The Bihar cabinet on Tuesday evening approved a proposal to increase the reservations in government jobs and educational institutions from the existing 60% (including 10% for economically weaker section) to 75%.
This comes hours after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told the state assembly that his government would bring a Bill in the ongoing winter session of the legislature to effect the quota hike for backward classes in accordance with their share in the state’s population.
As per reports, the Bill proposes for 18% quota for other backward classes (OBCs), 25% for extremely backward classes (EBCs), 20% for scheduled castes (SCs) and 2% for scheduled tribes (STs), apart form 10% for economically weaker section (EWS).
The five-day session of the bicameral Bihar legislature began on Monday and is due to end on Friday.
According to the caste survey data released by the state government on October 2 this year, backward classes, comprising other backward classes (OBCs) and extremely backward classes (EBCs), constitute 64% of the state’s population.
