Bihar lags far behind in coaching scheme for Schedule Castes, OBCs

Patna,(BiharTimes): Bihar is third from the bottom of the list of States and Union Territories in utilizing Central government scheme of providing free coaching to Schedule Caste and OBC students who want to compete for jobs in Central services. Only Chandigarh and much smaller Nagaland are behind it.

Maharashtra tops the list to be followed by Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

There are 15.1 per cent SCs and roughly 38 per cent OBCs in Bihar. Except Paswans or Dussadhs the rest 21 SC sub-castes have been included in the list of Maha-Dalits by the Nitish Kumar government. Yet it failed to use the central government fund for them.

According to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment the Nitish government came up with a proposal recommending 950 students from reserved category for free coaching this year. This is much less than the figure of other much smaller states like Assam, Manipur and Puducherry.

In all 5,03,660 students spread over all States and Union Territories are to benefit from the plan this year that provides coaching for examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, the Staff Selection Commission, various Railway Recruitment Boards, State Public Service Commission, Officers' Grade tests conducted by banks, insurance companies and public sector undertakings (PSUs).