Congress leaders urge PM to scrap Census caste count method, call it misleading
New Delhi: Opposition leaders in Parliament, Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to abandon the recently notified Census questionnaire on caste, terming the methodology for caste count as “misleading”. The Congress leaders argued that the current format will not yield an accurate headcount of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), as the term “OBC” does not even appear in the questionnaire.
The letter, released by the Congress party on Tuesday, comes amid a growing controversy over the caste-related questions in the upcoming Census exercise, which is scheduled for 2027. Kharge and Gandhi told the Prime Minister that the government has adopted an “open-ended question” for collecting caste information, leaving enumerators to record whatever response a person gives.
The leaders contended that a single caste is known by various names and sub-castes in different regions, which could result in one caste being recorded under thousands of different names. “This would result in lakhs of castes being registered in the country, and the entire data recorded in the caste census would become useless,” the letter stated.
The Congress leaders demanded that the government cancel the present questionnaire and prepare a fresh one through consultations with political parties, experts, and the public. “This would ensure a correct headcount of every caste and community, making the caste census precise, relevant, and beneficial,” they wrote.
As a ready solution, the letter suggested adding a “drop-down menu” containing a list of castes to the questionnaire. The leaders noted that this methodology is already used for counting Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the Census. They also pointed out that similar surveys in Bihar and Telangana had adopted this approach, and enclosed the caste lists from those two surveys for reference.
The letter further stated that such a list of castes can be compiled on the basis of the existing Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) list and data from the Anthropological Survey of India.
Releasing the letter, Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh and OBC department chairperson Anil Jaihind highlighted that in September 2021, the government itself had submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court stating that a “drop-down menu” with a list of castes would have to be used if a caste census were to be conducted. Ramesh said that census enumerators could carry the list of OBCs and record precise answers, but the government had chosen not to do so.
The Congress leaders accused the government of “sabotaging” the caste census, a charge the government has yet to respond to. The issue is significant as caste data has long been a sensitive topic in Indian politics, with various parties demanding a comprehensive count to better target social welfare schemes and reservations.
The government has not officially commented on the letter so far, and it remains to be seen whether the questionnaire will be revised. The Census is a massive exercise that requires extensive planning, and any changes to the questionnaire would likely require fresh consultations and approvals.
