Caught between Loharas & Kamars, Bihar’s Lohars shun caste survey

Second, if the Lohars choose serial or code number – 177, they would be called Lohra or Lohara, which was put under the Scheduled Castes from EBCs by the Nitish Kumar government in 2016, following their plea that Lohar, Lohra and Lohara are all the same. The Supreme Court, however, struck it down in February 2022, reverting Lohars to EBCs. The court ruled that Bihar’s ‘Lohar or Lohaar community’ is not the same as ‘Lohra or Lohara’, which belongs to the ST category in several districts.

Rajesh Kumar, head of Noorsarai (Nalanda district) Vishwakarma Samaj, who staged a demonstration at the block office on Sunday, told The Indian Express: “We have been clearly telling the local administration that we are Lohar or Lohaar or Lohars of Bihar and not Lohra or Lohara, a Scheduled Tribe found in Jharkhand. We are not willing to be categorised under Kamar, who are carpenters, as we are blacksmiths.” Kumar added that they have boycotted the ongoing caste enumeration process as participating in it would mean ‘losing our original caste identity”.

Bihar Lohar Association head Raj Kishore Sharma said: “People from our community will stage protests against the state caste survey list not mentioning us. We are not going to be accepted as a sub-category of Kamars. There is no question of getting accepted as Lohra or Lohara.”

The state government has not responded to the objections of the Lohars. An official involved in the caste survey process said: “It is not possible to change a caste name in the middle of the process. It has to be done through an administrative process post-SC verdict, quashing the state government clubbing Lohars with Lohra and Lohara.”

In February 2022, the Supreme Court quashed a 2016 notification of the Bihar government through which people from the Lohar caste were given the status of STs from the earlier EBCs. The court’s verdict was in response to a PIL filed by one Aunil Kumar Rai from Bihar, challenging the changed status of the Lohars.

The Lohars in Bihar, constituting nearly 2 per cent of the state’s population, benefitted in government jobs since their changed caste status in August 2016.

The Supreme Court’s division bench of Justices K M Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy stated in their judgment: “The Lohar community in Bihar is not entitled to be treated as members of the Scheduled Tribe… It occasions a breach of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.”

The SC ruled: “‘Lohras’ or ‘Loharas’ are thus different from ‘Lohars’ in Bihar, as ‘Lohars’, as noticed hereinbefore, are ranked with ‘Koiris’ and ‘Kurmis’, whereas ‘Lohras’ or ‘Loharas’ are merely sub-castes, a sect of Mundas in Chotanagpur or sub-tribes of Asurs who are Scheduled Tribes.”

The court order also said: “While ‘Lohara’ is a member of Scheduled Tribes, ‘Lohar’ is not. Therefore, while we have quashed the notification, it must not be understood as meaning that ‘Lohara’, which is already included in the category of Scheduled Tribes, is to be affected by this judgment. We clarify that the quashing of the impugned notification will be qua ‘Lohar’ community and the ‘Loharas’ will continue to get the benefit vouchsafed for them under the Presidential Order as amended by the Acts.”