Bihar caste survey: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar calls for all-party meet today

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has called for an all-party meeting one day after the caste-based survey data was released in the state. The meeting will discuss the findings of the census and deliberate on the next course of action.

Nitish Kumar also said that the findings of the survey will be shared with representatives of nine state legislature parties that agreed to the survey.

Findings of the survey
According to the data released by Development Commissioner Vivek Singh, the state's total population stood at a little over 13.07 crore, out of which the Extremely Backward Classes (36 per cent) were the largest social segment followed by the Other Backward Classes at 27.13 per cent.

The survey also stated that Yadavs, the OBC group to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs, were the largest in terms of the population, accounting for 14.27 per cent of the total.

Dalits, also known as the Scheduled Castes, accounted for 19.65 per cent of the total population in the state, which is also home to nearly 22 lakh (1.68 per cent) people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes.

Those belonging to the unreserved category, which denotes the proverbial upper castes who dominated politics till the Mandal wave of the 1990s comprise 15.52 per cent of the total population.