The Bihar Assembly on Thursday passed a bill to increase reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and Extremely Backward Classes in state jobs and educational institutions from 50 to 65 per cent.
The bills drafted in the backdrop of a caste survey conducted by the Nitish Kumar government, were passed unanimously through voice vote. Now, the approved bill would be passed to be signed off by Governor Rajendra Arlekar before it is law.
According to the bills, the quota for STs will be doubled, from one to two per cent, while for SCs it will be raised from 16 per cent to 20 per cent. For EBCs, the quota will be 25 per cent, up from 18 per cent, while for the OBCs, it will rise from 12 per cent to 15 per cent. Reportedly, the existing three per cent reservation for backward-class women has also been scrapped.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday proposed to the state assembly that he was in favour of raising the quotas for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes in the state, hours after his government tabled the full report of the contentious state-wide caste survey.
The chief minister was of the view that reservations for the OBCs needed to be raised from 50 to 65 per cent while for the SCs and STs, which together account for a 17 per cent quota, the limit should be raised to 22 per cent.
“We will do the needful after due consultations. We intend to effect these changes in the current session,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Bihar Assembly continued to witness uproarious scenes on Thursday over the vulgar remarks of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. In the Assembly today, the BJP MLAs came in the well and shouted slogans against the chief minister. They demanded the resignation of Nitish Kumar. The members claimed that the apology was not adequate and he should resign from the post of chief minister.
During the proceedings, Assembly Speaker Awadh Bihari Choudhary repeatedly asked the BJP leaders to go to their respective seats but they refused. At one stage, they pulled away a chair and thumped the table. As the marshals rushed in, there was a grappling with the MLAs. The House was adjourned till 2 p.m.