Bihar caste survey: War of words over privacy, data legitimacy

Two days after the caste survey findings were released by the Bihar government without the socio-economic data, a war of words broke out on Wednesday over the issue of right to privacy and legitimacy of the statistics.

While the Nitish Kumar government is expected to release the socio-economic data during the winter session of the state legislature, the opposition BJP is sceptical and wants revision of data after taking objections and release the comprehensive data with socio-economic status.

After former union minister Upendra Kushwaha alleged large-scale irregularities in the caste survey data and said he had never been approached for the survey and like him scores of people have similar complaints , JD-U spokesperson Neeraj Kumar hit back, releasing details of the Rashtriya Lok Samata Dal (RLSD) leader.

“Bihar has set an example for the country. You said you have not been counted. Now, get it right that your serial no. is 130,” Neeraj Kumar said, sharing details of Kushwaha’s house, household and number of family members, triggering immediate retort from the BJP for “compromising with the right to privacy, which was assured to the court”.

Kushwaha had expressed apprehensions that the caste survey data could have been doctored to downsize some castes and inflate figures of others to suit certain political interests. “It is better to first review the data, carry out necessary corrections and then come out with it, else the very purpose will be defeated,” he said.

On Neeraj Kumar’s claims, Kushwaha said he was surprised how his details reached the JD-U office. “If this detail is there, they must have access to more or all data. This only confirms our apprehensions of manipulation in figures. And above all, when the government has given affidavit about privacy of data, there is no point making it public to silence those questioning it,” he said.

Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi also questioned the violation of right to privacy, saying how could the JD-U spokesman have access to data that is not be shared.

Emphasising the larger question of right to privacy, which the Supreme Court has held to be a facet of right to life, the Patna High Court had also observed, “We see from the notification issued that the government intends to share data with the leaders of different parties of the state Assembly, which is also a matter of great concern,” the HC had observed.

Though the Supreme Court refused to stay the caste survey in Bihar, the final outcome of the case challenging its legality and privacy issues in the light of the apex court’s 2017 judgment is still awaited.

The SC will hear petitions challenging the legality of the caste-based survey October 6, and before that the personal data being shared in a press statement is a serious issue,” Modi said.

Neeraj Kunar, however, later clarified to Modi’s statement, saying the information shared by him is in the public domain, which can be corroborated even with the people living in the neighbourhood. “It is illogical to construe that my statement is in violation of the affidavit in the court. The name of the head of family and the number of members is in public domain and how does it come under right to privacy? Kushwaha is just trying to create confusion,” he said.

Leader of Opposition Vijay Kumar Sinha, who was present at the all-party meeting called by chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday, said he had raised his apprehensions about “half-baked” data released in a hurry and called for thorough scrutiny. “Transparency is a must. I specifically asked how they calculated huge migrant population, but there was no convincing answer. I said they should seek objections from people and release revised data, else there will no sanctity. Socio-economic data should have been there, as that was the very purpose of the survey. But they shied away from it,” he said.

Former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi of HAM also questioned how the population of some EBCs and Dalit castes came down when the number of poor has risen. “Now, time has come for Dalits and EBCs to take over the reins of the state. I request CM to form a new cabinet and give representation as per the caste population,” he said.

LJP (Ramvilas) chief Chirag Paswan said the caste survey data seemed to have been presented for political reasons, as it was heavily tilted in favour of some castes. “Many smaller castes under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe have been ignored completely. All along, transparency was compromised and the mechanism was hardly known. The intent seems to be wrong,” he said.