Patna

The Bihar government on Monday 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 percent 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 percent, the general category is 15.52 percent and the Other Backward Caste (OBC) is 27 percent," Vivek Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary said.

According to the data, Scheduled Castes make up 19.65 percent and the Scheduled Tribes 1.68 percent of the population of the state.

The data also said that the Hindus comprise 81.99 percent of the population, Muslims 17.7 percent, Christians 0.05 percent, Sikhs 0.01 percent, Buddhists 0.08 percent, and other religions 0.12 percent.  

The data said that Yadavs, the OBC group to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs, is the largest and accounts for 14.27 percent of the state’s population.  

The caste survey said that Kushwaha and Kurmi communities form 4.27 percent and 2.87 percent of the population.  Chief Minister Nitish Kumar belongs to the Kurmi community in the state.   

The total population of Bihar is more than 13 crore.