Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 6: The much-anticipated caste-based census will begin in Bihar tomorrow under the Nitish Kumar administration. The project will cost Rs 500 crore.
The exercise will be carried out by the government in two phases. The first phase will count every residence in the state, and it should be finished by January 21.
Data on people of all castes, subcastes, and religions will be collected in the second, beginning in March. The financial situation of every person will also be recorded by enumerators, whose training got underway on December 15.
Talking about this, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said on Friday, “We have decided to start the caste-based census in the state for the benefit of people in Bihar. We are doing this to understand other aspects as well and work for development accordingly. The caste-based census is important for the nation’s growth as well.”
The eight-level survey would collect data digitally using a mobile application, from the panchayat to the district level.
The software will ask users questions about their location, caste, family size, occupation, and yearly income. Teachers, Anganwadi, MGNREGA, or Jeevika employees are examples of census workers.
The caste census is taking place despite Nityanand Rai, a BJP MP from Bihar, declaring in 2021 that no caste-based census would be performed outside of the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribes (STs). The Centre has so far carried out seven censuses since Independence and only released information pertaining to SCs and STs.
