"Want to thank Bihar govt": UP Congress chief on Bihar's caste survey  

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], October 2 (ANI): Speaking about the caste-survey report of Bihar, which was released earlier today, Uttar Pradesh Congress Chief Ajay Rai said that they (Congress) want to thank the Bihar government. 
"We certainly want to thank the Bihar Government for having taken the intiative. I would like to say that the caste-survey should continue to take place in states or even nationwide", said Rai while speaking to ANI in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow. 
On being asked about Union Minister Giriraj Singh's remarks on the caste-survey report, he added, "The report card of the Bihar government is in front of us. They showed the will power to do a caste-survey. That is why, it turned out to be successful. Why the BJP didn't do it while they were in power?"
Earlier today, reacting to the Caste-survey report, Giriraj Singh said, "The caste survey will only lead to confusion among poor and the backward class people. Rather, the Bihar government should present their report card of what all they have done in the state". 
The Bihar government earlier today released caste survey data, with the figures that have ramifications for the Lok Sabha polls next year, showing that Other Backward Caste (OBC) and Extremely Backward Class (EBC) together account for 63 per cent of the state’s population.
The report of the caste-based survey conducted in Bihar was released at a press conference in the state capital.
“The extremely backward class is 36.01 per cent, the general category is 15.52 per cent and the Other Backward Caste (OBC) is 27 per cent," Vivek Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary said.
According to the data, Scheduled Castes make up 19.65 per cent and the Scheduled Tribes 1.68 per cent of the population of the state.
The data also said that the Hindus comprise 81.99 per cent of the population, Muslims 17.7 per cent, Christians 0.05 per cent, Sikhs 0.01 per cent, Buddhists 0.08 per cent and other religions 0.12 per cent.
The data said that Yadavs, the OBC group to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs, is the largest and accounts for 14.27 per cent of the state’s population.
Kushwaha and Kurmi communities form 4.27 per cent and 2.87 per cent of the population, the caste survey said. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar belongs to the Kurmi community in the state.
The total population of Bihar is more than 13 crore.
Meanwhile, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar congratulated the entire team engaged in the work of caste-based enumeration stating that the survey not only revealed the castes but also gave information about the economic condition of everyone.
"Today, on the auspicious occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, the data of the caste-based census conducted in Bihar has been published. Many congratulations to the entire team engaged in the work of caste-based enumeration!" Bihar CM posted on X (Formerly Twitter).
"The proposal for caste-based enumeration was passed unanimously in the Legislature. It was decided with the consent of all 9 parties of the Bihar Assembly that the state government will conduct a caste-based census from its own resources and its approval was given by the Council of Ministers on June 6, 2022. On this basis, the state government has conducted caste-based census from its own resources," he said.
"Caste-based census not only revealed the castes but also gave information about the economic condition of everyone. On the basis of this report, further action will be taken for the development and upliftment of all sections,” he added. (ANI)