Bihar Assembly Passes Bill to Raise Caste Quota to 65%

On Thursday, the Bihar Assembly overwhelmingly approved legislation to modify the reservation rules and raise the overall caste quotas from 50% to 65% in government employment and education.

With this move, Bihar is getting closer to implementing 75% reservation, with 10% going to the economically disadvantaged general category castes and 65% going to the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Extremely Backward Castes (EBC), and Other Backward Classes (OBC).

On Friday, the Legislative Council will consider the measures for approval, after which they will be delivered to the governor for his signature. The legislation will become acts if they are approved and published in the state gazette.

The newly revealed report of the caste-based survey is relevant to the quota increase bill. The population of Bihar was estimated to be 13.07 crore based on the counting of castes with less than 215 heads, of which 36.02 percent were EBCs, 27.13 percent were OBCs, 19.65 percent were SCs, 15.52 percent were general category castes, and 1.68 percent were STs.

The Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (For Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes) (Amendment) Bill 2023 and the Bihar (Admission in Educational Institutions) Reservation (Amendment) Bill 2023 were introduced in the Lower House by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary.

Following a symbolic debate, members of the Assembly from different parties approved the measure together.

BJP MLA Arun Shankar Prasad drew attention to the fact that the bill set the open merit percentage cut-off at 35 and omitted any reference of the 10% quota for the EWS category.

After Choudhary made it clear that the bill was intended to modify the reservation legislation for the SCs, STs, and OBCs while another law regulated the 10% quota for the EWS, Prasad decided to withdraw his proposal.

"After Prime Minister Narendra Modi rejected our request to have the survey conducted by the Center, we conducted the caste-based survey with the consent of all nine parties represented in the Assembly," Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said. The percentage allotted to SCs, STs, EBCs, and OBCs will rise from 50% to 65%. We would attempt to put it into effect right away.

"I request a caste census from the Center and adjust the reservation accordingly, if needed," he said. We'll also strive to help those who are economically disadvantaged advance. To carry out the measures we have planned, the state would need Rs 2.5 lakh crore. With an annual budget of Rs 50,000 lakh crore, they would be executed gradually."

The chief minister said that if the Centre granted Bihar special category status, things would become simpler and the state would advance. In order to bring up the matter with the Center, he invited the BJP lawmakers to go with him.

Speaker of the Assembly Awadh Bihari Chaudhary referred to it as a “historic day”.

Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, the deputy chief minister and head of the RJD, turned 34 at the same time that the quota laws were introduced.

Previously, Nand Kishore Yadav, a seasoned BJP politician and former minister, outlined the party's position on the legislation, stating that they had "whole-hearted, unanimous support" because "we have always been in favour of the progress of people who are lagging behind."

"When the country implemented reservation for OBCs, the BJP was a part of the government at the Centre," he said.

When the EBCs were granted quota in local bodies and single vacancies, Nand Kishore drew attention to the fact that the BJP was a member of the Bihar administration. He continued by saying that the OBC Commission was granted constitutional standing by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration, enabling states to register backward classes.