Bihar Caste Survey 2023: Key Figures, Demography and the 65% Reservation Debate (BPSC Notes)

The Bihar caste survey 2023 was the first full caste enumeration by any Indian State since the Census of 1931, and its numbers now turn up in BPSC prelims, mains and interview alike: 13.07 crore people, Extremely Backward Classes at 36 per cent, Other Backward Classes at 27 per cent, and a third of all families living on Rs 6,000 a month or less. These notes give the figures, the method, the reservation law that followed and the court battle over it, along with the Census 2011 demography of Bihar that the survey updates.

Key facts for BPSC

What the survey found

Social groups

Backward classes (EBC and OBC together) make up 63 per cent of Bihar. Among individual castes, Yadavs are the largest at 14.27 per cent, followed by Dusadh (5.31), Kushwaha (4.21), Brahmin (3.66), Rajput (3.45), Musahar (3.09), Kurmi (2.87) and Bhumihar (2.86). Kayasthas are 0.60 per cent. By religion, Hindus are 81.99 per cent and Muslims 17.70 per cent; Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains together are under one per cent.

Economic and educational findings

• Poverty: 94.42 lakh families, 34.13 per cent of the total, live on Rs 6,000 a month or less, the survey’s definition of poor. The share was 42.93 per cent among SC families, 42.70 per cent among ST families, 33.58 per cent among EBCs, 33.16 per cent among OBCs and 25.09 per cent among general-category families.
• Education: 22.67 per cent of people had studied up to Class 5 and only about 7 per cent were graduates.
• Work: about 1.57 per cent of the population held government jobs; roughly 50 lakh Biharis were living outside the State for work or study.
• Housing: about 39 lakh families lived in huts or had no house.

Why the survey was held and how it was done

The Union government declined to conduct a caste census as part of Census 2021 (the Socio-Economic and Caste Census of 2011 had collected caste data but never released it). Bihar’s parties, across the ruling and opposition benches, argued that reservation and welfare could not be targeted without current numbers, and the Assembly passed unanimous resolutions in 2019 and 2020. The State used its own funds (about Rs 500 crore) and about 2.64 lakh enumerators, mostly teachers, who recorded 17 indicators for every household on a mobile app, with 214 caste codes and a code for “other”. Because a census can be held only by the Union under the Census Act of 1948, Bihar called its exercise a survey; the Patna High Court upheld it on that basis on 1 August 2023, and the Supreme Court refused to stay the publication of results.

The reservation law and the court verdict

Within six weeks of the results the Legislature passed two amendment Acts (November 2023) raising reservation in government jobs and educational institutions from 50 to 65 per cent: SC 20 (from 16), ST 2 (from 1), EBC 25 (from 18) and OBC 18 (from 12), on top of the 10 per cent EWS quota, taking the total to 75 per cent. The Bihar government also asked the Union to place the Acts in the Ninth Schedule to shield them from judicial review.

On 20 June 2024 the Patna High Court struck down both Acts for breaching the 50 per cent ceiling laid down in Indra Sawhney (1992), holding that the State had not shown the “extraordinary circumstances” needed to cross it and had equated population share with backwardness. The Supreme Court admitted the State’s appeal but refused to stay the judgment on 29 July 2024, so recruitment in Bihar continues under the older 50 per cent scheme while the matter is pending. The survey’s wider effect was national: in April 2025 the Union Cabinet decided that caste enumeration would be included in the next Census.

Bihar’s demography: the Census 2011 base

The caste survey’s 13.07 crore figure for 2023 implies a growth of about 25 per cent over twelve years, in line with the Census trend. Bihar remains the youngest large State, with a median age in the low twenties, and the one with the highest fertility rate (NFHS-5 put the total fertility rate at 3.0 against India’s 2.0), which is why its share of India’s population keeps rising even as migration takes workers out of the State.

Arguments for and against caste surveys

For: reservation and welfare need evidence; the 1931 figures are nearly a century old; the survey showed that poverty and caste overlap, so targeting by caste reaches the poor; and the data lets the State fix sub-quotas and scholarship budgets rationally. Against: counting by caste can harden identities and feed demands for ever-larger quotas; self-reported caste and income are hard to verify; and population share is not the same as backwardness, which is what the High Court held. For a mains answer the balanced position is that data is better than guesswork, but it must be used with the social and economic indicators the survey itself collected.

Quick revision: likely BPSC questions

• When were the caste survey results released? 2 October 2023 (caste data); 7 November 2023 (economic data).
• Bihar’s population in the survey? 13.07 crore.
• Share of EBCs and OBCs? 36.01% and 27.13%.
• Largest single caste? Yadav, 14.27%.
• New reservation total under the 2023 Acts? 65% plus 10% EWS = 75%.
• Which court struck down the 65% quota, and when? Patna High Court, 20 June 2024.
• Bihar’s density and literacy in Census 2011? 1,106 per sq km; 61.8%.

Practise this topic

• Bihar Economy PYQ Quiz: Agriculture, Minerals and Population
• Bihar’s Economic Transition and Regional Inequality
• Bihar Special Mock Test 2026: 100 Bihar GK Questions

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