survey.

Reacting to Shah's claim, Bihar Deputy CM and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said, "They are saying that the number of backwards and extremely backwards has been decreased and the number of Yadav has increased. Are Yadavs not backward?... On what basis are they saying that what has been increased or decreased? We have scientific data. They should have a basis to support it. On what basis are they saying it?" 

BJP MLAs staged a protest outside the Bihar Assembly over various issues, including the caste survey report and water cannons being used on Anganwadi workers protesting outside the Assembly.