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Cabinet okays caste enumeration - in 2011
Thursday, September 09, 2010 11:09:38 PM,
IANS
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New Delhi:
The union cabinet Thursday gave its approval to the caste census
to be implemented through a separate house-to-house enumeration
from June to September next year in a process separate from Census
2011.
"After considering various options based on the response of
political parties, the cabinet decided that a separate
house-to-house enumeration of caste will be done from June to
September 2011," Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters here.
The cabinet meeting was presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh.
Chidambaram said it had been decided to go for a separate
enumeration of caste based on the response of political parties
that caste should be canvassed but the integrity of the headcount
in census 2011 should be protected.
The minister said a suitable legal system for collection of data
on caste would be formulated in consultation with the law
ministry.
The office government is to constitute an expert group to classify
the caste/tribe census after the present enumeration is completed.
He said the Registrar General and Census Commissioner's office
will hand over the details of the castes/tribes to the proposed
expert group.
India has not done any caste-wise enumeration after independence.
The last caste-wise collection of data took place in the 1931
census.
Various political parties, notably the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya
Janata Dal and Janata Dal-United, have sought a caste-based
census. The government assured parliament that a decision will be
taken on the issue soon.
There were different views within the Congress and the Bharatiya
Janata Party on the need for a caste headcount.
A Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab
Mukherjee deliberated on the matter in three meetings and gave its
recommendations last month favouring caste enumeration.
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