'All parties are on board', Nitish Kumar to go ahead with caste census

A new political headache is developing for the Union government with an all-party meeting convened by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar backing unanimously a census based on caste.

Bihar will hold a census based on caste and a proposal to this effect will be sent to the cabinet, Kumar told reporters after the meeting.

With other states likely to order copycat census exercises, the idea of caste, social equality and justice will likely become a live political issue. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar has given full-throated backing to a caste-based census after Kumar declared his intention to initiate the exercise.