The much-hyped caste survey report of the Bihar government was released on October 2 and a detailed report was tabled in the State Assembly on November 7 along with a proposal for raising reservation cap for Backward Classes, Extremely Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from 50% to 65%.
The proposal was approved by the State Cabinet the same day and a Bill for raising the quota cap is scheduled to be introduced in the State Legislature on November 9. However, journalists of the State have not been provided copies of the survey report yet. While officials were clueless about providing journalists with a copy, the move comes amid criticism from Opposition parties that the caste survey is “inaccurate”.
Members of both the Houses - State Assembly and Legislative Council were distributed the copy of the report on November 7. Harried journalists rushed to legislators they personally knew for a copy of the report, and while some got lucky, most had to manage with pictures of the report hurriedly clicked on mobile phones. On November 8, several scribes were seen running from pillar to post, at the secretariat, to get the copy of the report but officials were completely clueless.
What has further raised eyebrows is that the report has not even been uploaded. “In the digital era, caste survey report has not even been uploaded, while IPRD (Information and Public Relation Department) remains quite active all the day with its domain”, wrote a senior journalist on X (formerly Twitter). “It is embarrassing that a journalist has not been given the copy of the caste survey report,” fumed another.
“What was the hurry in releasing and distributing the report? I had requested three copies but got only one”, said Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Vijay Kumar Sinha. “If journalists could not get the copy how will the much-hyped caste survey report be publicised? The government should understand this basic fact. In fact, everything is haphazard in this government”, he added.
Along with a journalist working for another national newspaper, this correspondent too had to run from one department to another to get a copy but had returned empty handed. “We had given 60 copies of the report to the IPRD for distribution among journalists in the House as we do not recognise them [the journalists],” said senior official Rajnish Kumar of the General Administration Department (GAD) responsible for publication of the caste survey report. When told that not a single copy was distributed among journalists, he quipped, “But we are yet to get a single copy returned”.
Deputy Director of the State Assembly Office Sanjay Kumar couldn’t be reached. While senior officials of the IPRD and Chief Minister’s Office didn’t entertain mediapersons’ requests for a copy, the State Assembly Speaker’s office was unaware about the need to distribute copies to journalists. “Our Speaker has got only one copy of it… we do not have extra copy”, an officer said.
Earlier, in a response to a Right to Information query filed by The Hindu seeking detailed data of the caste survey report phase-wise, the GAD, on October 19, had denied information, saying, “At this time, a decision has not yet been taken on whether the information sought can be made public”. Significantly, this response from the GAD had come weeks after the Bihar government itself released a booklet on caste survey in the State.
