Row over Kurmi and Kurmi (Mahto) tangle in Bihar OBC list pits Nitish govt against Centre

The Central OBC list for the state of Bihar includes both Kurmi and Kurmi (Mahto), Chhotanagpur division, even though Bihar was bifurcated to create the separate state of Jharkhand in 2000.

As per the Bihar government’s list, Kurmi is an OBC community, while Kurmi (Mahto), Chhotanagpur division, is categorised among the EBCs.

The NCBC has also drawn the PM’s attention to salary and agricultural income being allegedly added in the case of OBC certificates for the Bihar government officials’ children, charging that their inclusion in the “creamy layer” violated reservation rules and deprived many from quota benefits.

The Bihar government has, however, joined issue with the NCBC and brushed aside its charges. CM Nitish Kumar himself belongs to the Kurmi community.

The row escalated following the NCBC’s meeting with top Bihar government officials last month.

On June 8, 2023, the NCBC’s chairperson Hansraj Gangaram Ahir wrote to the PM, claiming that “After meeting with Bihar Chief Secretary and other senior officials on May 11, 2023, we came to learn that Kurmi in Bihar is not able to get OBC certificate. Rather, the certificate issued mentions Kurmi, Kurmi (Mahto)-Chhotanagpur Division. This has been resulting in depriving a large number of people from reservation benefits”.

In his letter to the PM, Ahir also charged that while issuing the OBC certificates to the Bihar government officials’ children, their salary and agriculture income are added in alleged contravention of reservation rules that, he said, deny them quota benefits by putting them in the creamy layer category.

The NCBC chief also complained that despite the panel’s “stern instruction” to the Bihar Chief Secretary to issue non-creamy layer OBC certificates to Kurmis, there had been “no compliance”.

Bihar Chief Secretary Amir Subhani, however, told The Indian Express that “There are two issues (raised by the NCBC). While issuing caste certificates for Central government jobs, we are going by the format of the Central list that mentions Kurmi, Kurmi (Mahto), Chhotanagpur division, under one entry. We are only reproducing their language. We are not authorised to change it. It is the Centre that should correct the anomaly. As for complaints regarding adding agriculture income of officials in case of issuing OBC certificates of their children, NCBC should cite specific instances rather than issuing a general statement.”

Subhani conceded that the state government has not revised its OBC list after the bifurcation of Bihar, but asserted that it had not been issuing caste certificates for “Kurmi (Mahto)”, Chhotanagpur division, as that

is related to another state Jharkhand. “In Bihar, we are issuing only OBC certificates for Kurmis”, the Chief Secretary said, adding “If Kurmis had been deprived of reservation in Bihar on these counts, they would have hit the roads”.

JD (U) advisor and chief spokesperson KC Tyagi told The Indian Express: “The Centre should immediately correct Central list for OBCs in Bihar to avoid confusion. Blaming the state government is not fair as the state issues only OBC certificate for Kurmis… In a broader sense, we would like to see the report of Justice G Rohini Commission on sub-categorisation of OBCs.”