Thane (PTI): The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Jitendra Awhad has hailed the Bihar government's caste survey and demanded that a similar exercise be carried out in all states of the country, including Maharashtra, alleging that the rights of the OBCs were being snatched away.

The member of the Maharashtra legislative assembly representing the Mumbra-Kalwa constituency in Thane district made this demand in a video message posted on social media platform X on Monday night.

"Bihar has taken a brave step forward. It took a decision to conduct a caste-based census. And what truth came out of it (caste-based census)? It revealed that the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) comprise 61 per cent of the population. The Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs together form 85 per cent of its population," he said.

"And the truth that came out in Bihar is the truth of the entire India. And therefore we demand...we have always demanded that at least bring out the exact caste-wise population figures. Today, everything is being snatched away from the OBCs," he said.

Even if we consider that the OBCs comprise only 50 per cent of the population, why are they being deprived of reservation, Awhad asked.

What (Bahujan Samaj Party founder) Kanshi Ram said is true. He said, 'Jiski jitni sankhya bhari, uski utni hissedari' (the greater the number, the greater the share). Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar had also said that OBCs are the most backward and hence they should get reservation, the NCP leader added.

He alleged that attempts were made to stop the truth of Bihar's caste survey from coming into the public domain.

"Our demand is that a caste-based census be carried out...What Bihar has done has to be implemented by all other states, including Maharashtra," the former state minister said.

"Bihar has shown the path, so people should wake up as your rights are being snatched away," he said.

In a written post attached with the video, Awhad said, if the total population of Backward Classes (including OBCs, SCs and STs) is 80 to 84 percent, then capping the reservation at 50 per cent is like doing injustice to them.

"The Maharashtra legislature has passed a resolution for a caste-based census, which was supported by the then leader of opposition and now Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. So everybody should come together and start a caste-based census in Maharashtra," he said.

If this government says that works for the poor and the common people, it should bring it into a reality, he said.

The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar on Monday released findings of its much-awaited caste survey months ahead of the 2024 Parliamentary elections. According to the data, the state's total population stood at a little over 13.07 crore, out of which the Extremely Backward Classes (36 per cent) were the largest social segment followed by the Other Backward Classes at 27.13 per cent.

RJD president Lalu Prasad issued a statement, in which he said that the survey will set the tone for "a nationwide caste census which will be undertaken when we form the next government at the Centre".

The Congress also welcomed the Bihar government's move to release the findings of a caste census and called upon the Centre to immediately conduct a similar exercise at the national level to ensure social justice and provide a firm foundation for social empowerment programmes.

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Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.

The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.

Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.

Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.

What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.

"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,

which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.

"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.

"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.

"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.

In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.

The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.

With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.

Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).