 "Bihar Assembly approves raising caste quota in govt jobs, education to 65%")
The Bihar Assembly on Thursday unanimously a passed bill to increase the quota for other backward classes (OBC), scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribes (STs) to 65 per cent in government jobs and educational institutes. This is well past the 50 per cent cap set by the Supreme Court in 1992.
The bill, in its first draft, proposed to increase the reservations in government jobs and educational institutions from the existing 60 per cent (including 10 per cent for economically weaker sections among the upper castes) to 75 per cent.
The reservation bill provisions for an 18 per cent quota for other backward classes (OBCs), 25 per cent for extremely backward classes (EBCs), 20 per cent for scheduled castes (SCs) and 2 per cent for scheduled tribes (STs). Earlier, OBCs had 8 per cent and EBCs had 12 per cent quota, while the SCs had 14 per cent and STs 10 per cent.
The amendments were passed amid ruckus inside and outside the Bihar Assembly over Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's remark on women's education and population control this week.
On Tuesday, the Bihar CM sparked a controversy while stressing the importance of education among women to control the population. He had put forward a vivid description in the state Assembly of how an educated woman could restrain her husband during sexual intercourse.
"The husband's acts led to more births. However, with education, a woman knows how to restrain him... this is the reason the numbers [of births] are coming down...You, journalists also understand it well. Earlier it [fertility rate] was 4.3, but it has now reached 2.9. And, soon we will reach 2," Kumar said.
In Kumar's support, state deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav clarified the statement, saying that Kumar was talking about sex education. He said that it is wrong to misinterpret Kumar's statement.
"Let me clarify something. Whatever the chief minister was saying was about sex education. People become hesitant over this topic, but these are taught in schools -- in Science, Biology. Children learn this. He said what needs to be done practically to control the population. This should not be taken in a wrong manner, but as sex education," Tejashwi said.