Bihar Cabinet approves proposal to hike quotas to 75% from 50%

The Bihar cabinet on 7 November passed a proposal to raise the quota for SCs, STs, Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) to a total of 75 per cent from the existing 50 per cent.

A bill will be brought in the Assembly accordingly during the ongoing winter session.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar made a statement on this while concluding the debate on the Bihar caste survey report, which was tabled in the assembly yesterday, 7 November.

Kumar’s announcement comes months ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The proposal seeks to hike the reservation of OBCs and EBS to a combined 43 per cent (from the current 30 per cent), and 20 per cent (from 16 per cent) for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 2 per cent (instead of 1 per cent) for Scheduled Tribes (STs), in line with the higher numbers of disprivileged populations revealed by the survey.

The quota for the EWS will remain at the existing 10 per cent.

The Caste Survey report revealed that OBCs (27.13 per cent) and the extremely backward classes sub-group (36 per cent) account for a whopping 63 per cent of the state’s total of 13.07 crore, while SCs and STs together were slightly over 21 per cent.

According to the report tabled in the assembly by parliamentary affairs mMinister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, the state is home to about 2.97 crore families — out of which more than 94 lakh (34.13 per cent) live on an income of Rs 6,000 or less a month.