Cabinet approves proposal to include caste enumeration in the upcoming census

The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs on Wednesday approved a proposal to include caste enumeration in the next caste census, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

Addressing a press briefing after the Cabinet meeting, Mr Vaishnaw said: “Under the leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Cabinet Committee of Political Affairs has decided today that caste enumeration should be included in the forthcoming Census.”

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Asserting that “some States have conducted surveys to enumerate caste, some States have done this while some others have conducted such surveys purely from a political angle in a non-transparent way,” Mr Vaishnav emphasised “this demonstrates that our government is committed to the values and interests of our society and the country, like in the past, when our government had introduced 10 per cent reservations for economically weaker sections of society.”

Taking a dig at the Congress and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance(INDIA) bloc, Mr Vaishnaw said, “Congress governments have always opposed caste census. Caste was not included in all the census operations conducted since Independence.”

“In 2010, then Prime Minister late Manmohan Singh ji had assured the Lok Sabha that the matter of caste census should be considered in the Cabinet. A Group of Ministers was formed to consider this subject. Most of the political parties had recommended caste census. Despite this, the Congress government decided to conduct merely a survey of caste instead of a caste census,” Mr. Vaishnaw alleged.

“It is well understood that Congress and its INDI alliance partners have used the caste census only as a political tool. Some states have conducted surveys to enumerate castes. While some states have done this well, some others conducted such surveys only from a political angle in a non-transparent way. Such surveys created doubts in society. To ensure that our social fabric is not disturbed by politics, caste enumeration should be included in the census instead of surveys,” Vaishnav advocated.