Caste Data in Bihar

Source: The Hindu
GS I: Society

Overview

Why in the News?

Supreme Court on Friday refused to keep the Bihar government from publishing data collected from its caste-based survey.

A Bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna refused to be bothered by the fact that the State had released the data when petitions challenging the legality of the survey were pending before the Supreme Court.
The Bench posted the case for the next hearing in January 2024, while issuing notice to the State to file its response to the petitions.
Privacy is not an issue as names, etc., are not published.
The petitions were at a preadmission stage when the court was still deciding whether or not to issue formal notice.
The data received was extensive and voluntary from the people, and needed to be analysed in detail to help identify welfare areas.

Petition against Bihar’s caste census- The caste survey was challenged under 2 grounds.
Violation of right to privacy (Article 21) – Petitioners argued that the right to privacy will be infringed due to the queries concerning their religion, caste, and monthly income.
State’s competency- The petitioners cited 7th schedule and Article 246 and claimed that only the Union government could conduct a census.
Bihar government’s stand- In 2011, a caste census was conducted by the Centre, the details of which weren’t disclosed.
It also pointed out that Entry 45 of the Concurrent List is similar to Entry 94 of the Union List, as both confer powers to collect statistics for verifying details to achieve the economic and social planning goals listed under Entry 20 of the Concurrent List.
Verdict- The court referred to the triple-requirement test laid down in ‘Justice KS Puttaswamy vs Union of India, 2017’ , reiterating that permissible restrictions can be imposed on the fundamental right, in the state’s legitimate interests, provided they are proportional and reasonable.
It said that the disclosures were voluntary and added that the action of the State as perfectly valid with the legitimate aim of providing development with justice.

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