PATNA: Bihar government will conduct caste and sub-caste census of all communities and followers of all religions from the Chhath festival (October- November).
The decision to conduct a caste census was taken at a meeting of all political parties, including the BJP, at the CM Secretariat on Wednesday evening.
BJP was earlier against caste census, but today, its state president Sanjay Jaiswal and deputy chief minister Tarkishore Prasad attended the meeting
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said a unanimous resolution was passed at the meeting and would be approved by the Cabinet soon.
The state government will allocate funds for census and enumerators would be given adequate training. District magistrates will be made nodal officers.
Nitish said for the first time, caste and sub-caste census of followers of different faiths and communities would be conducted and minorities would also be covered.
Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav said during the Chhath festival, migrant Biharis come to their villages and their presence would help ensure a fair census.
Leaders of AIMIM, CPI, CPM, CPML, Congress, RJD, JDU, BJP, and HAM were present.
However, there was no representation from the two factions of LJP and VIP.
Caste and sub-caste census will help identify the population of extremely backward, other bsckward castes too.
The chief minister hoped the caste census would be completed in ten months and the report would be made public.
