Caste Data To Be Part Of Next Population Census: Centre’s Big Announcement

New Delhi: Questions on caste – i.e., an enumeration of the various castes and sub-castes, and the number of people in each, across the country – will be part of the national census expected next year, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said during a cabinet briefing Wednesday afternoon.

“Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs decided to include caste enumeration in forthcoming census exercise,” Mr Vaishnaw said dropping a metaphorical bombshell in a briefing expected to include information about India’s continuing response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

The census will be held in a ‘transparent’ manner, he said, taking sharp swipes at the Congress and other opposition parties that, over the past few years, has targeted the ruling BJP over demands for a ‘caste census’, particularly while campaigning for state and federal elections.

Mr Vaishnaw slammed the Congress specifically, saying the party had always opposed a caste census, pointing out the category had not even been included in censuses since Independence.

“Congress governments have always opposed a caste census. In 2010, the late Dr Manmohan Singh said the matter of caste census should be considered… a group was formed (and) most political parties recommended it. But the Congress decided to conduct a survey…” he said.

“It is well understood that the Congress and its partners (referring to the party-led INDIA opposition bloc) have only used ‘caste census’ as a political tool,” he claimed.

Mr Vaishnaw also dismissed caste counts been held by state governments – starting with Bihar in October 2023 – accusing them of just trying to score brownie points with voters.

“Some states conducted surveys to enumerate castes… some did it well… some conducted surveys purely from a political angle,” he said, “Such surveys created doubts in society.”

Legally a caste census, the minister said, can only be conducted by the union government.

This big decision comes months before a critical Assembly election in Bihar, over 63 per cent of the population of which comes from Extremely Backward or Backward classes.