Bihar passes bill to increase reservation from 50% to 75%
The Legislative Assembly of Bihar unanimously passed the Reservation Amendment Bill on Thursday to raise the ceiling of reserved quotas in the state from 50% to 75%. The new quota for Extremely Backward Castes (EBC) is 25%, Other Backward Classes (OBC) 18%, Scheduled Castes (SC) 20%, and 2% for Scheduled Tribes (ST), along with the existing 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).
Why does this story matter?
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday proposed the amendment in the assembly while tabling the complete report of the contentious caste survey of Bihar. The Supreme Court fixed the 50% reservation ceiling in 1992 to ensure "efficiency." Previously, EBCs in Bihar had 18% reservation, OBCs 12%, SCs 16%, and STs 1%, apart from 3% for OBC women.
Bill needs to be approved by governor
The bill will now have to be approved by Governor Rajendra Arlekar for it to become law. To note, the 3% reservation for OBC women has been scrapped. Since the 1992 order, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu have passed laws to breach the 50% ceiling. The Centre told the Supreme Court in 2022 that a 50% ceiling for reservation is not sacrosanct.
What did the caste survey reveal?
The caste survey data showed that 27% of its citizens were OBCs, 36% EBCs, 19.7% SCs, and 1.7% STs, along with 15.5% in the general category, which has the EWS quota exclusively allotted to it. The socio-economic wealth and education data showed that 33% of OBCs and EBCs, 42.92% of SCs, 42.7% of STs, and 25.09% of general category citizens are poor.
