Bihar’s caste and economic survey report tabled in state legislature
Bihar’s caste and economic survey report tabled in state legislature. The report describes the economic condition of 215 Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes, and Extremely Backward Class.
Revelations of survey
- One in three families in Bihar is living in poverty, with a monthly income of Rs 6,000 or less
- More than 50 lakh people of Bihar are living as immigrants in other states.
Need for caste-based census:
- latest data for policy making,
- identifying the poor and ailing sections, altering and
- improvising the reservation parameters, etc.
Concerns associated with caste-based census:
- it can strengthen caste divisions and perpetuate the caste system, difficulty in defining caste, etc,
History of Caste Census in India
- The process of Census began in 1872 (Non-synchronous) and all the Censuses till 1931 had various details with regard to specific regions, communities, castes, and economic groups and measured the progress of households in India.
- In 1941, caste-based data was collected but not published.
- Every Census in independent India from 1951 to 2011 has published data on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, but not on other castes.
- The SECC was conducted in 2011 by the Centre but its results were withheld.