Govt to carry out caste census next year

Bowing to demands by several political parties, government on Thursday decided to carry out a caste census next year.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, decided to carry out a caste census. The exercise would be carried out independent of the ongoing census operation next year, sources said.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had told the Lok Sabha recently that all political parties had supported the idea of including caste in census and there was no need for any "apprehensions" over the issue.

His statement had come after leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party, Janata Dal-United, Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party wanted to know as to what happened to the government's promise to carry out a caste census.

The Group of Ministers, which examined the issue, has decided that caste census should be carried out during house enumeration exercise.

The official notification issued by the government is reproduced below:

The Union Cabinet considered the recommendations of the GoM and decided as follows:

a) 'Caste' of all persons as returned by them would be canvassed.

b) The caste enumeration would be conducted as a separate exercise from the month of June 2011 and completed in a phased manner by September 2011 after the Population Enumeration phase (to be conducted in February-March 2011) of the Census 2011 is over.

c) A suitable legal regime for collection of data on Castes would be formulated in consultation with the Ministry of Law & Justice.

d) The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner India would conduct the field operations of the caste enumeration. The Government of India would constitute an Expert Group to classify the caste/tribe returns after the enumeration is completed. The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner India would hand over the details of the castes/tribes returned in the enumeration to the proposed Expert Group.

Caste-wise enumeration had been given up as a matter of policy after Independence. The last Census when caste-wise data was collected, tabulated and published in detail was the 1931 Census.

In response to the demands for enumerating castes other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Census 2011 raised inside Parliament as well as by various groups outside, the Ministry of Home Affairs submitted a note to the Union Cabinet in May 2010 pertaining to this issue. The Union Cabinet in its meeting held in May 2010 decided that 'the matter would require further examination'.

The Ministry of Home Affairs submitted a fresh note on this subject in May 2010. The Union Cabinet discussed the matter in its meeting held in May 2010 and decided that, "the matter may, in the first instance, be considered by a Group of Ministers".

Accordingly, a Group of Ministers (GoM) was constituted under the Chairmanship of Hon'ble Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee. The GoM deliberated on the matter in three meetings and gave its recommendations to the Union Cabinet.