CM Nitish Kumar bats for caste census in Bihar, raises questions on NITI Aayog

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday spoke about the implementation of caste census across the state and hoped for a consensus among all the political parties. Further, he added that the steps to conduct the census will be soon figured out. 

CM Nitish Kumar was addressing the media after the 'Janta Ke Darbar Mein Mukhymantri' programme in Patna. During this, he stated, "We are of the view that caste census should be carried out across India. Earlier also, a delegation of 10 parties had met PM Narendra Modi to press for a caste census. Within a few days, all the parties in Bihar will work out to conduct a caste census in the state context. I am hopeful that there will be a consensus among all the parties."

Bihar CM questions NITI Aayog Study

Apart from that, he also raised several questions on a study by the NITI Aayog regarding the healthcare situation in the state. The study titled 'Best Practices in the Performance of District Hospitals' gave details regarding the number of beds per lakh population in states. According to that, Bihar only has six beds per 1 lakh population and has been thereby compared with other states. 

Reacting upon this, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that the data from Bihar has been compared with the country's richest state, Maharashtra. "Is it correct to compare Maharashtra with Bihar? Maharashtra is the richest state of the country whereas Bihar is the poorest", he said. 

The CM also said that the Aayog must conduct the study on the basis of the financial condition of the states. The data should be recorded according to the poor states and the rich states respectively. "The assessment of NITI Aayog is not correct. Whenever there is a next formal meeting with NITI Aayog, I will raise this issue", he said. 

While talking about the health sector in the state, he said that Bihar has done a lot of improvement ever since the NDA government came into power. He also said that phenomenal improvement has been witnessed in the health sector. 

(With agency inputs, Image: ANI)