In the wake of his government's caste survey, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar piloted a Bill raising the overall reservation in government jobs and educational institutions to 65% from the current 50%. However, the caste survey results pose the CM an unexpected challenge. The survey released on October 2, with its detailed findings tabled recently, reveals that just 1.5% (or 20.49 lakh) of the state’s over 13.07 crore population is employed in government jobs. Further, there are glaring disparities between castes when it comes to number of persons engaged in government jobs. While 15.5% of the state’s population falls in the general category, 31.29% of people from the section are engaged in government jobs. In case of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), only 1.75% of them are in government jobs though they constitute 27.12% of the state’s population. In case of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), which comprise 19.65% and 1.68% of the state’s population respectively, only 1.13% and 1.37% are in government jobs, according to the survey. Among the Extremely Backward Classes (EBC), only 0.98% are in government jobs though they comprise 36.01% of the state’s population. As of now, there is no new employment policy on the cards, with the CM last pledging to provide 10 lakh government jobs before the 2025 Assembly elections, in his 2022 Independence Day speech. The government has appointed 1.22 lakh teachers and notified another 1.22 lakh posts since. Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav exuded confidence of fulfilling his government’s promise. “We are moving fast towards fulfilling our promise. The government has been implementing employment schemes, which provide grants and incentives, to boost self-employment,” he said after the government, following the survey, passed a Bill that raised the overall quota in government jobs and educational institutions from 50% to 65%. Nitish, who first came to power in 2000, initiated a government employment drive in 2007 and his government claims to have provided over eight lakh jobs over the past 16 years. In October 2020, the CM had lashed out at the then Opposition over the issue and said the Lalu Prasad-Rabri Devi governments, between 1990 and 2005, had managed to provide only 95,000 jobs. Private / unorganised sector According to the caste survey, a total of 15.9 lakh people (1.21% of the population) are engaged in the private, organised sector while another 27.9 lakh (2.13%) are employed in the unorganised sector. The survey shows 39.91 lakh (3.05%) people are self-employed, with OBCs and EBCs dominating the numbers. A major chunk – 2.18 crore – of the state’s population are daily wage workers and masons while the state is home to 33,818 beggars and 28,355 rag pickers. The over-dependence on agriculture is again established by the survey, which shows that over 1 crore people are engaged in farming. “No dispensation can create more government jobs unless there is a serious attempt to reduce dependence on agriculture and create jobs in other sectors. Nitish’s promise of creating government jobs seems irrational and politically motivated as it comes ahead of the Lok Sabha election and the subsequent Assembly elections,” economist and retired Head of Department, Economics, Patna University, N K Choudhary told The Indian Express. The BJP has said Nitish’s promises will end up burdening the state exchequer. “The recent announcement to give Rs 2 lakh to 94 lakh poor families and a one-time payment of Rs 1 lakh to 63,000 families is likely to burden the state additionally by Rs 2.5 lakh crore. This will further increase due to hike in salaries and honorarium payments. The government needs to tell the people how it plans to generate funds, or the promises will end up being hollow,” BJP state vice-president Santosh Pathak said.
