Maharashtra: Opposition demands caste census in state on lines of Bihar

Vijay Wadettiwar. File Pic

The Opposition in Maharashtra on Tuesday demanded caste census in the state on lines of Bihar, the PTI reported.

Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra legislative assembly Vijay Wadettiwar demanded the state government to carry out a caste-based census on the lines of Bihar.

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Vijay Wadettiwar was speaking in the assembly during the ongoing winter session of the state legislature in Nagpur district of Maharashtra.

"The Maharashtra government should carry out a caste-wise census in the state on the lines of the Bihar government. We are not opposed to any particular community getting benefits of quota," Vijay Wadettiwar said.

"The census should find out how backward people are there in every community in the state," he said.

In October, the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar released findings of its caste survey which revealed that Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) constitute a whopping 63 per cent of the state's total population.

Ever since the Bihar caste survey was out, the national leaders of the Congress, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, have been pressing for a caste census in the country.

In the run-up to the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi had described caste census as an "X-ray" which will reveal the proportion of the OBCs, Dalits and tribals in the population.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the opposition parties staged an agitation against the Maharashtra government on Tuesday, alleging that 'the health services in the state were on ventilator support'.

Leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance, constituting the Shiv Sena (UBT), Nationalist Congress Party's Sharad Pawar faction and Congress, raised slogans against Maharashtra Health Minister Tanaji Sawant and his department.

Leader of Opposition in the legislative assembly Vijay Wadettiwar, Leader of Opposition in legislative council Ambadas Danve, Congress leaders Ashok Chavan and Balasaheb Thorat gathered on the steps outside the Vidhan Bhavan wearing white coats, carrying stethoscopes and a stretcher.

Speaking to reporters, Danve said the health services in the state have deteriorated, with several deaths reported in the government hospitals of Nagpur, Nanded, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Kalwa in Thane district.

"The health services in Maharashtra are on ventilator support," the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said.

(with PTI inputs)