Stay on Bihar caste-based survey: Behind Patna HC’s interim order, petitions by 2 NGOs, 3 activists

Abhinav Srivastava, the petitioner for Youth for Equality, said: “Our main contention was against the process that does not ensure the enshrined principle of equality. The state government is not specific and clear behind its idea of caste-based survey.” The Other petitioners are Delhi-based voluntary group ‘Ek Soch Ek Prayas’ and three activists from Bihar – Akhilesh Kumar, Muskan Kumar and Reshma Prasad.

Dinu Kumar, a lawyer representing one of five petitioners, raised questions on Rs 500 crore cost being incurred on the caste survey process. The lawyer said, “The money is being taken from the contingency fund. We want to know if the amount sanctioned is as per law and if there is a solid rationale behind spending such a huge sum on the process.”

Reshma Prasad, a transgender activist, said: “The court’s interim order proves that we had raised some tough and valid questions. We want the third gender to be identified separately as a gender, not as a caste.”

The court order showed that the concern of Lohars (blacksmiths), an Extremely Backward Class, was also raised as there was no separate caste column for them and they had to be enumerated as a sub-caste of Kamars (who are carpenters)or Lohara (a Scheduled Tribe), which they refused to accept.

The state government completed the first phase of the caste survey between January 7 and 21 and had been conducting the second phase from April 15, which was to be completed on May 15. An enumerator has to be paid Rs 10,000 for conducting the survey for both phases in an enumeration block, which can have 70-200 houses. A government official said, “Even though we have not paid the enumerators, almost 60 per cent of the process was completed, which effectively meant that 60 per cent of the total Rs 500 crore (almost Rs 300 crore) has already been accounted for.”