http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/PM-puts-lid-on-caste-count-by-setting-up-GoM-on-modalities/articleshow/5983195.cms
PM puts lid on caste count by setting up GoM on modalities
Rajeev Deshpande, TNN, May 28, 2010, 03.34am IST
NEW DELHI: After a short but intense debate at Wednesday's Cabinet
meeting,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh settled the question whether to
include caste in the ongoing census with a brief remark that how this
was to be done should be referred to a group of ministers.
"How do you do it (include caste in census) should be examined by a
GoM," the PM is understood to have said after a majority of ministers
endorsed a caste census. The GoM, which will most likely be headed by
finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, is expected to be set up soon and
will look at the modalities on how caste is to be enumerated.
Asked about the Cabinet decision, law minister Veerappa Moily said he
was not authorised to speak on the matter but pointed out that
enumerating caste will only recognise a social reality. "I agree caste
is a cancer. But we need to treat parts that are affected, not the
entire body. If certain sections are lifted out of poverty, everyone
will be better off," he said.
The law minister, who has been a strong advocate of including caste in
the census, told TOI on Thursday that OBC reservations depended on
guesstimates and judicial mercy. "Have not the courts questioned how
the 27% quota for OBCs was arrived at? Have they not asked what is the
basis of estimating the population of OBCs," he said. An authentic
count would settle doubts.
Pointing out that political parties, including Congress and BJP, take
into account caste calculations, Moily said, "When party panels sit
down to assess candidates, there is a left hand column that mentions
caste." He added, "There are percentages given. How are these arrived
at? Often state intelligence bureaus are asked to provide these."
Moily said Congress had paid a price for not appearing on the right
side of the Mandal divide and had suffered in the Hindi heartland. It
would be unwise for the party to repeat the error and he was confident
this would not be the case. The year 2010 is not 1991.
The minister indicated including caste enumeration in the second stage
of the census might be practical as that is when the national
population register will be finalised. "When the biometrics are
recorded, caste can also be tagged and this might be the way forward,"
Moily said.
Responding to criticism that the census would make reservations
permanent, Moily said the information gathered could be used to devise
better creamy layer criteria. "It can be decided that my children and
grandchildren, who are socially and educationally advanced, are not
backward. This will challenge the hold of some leaders and
communities," he said.
Moily said the census was now essential to identify "beneficiaries and
how many of them". With the ambit of reservations increasing from
government jobs to educational institutions, problems of inclusion and
exclusion have become more severe. He admitted there could be
exaggerated claims, but suggested closer monitoring when benefits are
actually accessed.
It was the first amendment to the constitution by Jawaharlal Nehru
that gave a statutory position to backward classes. Thereafter, a slew
of commissions have recognised that the ends of social justice would
be served through affirmative action to help backward castes. "Can we
still depend on the projections of the 1931 census," he asked.
The law minister said central backward caste commissions and its state
counterparts were only tasked with inclusions. There were few
exclusions and they certainly had no authority to enumerate. "These
commissions have become dysfunctional. It is only the census that can
carry out this task and it has the wherewithal to do so," Moily said.
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