Caste survey begins in Bihar, BJP slams govt for creating rift in society

PATNA: The mammoth exercise to conduct caste-based survey in the state began on Saturday. In the first phase, the houses, and buildings and families are being surveyed. Every house is being given a number. Trained enumerators were seen seeking details from the houseowners.
CM Nitish Kumar formally launched it at Harser village in Goraul block of Vaishali district during his Samadhan Yatra amid criticism from BJP, which accused him of trying to whip up caste tensions in the state to make political gains ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and state assembly polls to be held in 2025.
In Patna, district magistrate Chandra Shekhar Singh led a team of enumerators to the houses in Bank Colony to gather the required details. He said they had been preparing for it for the past three months. According to him, 20 lakh families are to be counted in 12,696 blocks of Patna district.
"We are meeting residents and seeking required details to be filled in the format," said Mala Sinha, a census staff. "The task is indeed difficult and complicated, but she has to do it," another staffer Shahnaz Bano said.
"The household owners happily shared the details to enumerators. We have received very good feedbacks from the people engaged in the survey work," General Administration Department's deputy secretary Rajnish Kumar told TOI. He said around 5.25 lakh employees have been engaged in the survey.
However, BJP questioned the purpose of the exercise.