The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs has decided to include caste enumeration in the forthcoming census exercise.
JK News Today
New Delhi, April 30: The Union government on Wednesday announced that caste-based enumeration will be part of the upcoming decadal census.
The decision was taken at the high-powered cabinet committee on political affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, the Cabinet committee of political affairs has decided today that cast enumeration should be included with the forthcoming census… it demonstrates that the government is committed to the values and interests of the society,” Union minister Ashwani Vaishnaw said, addressing the media.
The Union minister said that in the past, the government had introduced 10% reservation for the economically weaker sections of society without causing any stress in any section.
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The announcement, which comes ahead of the Bihar assembly polls later this year, was on top of the opposition’s agenda that has been pushing the government to carry out a caste census.
The move was hailed by the allies of the National Democratic Alliance, as a step that would help in drafting “equitable and targeted” policies.
Incidentally, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ally, the Janata Dal United (JDU), when it was part of the opposition’s Mahagathabandhan, had carried out a caste census in Bihar.
Referring to states carrying out caste-based enumeration, the minister said, the exercise should be carried out with “transparency.
“To ensure social fabric is not disturbed by politics, caste enumeration should be transparently included the census instead of being part of surveys…this will strengthen the social and economic structure of society,” the minister said.
He lashed out at the opposition ruled states that have carried out surveys and said these have created confusion in society.
“Some states have done surveys from a purely political angle in a non-transparent way. Considering all these facts and to ensure that a social fabric is not disturbed by politics, caste enumeration should be transparently included in the survey,” he said.
The union minister lashed out at the Congress party for failing to carry out caste census despite, a group of ministers advocating the same.
“Caste census was not part of census since independence. A group of ministers was also constituted- yet Congress conducted a survey- the SECC,” he said.
He said, in 2010, the then prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh had assured the matter of caste census would be considered and a group of ministers was constituted to consider this subject. “Most of the political parties had recommended caste census. The Government decided to conduct only a survey of caste instead of a caste census and that survey is known as SECC. The Congress alliance partners have used it as a political tool,” he said.
He pointed out that as per article 246 of the Constitution, the subject of census is listed at 69 in the union list in the 7th Schedule and is a union subject.
Union ministers Amit Shah; Rajnath Singh; , Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitaraman and JP Nadda were part of the CCPA.
Welcoming the move, JDU working president Sanjay Jha in a post on X said, it was a historic decision which will help in making more effective plans for the welfare and upliftment of the deprived sections.
“In accordance with his policy of ‘Development with Justice’, the National President of Janata Dal United and the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Bihar @NitishKumar ji has conducted the caste census in Bihar with complete transparency and has also made its results public. He clearly believes that it is necessary to have accurate data of various castes for the purpose of reducing socio-economic inequality and making accurate plans for the welfare of the targeted sections,” Jha said.
The JDU has been at the forefront of the demand for a caste based enumeration.
“History is a witness that caste-wise data was also recorded in the census conducted before independence in India. But, in the year 1951, the Congress government stopped it. The unavailability of caste-wise data was becoming a big obstacle in the way of accurately identifying the socially deprived sections and making more effective plans for them. In view of the demand being made by various political parties and social groups, the UPA government decided to conduct a survey of castes in the 2011 census, but, there were so many discrepancies in those data that it was not even made public,” Jha said.
RLSP and the LJP, which are also part of the NDA and will jointly contest the Bihar polls also welcomed the move.
Union minister and LJP (RV) chief Chirag Paswan said, a caste survey was a key demand of his party, which has now been accepted.
“In the last few years, many misconceptions were spread between me and the Central Government regarding the caste census.
Today’s decision is a clear answer to all these rumours…This step of the central government will bring a big change in the direction of inclusive development of the country.” he said in a post on X.
Upendra Kushwaha of the RLSP said the decision taken unanimously “will prove to be a milestone in the direction of development of the oppressed and exploited society of the country.”
