Patna: The Bihar Legislative Assembly, in a unanimous decision, has approved the Bihar Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, marking a significant step toward expanding the reservation quota in the state to 65%.
The newly passed bill envisions a substantial increase in the reservation quota within Bihar, with Other Backward Classes (OBCs) set to receive 18% reservation, Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) to be allocated 25%, Scheduled Castes (SCs) to secure 20%, and Scheduled Tribes (STs) to benefit from a 2% reservation.
When combined with the Central government’s 10% reservation for economically weaker sections, the effective reservation rate will rise to 75%.
Sources claimed that the Bihar government may seek approval from the central government for the bill, given that the proposed reservation increase surpasses the Supreme Court’s upper limit of 50%.
However, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said in the Bihar Assembly after approval on the bill on Thursday that the state government would want to implement it with immediate effect.
The Bill received approval following the commencement of the second session on the fourth day of the ongoing winter session of the Bihar Legislative Assembly on Thursday afternoon.
This legislation stems from a comprehensive caste and economic survey recently conducted by the state government. While the caste survey was released on October 2, the economic report was presented in the Assembly on November 7. On the same day, the Bill was endorsed by the state cabinet in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The move is widely regarded as a groundbreaking initiative by the Nitish Kumar government, strategically timed to garner political support in anticipation of the 2024 Lok Sabha election and the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections.
