Front Page
Centre clears caste in Census 2011
Smita Gupta
Standalone exercise in June-September next
New Delhi: A focussed, stand-alone, house-to-house caste headcount
will be conducted between June and September 2011, after the National
Population Register (NPR) is ready.
This decision comes after five months of wrangling among political
parties, first over whether to undertake caste enumeration or not, and
then over the method of doing it.
The Union Cabinet, after considering the recommendations of the Group
of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, gave its
approval on Thursday, paving the way for inclusion of caste in Census
2011.
"After considering various options, the option that we have approved
is based on the responses of various political parties: that caste
must be canvassed and the integrity of the headcount must not be
affected," Home Minister P. Chidambaram told journalists. Every point
of view was "accommodated and the time table drawn up."
As for the additional cost for the exercise, he said it would be
"assessed" at a separate meeting.
Mr. Chidambaram, however, parried a question whether caste enumeration
would be merged with the headcount.
Doing so could be contentious, as there are two views on this: those
who favour the merger say that correlating the caste identities of
people with their educational and economic status will help to map the
population better, thus facilitating a more accurate targeting of
welfare schemes. But those who oppose it fear that making such
connections might lead to a demand for larger quotas.
Sources in the government said this would be a "focussed exercise."
They stressed that the enumerators would be working on a verified data
base — the NPR — and so the integrity of the data would be maintained.
Those being enumerated would be asked to name their caste, but they
would have the option of saying "No caste," said the sources. Later,
the raw data collected would be analysed by an expert group, set up by
the Centre.
The Office of the Registrar-General and Census Commissioner would be
"legally empowered" to collect caste data by putting in place a
suitable legal regime.
------------------------------------
----
INFORMATION OVERLOAD?
Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to ZESTMedia-digest@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/
PARTICIPATE:-
On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com
TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:-
If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to ZESTCaste-subscribe@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/
Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
ZESTCaste-digest@yahoogroups.com
ZESTCaste-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ZESTCaste-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
No comments:
Post a Comment