Caste-based survey to be conducted in Jharkhand in next financial year: Minister

Caste-based survey to be conducted in Jharkhand in next financial year: Minister

A caste-based survey will be conducted in Jharkhand in the next financial year, a minister said in the state assembly on Monday.

He said the Personnel Department has already been made a nodal agency to conduct the exercise.

"The government is serious about holding a caste-based survey in the state. A decision in this regard has already been taken in February last year. We will make all efforts to conduct the survey in the next financial year," Transport, Revenue and Land Reforms Minister Deepak Birua said while replying to a question from Congress MLA Pradip Yadav.

Yadav sought to know about the deadline to conduct the survey. He also asked the government what has been done by the Personnel Department in this regard to date.

Birua said that the department issued a notice on March 4 to hire an agency in a bid to ascertain the total number of people required, levels of work and financial aspect of the exercise.

"I have spoken to representatives of some agencies but it will take some time," he said.

The minister said that few days are left before the end of the current financial year.

"I assure you that the government will make all efforts to carry out the exercise in the next financial year on the pattern of Telangana and Bihar," he said.

Pradip urged the government to include Sarna religious code to ascertain the population of Sarna followers.

On the issue of the caste-based survey, Leader of Opposition Babulal Marandi accused the JMM-Congress-led government of playing politics.

"It's their government, no one is stopping them from carrying out the caste survey. We have never been an obstacle. They have been working on the OBC survey for the past two years, but it remains incomplete, due to which municipal elections are still pending. In reality, they are all just playing politics," Marandi told reporters outside the assembly.

He added that the INDIA bloc should set an example by conducting caste surveys in states where its constituents are in power.

JD(U) legislator Saryu Roy raised the issue of municipal elections during Question Hour. He asked whether the government would conduct the polls by May 16, as per its affidavit filed in the Jharkhand High Court.

In response, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sudivya Kumar said that the government intends to hold the elections after completing the "triple test" survey to ensure Other Backward Classes (OBCs) receive their due representation.

"The triple test survey has been completed in 21 out of 24 districts. If the surveys in the remaining three districts are completed on time, we will make an effort to hold the elections by the given deadline. Otherwise, we will seek more time from the high court," Kumar said.

The "triple test" includes setting up a dedicated commission to conduct an inquiry into the nature and implications of backwardness in connection with local bodies.

The second condition is to specify the proportion of reservation required to be provisioned in the local bodies as per the commission's recommendations.

The third test is that the reservation should not exceed 50 per cent of the seats reserved in favour of SCs, STs, and OBCs taken together.