Bihar Assembly passes bill to increase quota for SCs, STs and OBCs from 50% to 65%

Earlier this week, state govt had tabled socio-economic data about the state’s population as part of caste survey. CM Nitish said quota hiked in accordance with their population.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar during the winter session of the state assembly in Patna | ANI photo

New Delhi: The Bihar Assembly Thursday unanimously passed a bill to increase the quota for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) to 65 percent from 50 percent.

Earlier this week, the government had tabled socio-economic data about the state’s population as part of the country’s first-ever caste survey since Independence.

The data revealed that over 94 lakh families of the state’s 13 crore earned Rs 6,000 per month. Poverty, the survey found, cuts across all castes and communities in Bihar.

During a post-survey debate on 7 November, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had made his intention clear to increase reservation in government jobs and educational institutes.

Under the revised policy, reservation for SCs has been hiked from 16 percent to 20 percent, and for STs from 1 percent to 2 percent.

The quota for OBCs and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) has been increased from 30 percent to 43 percent. The 10 percent quota for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) remains untouched. This would mean that total reservation in the state goes up to 75 percent.