Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar speaks with the media regarding the caste-based census report, in Patna, Monday, Oct. 2, 2023. Bihar government on Monday released findings of the survey, which revealed that OBCs and EBCs constitute a whopping 63 per cent of the state's total population.
Credit: PTI Photo
If Yadavs counted the highest at 1.86 crore in the Bihar caste survey, the lowest count was for the caste Bhaskar, which has just 37 members.
An analysis of the data showed that 26 out of around 215 castes counted in the survey had less than 1,000 members, while 17 had less than 500 members.
Other than the Yadavs, who counted 1.86 crore (14.26 per cent), not a single caste in Bihar has more than one crore members. The closest were Chamars who counted 68.69 lakh or 5.25 per cent of the total population of 13.07 crore.
There was one caste other than Bhaskar which had less than 100 members - Jadupatiya - with 93 members. Nineteen castes had more than 1 per cent population. The caste survey also counted 825 transgenders.
Baniyas or the business class accounted for 2.31 per cent or 30.26 lakh while land-owning Bhumihars were counted at 37.5 lakh or 2.86 per cent. Rajputs were 3.45 per cent or 45.10 lakh, while the Kurmis were 37.62 lakh (2.87 per cent) and the Kushwahas stood at 55.06 lakh (4.21 per cent).
When it comes to castes with very low numbers, Korkus were just 102 and Sotha 107, while Ho were 143, Birjias 169, Khelta 246, Khond 303, and Korsthas 338.