Caste-based census: Nitish Kumar-led delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 19

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will lead an all-party delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 23 and demand a caste-based census, which was last held in 1931.

The delegation will consist of all Bihar parties, including the Tejashwi Yadav-led RJD.

Tejashwi had recently led an Opposition delegation to press CM Nitish Kumar for prevailing upon the NDA government to commission a caste-based census.

Nitish Kumar said, “I had sought an appointment with the PM to meet him along with an all-party delegation from Bihar, including RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, to discuss the issue of a caste-based census. I thank him for giving us time next Monday at 11 am.”

The exercise would help assess the current socio economic status of backward classes, he said.

In the recently concluded Parliament session, the Ministry of Social Justice had said the government planned to undertake census for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The exercise got delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nitish Kumar today said there was no cause for misgivings about a caste census when the state legislature had unanimously passed resolutions seeking such an exercise.

The demand for a caste-based census has been gaining ground in the wake of upcoming Assembly elections in various states.