Bihar Assembly Unanimously Passes 65 Per Cent Caste Reservation Bill, Exceeds Limit Set By Supreme Court

The Bihar Assembly unanimously approved a bill on Thursday (9 Nove,ber) that raises the reservation quota for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and Extremely Backward Classes in state employment and educational institutions to 65 percent. This exceeds the 50 percent limit set by the Supreme Court.

The bill, which has been amended, will need to receive Governor Rajendra Arlekar's signature in order to become law. With this revision, OBCs and EBCs will now receive 43 per cent - a significant increase from the previous 30 per cent.

A reservation of 2 per cent has been suggested for candidates from the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category. The revised quotas will provide 20 per cent reservation for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates, raised from 16 per cent.

The previous three percent reservation for women from backward classes has been eliminated.

The revised bill does not include the central government's compulsory 10 percent reservation for individuals from Economically Weaker Sections, thereby increasing the total quotas to 75 percent.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar introduced a proposal for amendment on Tuesday, shortly after his government presented the complete report of the controversial caste survey conducted across the state.

According to the report, 36 percent of Bihar's population, which amounts to 13.1 crore people, belong to the EBCs (Extremely Backward Classes), while 27.1 percent are classified as Backward Classes.

According to the report, 19.7 percent of the remaining population belongs to Scheduled Castes, while Scheduled Tribes make up 1.7 percent. The General Category comprises 15.5 percent of the population.

The survey data was presented alongside BJP's allegations that information regarding the population of the Yadav and Muslim communities, to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs, had been tampered with.

According to the report, 42 per cent of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families in the state are living in poverty, while 34 per cent of all families have a monthly income of less than Rs 6,000.