Bihar caste survey shows OBCs, EBCs comprise over 63% of population

The Bihar government on Monday released the findings of its caste census, revealing that the Other Backward Classes and the Extremely Backward Classes constitute over 63% of the state’s population, PTI reported.

Bihar’s total population stood at a little over 13.07 crore. Of this, the Extremely Backward Classes, at 36%, were the largest social segment followed by the Other Backward Classes at 27.13%, the data released by Development Commissioner Vivek Singh showed.

The population of the Scheduled Castes stood at 19.7% and the Scheduled Tribes at 1.7%. Bihar’s general population accounted for the remaining 15.5%.

The caste survey also showed that the Yadavs were the largest group in terms of population, accounting for 14.27% of the total.

While Hindus comprised nearly 82% of the state’s population, the Muslim population stood at 17.70%, The Hindu reported.

Caste Wise Data Released in Bihar

Backward- 63%
SC-ST - 21%
General - 16% pic.twitter.com/kQnD5oxaMj— زماں (@Delhiite_) October 2, 2023

The state government had started the caste survey in January after the Union government said it will not undertake such an exercise for other than the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes as part of the Census.

India had last conducted an exercise to count the population of all caste groups in 1931. In independent India, census reports have published data noting the population of the Scheduled Castes...

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