• Source:JND
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Caste Census In Bihar: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar called for an all-party meeting on Tuesday and said that the government will take all the necessary steps after taking everyone's suggestions in the meeting. Earlier in the day, he congratulated the entire team engaged in the work of caste-based enumeration, stating that the survey not only revealed the castes but also gave information about the economic condition of everyone.

"After doing everything the result came out. We have taken the financial condition of every family... Tomorrow in all party meetings we will keep everything in front of everyone...The government will take all the necessary steps after taking everyone's suggestions in the meeting," Kumar said, as quoted by news agency ANI.

The Bihar government released caste survey data, with the figures having ramifications for the Lok Sabha polls next year, showing that Other Backward Caste (OBC) and Extremely Backward Class (EBC) together account for 63 per cent of the state's population.

The report of the caste-based survey conducted in Bihar was released at a press conference in the state capital.

"The extremely backward class is 36.01 per cent, the general category is 15.52 per cent and the Other Backward Caste (OBC) is 27 per cent," Vivek Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary said, as quoted by news agency ANI.

According to the data, scheduled caste make up 19.65 per cent and the tribes make up 1.68 per cent of the population of the state.

The data also said that Hindus comprise 81.99 per cent of the population, Muslims 17.7 per cent, Christians 0.05 per cent, Sikhs 0.01 per cent, Buddhists 0.08 per cent and other religions 0.12 per cent.

The data said that Yadavs, the OBC group to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs, is the largest and account for 14.27 per cent of the state's population.

Kushwaha and Kurmi communities form 4.27 per cent and 2.87 per cent of the population, the caste survey said.

Bhumihars constitute 2.86 per cent of the population, Brahmins 3.66 per cent, Kurmis 2.87 per cent, and Musahars 3 per cent.

The total population of Bihar is more than 13 crore.

(With input from agencies)