– Md Sami Ahmad
Patna, October 2, 2023: The total population of Muslims in Bihar is 2,31,49,925 which is around 17.70% of the total population of 13,07,25310. This figure has been released by the Bihar government on the Gandhi Anniversary (Monday) under the Bihar Caste-Based Survey 2022.
The data of the caste-based survey was announced by the additional chief secretary of Bihar Vivek Kumar Singh.
The total Hindu population is estimated at 81.99% which is 10,71,92958 in the state. The Christian Community’s population is at the third position with 75328 while there are 14753 Sikhs in the state. By percentage, Christians are 0.05 percent while Sikhs are 0.01 percent.
The Buddhist followers were counted to be 111201 which is 0.08 percent of the total population. There are 12523 Jains while 166566 belong to other religions. There were 2146 persons who had no religion.
Among Hindus the biggest chunk forms of the Yadavas who are 14 percent of the total population.
The population of the backward caste (BC) was estimated to be 27 percent while there are 36 percent of extremely backward caste (EBC). Both BC and EBC combined are called OBC. Thus, the total population of OBC in Bihar is around 63 percent which is a bit higher than the popular perception.
The population of the unreserved or general category is 15.52 percent.
Bihar had passed a resolution to conduct the caste survey on 18 February 2019 by both houses of the legislature. On June 2, 2022 Bihar cabinet approved of the conducting of caste census.
The total families counted in this survey was two crore 83 lakhs 44 thousand and 107.
The political observers say that this caste survey of Bihar will trigger the demand for a nationwide caste census. This will also prompt the OBC to demand more reservation according to their population.
