Caste census to be included in population survey: Cabinet’s big decision

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on Wednesday that caste census will be incorporated into the upcoming national census process in a “transparent manner,” stating that this decision was made during a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs.

“Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs has decided to include caste enumeration in forthcoming census exercise,” the Union Minister said in a media briefing on Wednesday.

The census was originally set to begin in April 2020 but was postponed because of the Covid pandemic. If the exercise had been executed according to the 10-year timeline, the report would have been released in 2021.

In revealing the significant Cabinet decision, Vaishnaw criticized the Congress, stating that the party has always been against the caste census. He additionally criticized other INDIA bloc parties, alleging that they exploit the caste-based population count solely for political advantage.

“Congress governments have always opposed the caste census. In 2010, the late Dr Manmohan Singh said in the Parliament that the matter of caste census should be considered in the Cabinet. A group of ministers was formed to consider this subject. Most of the political parties have recommended a caste census. Despite this, the Congress government thought it appropriate to conduct a survey known as SECC,” Vaishnaw said.

“It is well understood that the Congress and its INDI alliance partners have used the caste census only as a political tool. The subject of census is mentioned at serial number 69 of the Union List of Article 246 of the Constitution and it is a subject of the Center. Some states have conducted surveys to enumerate castes. While some states have done this well, some others conducted such surveys only from a political angle in a non-transparent way,” he added.

The Railways Minister stated that such surveys “generate uncertainties” within society and remarked that to prevent politics from disrupting the social fabric, caste enumeration ought to be part of the census rather than conducted through surveys.

The Congress, INDIA bloc, and several regional parties have long demanded that the Centre conduct a caste census. Recently, Karnataka, governed by Congress, conducted its own caste survey.

Nonetheless, it encountered resistance from the Vokkaliga and Lingayat groups in Karnataka. These communities contend that the ‘Social and Educational Survey Report,’ which was commissioned a decade ago, fails to properly reflect their interests and requires a comprehensive reassessment.