Congress demands Bihar-like caste survey in Odisha

The opposition Congress in Odisha demanded a caste survey in the state on the lines of the one done by the Bihar government.

State Congress president Sarat Pattanayak on Monday said that his party has been demanding the caste survey in Odisha for a long time to get a complete socio-economic picture of the population.

”However, the Naveen Patnaik government is dilly-dallying over the issue,” he said.

Pattanayak said that Bihar has a clear picture of various caste groups, while Odisha doesn’t have any such data.

”Only a half-hearted survey was recently conducted by the Odisha State Commission for Backward Classes (OSCBC), and its report says that the state has only 43 per cent OBC population,” he added.

Pattanayak claimed that the report was highly erroneous as no door-to-door survey was conducted.

”The OBC people were asked to visit panchayat offices and submit their caste records,” he said.

If the BJD government does not show any interest in conducting a caste survey, the Congress will do it after coming to power in the state, Pattanayak said.

He urged the government to convene a one-day special session of the assembly to pass a resolution for conducting a caste survey as was done in Bihar.

”The survey will help the government make plans and policies for the development of all caste groups,” he said.