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No data since 1931, will 2011 Census be all-caste inclusive?
TNN, Mar 11, 2010, 04.01am IST
NEW DELHI: Should India, after a lapse of 80 years, not revive the
practice of collecting data on all castes in the ensuing 2011 Census?
The proposal of collecting caste-wise data beyond SCs and STs has been
made in order to provide similar empirical support to quotas for OBCs
in government jobs and educational institutions.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Telugu Desam leader and former
Union cabinet minister K Yerrannaidu said that opposition to OBC
census often came from the very people opposing reservations. "They
would first not let you count OBCs in the census and then cite absence
of latest of latest census data as ground to oppose quota for OBCs,"
Yerrannaidu said.
Describing the present census arrangement as a "double-tongued
logjam", he said "OBCs are not responsible for the decision to abolish
caste wise census and therefore cannot be sufferers for the absence of
such data since 1931."
Since NSSO, an organization run by the Ministry of Statistics, already
conducted a sample survey of OBCs to make an estimate of unemployment
among them, Yerrannaidu asserted that there could not be any reason
for rejecting their demand for caste-wise census.
Brushing aside the apprehension that conducting caste-wise enumeration
would trigger casteism, he said, "Non-collection of caste data since
Independence has not transformed the Indian society into a casteless
one nor had it reduced the practice of caste system."
Yerrannaidu pointed out that even the Supreme Court had, in the
context of the 2007 legislation extending OBC quota to educational
institutions, conceded the need for caste wise census.
The court said, "There is no doubt and in fact it was fairly accepted
by additional solicitor general that there is need for periodic
identification of the backward citizens and for this purpose the need
for survey of entire population on the basis of acceptable mechanism.
What might have been relevant in 1931census may have some relevance
but cannot be the determinative factor."
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