Bihar House passes bills to raise quota cap to 65%

The Bihar assembly on Thursday approved a hike in quotas for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Extremely Backward Classes and Other Backward Classes from the existing 50 per cent to 65 per cent.

Bills providing for the same in educational institutions and government jobs, drafted in the backdrop of a comprehensive caste survey conducted by the Nitish Kumar government, were passed unanimously through voice vote.

According to the bills, the quota for STs will be doubled, from one to two per cent, while for SCs it will be raised from 16 per cent to 20 per cent.

For EBCs, the quota will be 25 per cent, up from 18 per cent, while for the OBCs, it will rise from 12 per cent to 15 per cent.