Amid growing calls for a nationwide caste census from several quarters including the INDIA alliance, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to integrate the caste census with the national decadal census. India has had a nationwide census every ten years starting from 1881. The most recent caste census in India dates back 92 years to 1931. From 1951 to 2011, census data for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes alone was made available. Census 2021 has been indefinitely delayed, and CM Stalin on Saturday, October 21, urged PM Modi to include caste data in it, whenever it is held.
Stalin noted that the caste census would enable policymakers to analyse the impact of past programs (that were implemented on past understanding of the caste composition of India’s population) and plan strategies for the future. “In the last 90 years, the demographic and socio-economic landscape of our country has undergone many changes, but the underprivileged sections of our society continue to remain backward. Only a statutory census of India, with critical caste-related data inputs, would be able to provide an appropriate platform for upholding social justice,” Stalin wrote.
Read: Why India needs Caste Census: We need to count underprivileged and the privileged
“Census data has always provided the bedrock for framing policies and targeting specific interventions for the socio-economic development of the underprivileged. Since caste has historically been a key determinant of the prospects of social progress in our society, it is essential that factual data on it is made available in the public domain,” he added.
While mentioning the recent caste-based survey data released by Bihar government, Stalin said that state-specific initiatives and their data outcomes are very useful in providing insights into society and its needs, but also highlighted that they lack the advantage of nationwide comparability of inputs and processes. He said that without legislative backing for such data collection, they lack a statutory stamp, considering that Census is a subject under the Union list in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, which means the Union government has sole powers to legislate on it.