Barring the Enumeration of SCs, STs, No Caste Census Since Independence: Centre

In the wake of the demand from various political parties to collect caste details of all communities in the forthcoming Census, the government merely acknowledged that there is a demand without expanding further.

The Wire Staff

barring the enumeration of scs sts no caste census since independence centre

Union minister of state for home Nityanand Rai in the Rajya Sabha. Photo: PTI.

New Delhi: The Union government has informed the Lok Sabha that caste-wise enumeration of the population other than Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) during the Census has not been carried out since Independence.

In a written reply to a question, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai told the parliament on Tuesday, July 25, that castes and tribes which are specifically notified as SCs and STs as per the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, and the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, as amended from time to time, are enumerated.

In the wake of the demand from various political parties to collect caste details of all communities in the forthcoming Census, Rai merely acknowledged that there is a demand without expanding further.

Opposition parties, including social justice parties and the Congress, have been demanding a caste census on a national basis to determine reservations for Other Backward Communities (OBCs) in jobs and educational institutions. This demand has been a significant election issue, aimed at attracting OBC voters.

However, the BJP has maintained that conducting a caste survey during the national census is challenging due to administrative, legal, and technical issues.

Although the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government first carried out a Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) in 2011-12, it has never been released because of varied opinions about the data within the government.

The Wire had reported that the demand for a caste census was more vocally expressed by different opposition parties after the Narendra Modi government implemented reservation for the Economically Weaker Classes (EWS), which effectively gave a quota to the so-called “upper caste” groups.

There is a perception among the supporters of caste-based reservation that EWS reservation is an "anomaly" in the caste-based affirmative action policy because the criteria is poverty and the move is aimed at denying marginalised castes and communities their rights.

This article went live on July twenty-sixth, two thousand twenty three, at fifty-five minutes past one in the afternoon.

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