NDA ignored caste survey findings in state: Congress

Patna: Congress on Saturday questioned the motives of the "double-engine" NDA govt in Bihar, criticising it for failing to implement welfare measures following the state's caste survey.
Gujarat Congress acting president Jignesh Mevani alleged that the Nitish Kumar-led govt had undertaken the caste survey not for the upliftment of society, but purely for political gain. Meanwhile, Congress Bihar in charge Krishna Allavaru accused the NDA of dragging the state down to the 27th position nationally in terms of development.
"Bihar is at the bottom 27th place on the development scale. PM Narendra Modi and CM Nitish Kumar together worked to take the people of Bihar to the bottom. When our govt was in power for a brief period, it was decided that people would be given Rs 2 lakh each to start small scale industries. As soon as Nitish returned to the NDA fold, all these schemes were forgotten," Allavaru said at a press conference in Patna.
Mevani argued that if the state govt had genuine intentions, it would have ensured the increased quota limit was included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.
"The state govt is fooling people on caste survey. If Congress forms govt in Bihar, then the benefits of caste survey will be given to the people like in Telangana where his party has done it," Mevani said.
Citing data from the Bihar caste survey report, Mevani pointed to glaring inequalities.
"According to the Bihar survey report, there are a total of 8.73 lakh families of Musahar caste and 4.76 lakh of them fall in the category of economically poor. This clearly means that the resources of Bihar did not reach the poor," he said.
He added, "More than 94 lakh families in Bihar are surviving on an income of Rs 200 per day or even less. The monthly income of 81 lakh families (29.61%) in the state is between Rs 6,000 and Rs 10,000. That is, about 5 crore people are surviving on Rs 40 per day and 4 crore people are surviving on Rs 67 per day."
"This means out of the 13.83 crore people in Bihar, the economic condition of 8.82 crore people (64%) has been made so bad," he added.
Congress legislature party leader Shakeel Ahmed Khan recalled that when the caste survey was conducted, an all-party meeting had agreed on financial support for marginalised communities.
Congress leader in the Bihar legislative council, Madan Mohan Jha, and the party's national media coordinator, Abhay Dubey, were also present at the press conference.