Patna, June 21: The members of Bihar State Upper Caste Commission, attending the first meeting of the panel today, shared valuable inputs on the structure of the survey to be conducted across the state to identify the poor among the upper castes.

A few of the suggestions are likely to be incorporated in the proforma prepared for the survey, said the panel members.

“We had just drafted initial proforma and it is open for feedback from various stakeholders. Now that we are getting some suggestions, we would definitely try to incorporate the feasible ones, which would make the survey more effective,” said D.K. Trivedi, chairman of Bihar state Upper Caste Commission. The meeting of the commission was held at Soochna Bhavan in the state capital.

Earlier, the commission has sent out letters to the district magistrates to make arrangements for circulating a proforma among elected village heads who would fill up the various details after taking feedback from the villagers. This survey would help in assessment of social, financial and educational condition of the poor among the upper castes in the villages and the problems faced by them.

“Chief minister Nitish Kumar had formed Bihar State Upper Caste Commission on February 25 this year. Soon, the code of conduct was enforced because of the panchayat elections and that stalled much of the work. However, now the survey for identifying the poor among the upper castes is to be accelerated. The reasons for their poverty are also to be identified and respective remedial measures are to be introduced,” added Trivedi.

Members present at the meet proposed new measures for the survey. “If the commission finds it appropriate then I suggest for constitution of “assessment unit” which would conduct survey and its members would assess various aspects, including social, financial, educational and political among others, and after the discussion, submit a final report to the commission. This would make a more effective system,” said Divakar Mishra, director of A.N. Sinha Institute of Social Science.

Safi Mesahari, another member and a former officer in Bihar Public Service Commission, said: “The commission should determine which are the castes among the upper castes which would be covered under the survey. Normally, all castes other than OBC, SC and ST are identified as upper castes but there are several exceptions. The commission should also lay down the procedure for its functioning,” said Mesahari.