Bihar: Nitish Kumar proposes raising quota from 50% to 75%
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday proposed increasing the ceiling of reserved quota in the state from 50% to 75%, including the 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS). The proposed revision will reportedly include a 20% quota for Scheduled Castes (SCs), 43% for Other Backwards Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Castes (EBCs), and 2% for Scheduled Tribes (STs).
Why does this story matter?
Kumar proposed the revision after tabling the complete report of the contentious caste survey of Bihar before the state assembly. Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused Bihar's Janata Dal (United)-Rashtriya Janata Dal government of inflating the figures of Yadavs and Muslims. To note, in 1992, the Supreme Court fixed the 50% reservation ceiling to ensure "efficiency."
Kumar calls BJP's claims bogus
Current proportion of reserved quota
Currently, Bihar has 18% reservation for EBCs, 12% for OBCs, 16% for SCs, 1% for STs, and 3% for OBC women in education and government jobs. The caste survey data showed 27% of its citizens were Backward Classes, 36% EBCs, 19.7% SCs, and 1.7% STs, while those in the general category were 15.5%. The EWS—belonging to the general category—has 10% of seats reserved.
What newly released wealth, education data says
The newly released socio-economic data also showed that over 50 lakh citizens from Bihar lived outside the state. Highlighting the section-wise poverty, it said 33% of BCs and EBCs, 42.92% SCs, 42.7% STs, and 25.09% of general category citizens are poor. Around 34% of families in Bihar subsist on less than Rs. 6,000/month, while only 5.76% of SCs had finished higher secondary education.
50% celiling not sacrosanct: Centre told SC in 2022
In 2022, while defending the 10% EWS quota, the Centre told the Supreme Court that a 50% ceiling for reservation is not sacrosanct. To note, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu have passed laws to breach the 50% ceiling.
