Dalits in Bihar marginalised, impatient for change: NACDAOR chief

New Delhi, Oct 8 (PTI) Dalits in Bihar are marginalised and impatient for change, National Confederation of Dalit and Adivasi Organisations (NACDAOR) Chairman Ashok Bharti said on Wednesday as he released a report titled 'What Dalits Want'.

On a lawyer's bid to throw a shoe at Chief Justice of India B R Gavai, Bharti said the CJI represents the State and the attack was actually targeted at the State, which is "totally defunct".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar "should pray" that the incident does not impact their vote share in the upcoming state polls, the NACDAOR chairman said here.

The assembly elections in Bihar will be held in two phases -- on November 6 and 11. The counting of votes will be done on November 14.

The elections will see a direct contest between the NDA government led by Kumar and the opposition bloc comprising RJD and Congress, among others.

According to the report, Scheduled Caste (SC) groups constitute 19.65 per cent of Bihar's population, but "persistent inequalities" have deprived them of their rightful share in the state's development.

"Whether it is education, health, or employment, the Dalits are completely marginalised in Bihar. Dalits are against the status quo," Bharti said at a press conference where he released the report.

"Dalits are impatient and moving towards change. However, I cannot say which way they would go," he said, adding that the community appears to be moving away from CM Kumar.

Referring to Monday's attack on CJI Gavai, Bharati said, "Nitish Kumar and Modi ji should pray that this does not impact the votes going to them." "You saw that a shoe was thrown at the CJI and not even an FIR was registered. This shoe was not thrown at B R Gavai, it was targeted at the State. The CJI represents the State. The State is totally defunct, it cannot save itself," he said.

According to the report, Dalit literacy level in Bihar is 55.9 per cent, much behind the national average of 66.1 per cent for the community.

Nearly 62 per cent of Dalits in Bihar are still illiterate. The situation is even more grim among the Musahars, whose literacy rate is below 20 per cent, among the lowest of any caste group in India, the report said.

Quoting the All India Survey on Higher Education, an annual survey by the Ministry of Education, the report said that despite a 19.65 per cent population share and 17 per cent constitutional reservation, Dalits make up only 5.6 per cent of faculty members and students.

Around 63.4 per cent of Dalits are non-workers, primarily women and the youth, it said.

Of those working, 46 per cent are marginal workers, with less than six months of work a year. Around 21 per cent have full-time employment, often as landless labourers or casual wage workers, and only 1.3 per cent of Dalits in Bihar hold government jobs, it said.

According to the National Family Health Survey-5, infant mortality among Dalits is 55 per 1,000 live births as against the state average of 47 and the national average of 37.

Similarly, maternal mortality rate among Dalit women is 130 per 1,000 live births as against the state average of 118 and national average of 97, the report highlighted.

Over 84 per cent of Dalit households are landless and only 7 per cent own cultivable land. The average per capita income of Dalit households is Rs 6,480, almost 40 per cent lower than the state average, it said.

According to the report, between 2010 and 2022, Bihar recorded 85,684 cases of atrocities against Dalits, an average of 17 incidents per day. PTI AO DIV DIV