For the first time after independence in the country, caste -based census has been announced. This decision was taken at the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. After the meeting, Union Information and Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that the government has decided to conduct ethnic census with the original census. During this, he accused the Congress of sidelining it for a long time. Also said that the Congress and its allies have used it only as a political weapon.
At the same time, now the central government has got approval to conduct caste census. It is being seen as a major political strike on opposition parties. Many parties including Congress, SP and Ajedi have been pressurizing the government for the last several years. At the same time, now after the announcement of the government, all the parties are supporting it simultaneously. At the same time, many are also connecting it with Bihar elections. However, if the census starts this year, its figures are expected to come by the end of 2026.
Rahul Gandhi was demanding for many years
After the decision of the central government's caste census, all political parties have now come on one platform. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for last 3-4 years By telling the X-Ray of the country, the demand for caste census has been attacked by the government. He wrote on X, 'It was said that Modi ji will have to get a 'caste census', we will be done by getting it done. This will be clear that whose participation is in the institutions and power structure of the country. Before independence in the country, all castes were counted during the census in the year 1931.
Nehru closed due to fear of partition
All the castes were counted during the census conducted between 1881 and 1931 in India before independence. But at the first census of independent India in 1951, the government led by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru decided to close the caste calculation except the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). This decision was based on the belief that focusing on caste could promote partition and obstruct national unity in a new independent nation.
A decade later in 1961, the central government asked the states to conduct survey at their level and prepare lists of other backward classes (OBCs). At the same time, after more than 6 decades, after the demands of different political parties, the government has decided to include caste calculations in the next nationwide census.
How did it become a political issue?
Voices have been raising from time to time about the caste census. Reservation is the biggest reason for this. In 1980, the recommendation of the Mandal Commission regarding 27 percent reservation for OBCs brought the caste again into political discussion. The lack of comprehensive caste data made it challenging to determine the correct identity and quantity of the OBC population, which increased the demand for caste census.
At the same time, in the year 2011, the UPA government got the socio-economic and caste census, which was the first attempt to collect caste figures across the country since 1931. However, the figures of SECC 2011 were never fully released or used, due to which opposition parties and caste-based organizations criticized it.
Bihar, Telangana and Karnataka conducted survey
In the absence of national caste census, states like Bihar, Telangana and Karnataka have conducted caste survey here in recent years. The purpose of these surveys was to collect data to support state-specific reservation policies and welfare programs. In 2023, the Bihar government conducted a caste survey. Based on this, reservation was also increased but the matter went to court and it was stopped.