Bihar releases ₹212 crore for payment to staff deployed for caste survey

The Bihar government on Thursday released a sum of Rs.212.77 crore for payment of honorarium to officials, teachers and employees involved with the caste survey work, officials aware of the matter said.

The fund was released to all the districts through real-time gross settlement (RTGS). Patna has got the maximum of Rs.11.49 crore, followed by Muzaffarpur (Rs.10.16 crore), Motihari (Rs.9.57 crore) and Gaya (Rs.9.30 crore). Arwal, the smallest district, has got Rs.1.59 crore.

Releasing the funds, the government said that the payment should be done as per provisions.

“The release of funds should not be understood as approval for expenditure. The payment should be made after a thorough examination and as per the provisions contained in the Bihar Budget Rules, budget manual and the relevant financial regulations,” read the letter from Rajnish Kumar, deputy secretary to the government, to all the district magistrates.

Also Read: What the caste survey means for Nitish-Lalu, and the BJP

The school teachers, mainly deployed for the caste survey work, had been expressing resentment over the delay in payment despite completing their work a month ago.

The first round of the caste survey was conducted between January 7 and 21. The second round began on April 15 and was scheduled to continue till May 15, but was stopped following the high court order. It again started on August 1 after the high court’s nod.

The Patna high court on August 1 dismissed the writ petitions against the caste survey initiated by the Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance (GA) government, allowing it to carry out the exercise, which the CM has pitched as “essential and imperative to further the cause of social justice”.

The matter was again challenged in the Supreme Court, where the verdict is awaited. The top court, however, refused to give any stay on the high court order, stating that it cannot restrain it from publishing the cumulative findings of the exercise unless there is a “prima facie case to show the violation of any constitutional right or lack of competence”.

Finally, on Monday (October 2), the Bihar government released the caste survey data.

The survey found Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) comprise 36.01% of the population, Backward Classes 27.12%, Upper Castes 15.52%, Scheduled Castes 19.65%, and Scheduled Tribes 1.68%. Among the Backward Classes, Yadavs constitute 14.26% of the population, while Kushwaha and Kurmi are 4.27% and 2.87%.

The Bihar cabinet had estimated Rs.500 crore expenditure on conducting a caste survey, to be met from the contingency fund.

The caste survey data has triggered allegations from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party of fudging to show ‘lesser strength’ of some castes and ‘higher’ for others to suit political interests and incomplete exercise with many people left out of the count.