Chorus for Caste-Based Census Within Cabinet
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Chorus for caste-based census within Cabinet NEW DELHI: The demand for restoration of caste-based census got a solid boost on Tuesday, with members of the Union Cabinet making a forceful pitch for the enumeration of OBCs nationally. A decision on the issue was deferred as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stressed detailed discussions, and there are indications that inclusion of caste as one of the criteria for the census may not be possible for the exercise that is already underway. But Tuesday's brainstorming was marked by a very strong push for revival of caste-based census that was done away with after Independence. There was opposition too, but it was not so vigorous, with home minister P Chidambaram, one of the main opponents, citing logistical constraints rather than ideological considerations that led the founding fathers to scrap the caste count. The remark of a Cabinet minister -- "it is an open issue" -- was itself a testament to the success of the OBC establishment in reopening what was once seen as an issue settled forever. Even Chidambaram said that if deemed necessary, a caste count could be handled by some other agency like the National Commission for Backward Classes rather than being made a part of the decennial census. Commerce minister Anand Sharma cautioned against repercussions of reviving caste-based census that was "discontinued 70 years ago". Social welfare minister Mukul Wasnik was another voice of opposition. Those who argued strongly for the return of caste census included OBC faces such as law minister Veerappa Moily, minister for overseas affairs Vayalar Ravi, telecom minister A Raja and fertilizer minister Alagiri. Their arguments were boosted by the backing of finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. Urban development minister S Jaipal Reddy was also vociferous in supporting the demand. The development coincides with the strong demand in Parliament for revival of caste census. On Monday, BJP and Left had joined OBC leaders Mulayam Singh, Lalu Prasad and Sharad Yadav to demand that caste be brought back as a count criterion. The developments in the Cabinet may provide a fillip to the advocacy for caste-based census when Lok Sabha discusses it on Wednesday. Within the government, law minister Moily has been in the forefront of the pro-caste census move. Moily, as reported by TOI on September 15, had written to the PM demanding that the ban on caste enumeration be done away with. In the current instance, the law minister backed the idea, saying that with so many development schemes being designed around caste, the country needed "master data" on the "social reality that cannot be wished away". The home ministry, in its response, said inclusion of caste in the current census may not be possible because enumeration had already rolled out. It also pointed to the larger problem of counting people on the basis of caste, because of migration and because those who are "backward" in one state may not be so in another. Chidambaram, however, failed to convince the backers of census who said only the decennial census could meet the challenge of identifying the caste of 100 crore people. .