{"id":256462,"date":"2023-08-17T20:59:05","date_gmt":"2023-08-17T15:29:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=256462"},"modified":"2023-08-29T12:56:23","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T07:26:23","slug":"why-is-bihars-caste-based-survey-facing-legal-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/why-is-bihars-caste-based-survey-facing-legal-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is Bihar\u2019s caste-based survey facing legal challenges?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source<\/strong>– The post is based on the article \u201cWhy is Bihar\u2019s caste-based survey facing legal challenges?\u201d <\/strong>published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d <\/strong>on 17th August 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/strong>GS1- Social issues. GS2- Vulnerable sections of the population<\/p>\n

Relevance:<\/strong> Issues related to river water disputes between states<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>– The Supreme Court is set to hear on August 18, petitions challenging the Patna High Court\u2019s verdict upholding the Bihar government\u2019s ongoing caste survey.<\/p>\n

What is the \u2018caste-based survey\u2019?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The State government has launched a two-phase caste survey<\/strong> in Bihar. It has stated that detailed information on socio-economic conditions<\/strong> would help create better government policies for disadvantaged groups.<\/p>\n

The survey is estimated to collect socio-economic data<\/strong> for the population of Bihar. The first phase of the survey involves a house listing exercise. <\/strong><\/p>\n

In the second phase, data related to castes, sub-castes, and religions <\/strong>of all people is to be collected.<\/p>\n

Why the need for a caste census?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Census, conducted at the beginning of each decade, only captures caste data<\/strong> for those classified as Scheduled Castes.<\/p>\n

Due to this limitation, there is no accurate population estimate<\/strong> available for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), various subgroups within the OBCs, and other castes.<\/p>\n

Despite this lack of clarity, the central government has definitively rejected the idea of conducting a socio-economic caste census<\/strong>. It cites it as impractical, administratively complex, and burdensome. <\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2011, the Union government initiated a caste survey through the Socio-Economic and Caste Census of 2011<\/strong>. However, the raw data collected from around 1.3 billion Indians was never disclosed publicly due to data inaccuracies.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Political analysts view the recent step taken by the Bihar government as an effort by coalition parties to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Hindutva-oriented politics <\/strong>with a resurgence of Mandal politics.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On August 13, 1990, the V.P. Singh government declared its intention to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission report,<\/strong> which proposed a 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes.<\/p>\n

The Mandal Commission had estimated the OBC population at 52%.<\/strong> Nevertheless, there is ongoing debate regarding the accuracy of this estimate <\/strong>in the present day.<\/p>\n

Why is it being challenged?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As per petitions in the Supreme Court, the State’s order announcing the survey is unconstitutional.<\/strong> It is due to the fact that the exclusive authority<\/strong> to conduct a census lies with the Centre as specified in the Constitution.<\/p>\n

The State Government lacks the independent jurisdiction<\/strong> to appoint District Magistrates and local authorities for collecting data without a notification<\/strong> issued by the Centre under Section 3 of the Census Act, 1948.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The High Court’s decision is flawed on the grounds that it contravenes the Puttaswamy judgment<\/strong>. It permits the State to gather personal information through an executive order.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source– The post is based on the article \u201cWhy is Bihar\u2019s caste-based survey facing legal challenges?\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 17th August 2023. Syllabus: GS1- Social issues. GS2- Vulnerable sections of the population Relevance: Issues related to river water disputes between states News– The Supreme Court is set to hear on August 18, petitions… Continue reading Why is Bihar\u2019s caste-based survey facing legal challenges?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[263,264],"class_list":["post-256462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-1","tag-society","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256462\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}