Caste Census Finally Included In Parliamentary Committee’s Agenda

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

The issue of caste census has finally mounted on the agenda of the Parliamentary Committee on Welfare of OBCs led by the BJP. The party has been rejecting the opposition INDIA bloc’s demand for conducting caste census in the country. It was much to the frustration of the BJP, that its chief allies in the NDA supported the demand for caste census that has lately become a very sensitive political issue.

Due to relentless insistence on caste census by both the opposition and BJP’s allies, the Parliamentary Committee headed by senior BJP MP Ganesh Singh reportedly allowed the issue to be on the Committees agenda for discussion. The other issues shortlisted to be on the agenda were review of National Commission for Backward classes, and the performance of Union Ministries and departments with regard to OBC welfare.

During the meeting of the Committee on August 29, Congress’s MP Manickam Tagore and DMK MP T R Baalu demanded that the caste census be taken up for deliberation and the Union Ministry of Home be called for questioning. They reminded that the Centre has already decided to start much delayed census, the ministry could be asked about the plan for enumerating caste as part of the exercise.

It is worth mentioning here that India conducts census after every 10 years. It was due to be conducted in 2021, but had to be postponed on account of COVID-19 outbreak. Now, the Centre has decided to start the census exercise from September next Last census was held in 2011, and certain data on caste had also been collected but was not meant for the public disclosure. There is still a suspense over the issue. The Centre has been rejecting the opposition demand for caste census for quite some time, and the BJP led Union Government is yet to decide on the issue.

The opposition members in the Parliamentary Committee took this opportunity and insisted that the Union Ministry of Home must be called for question over the issue. They insisted that the issue of the caste census be taken up as the first item of the agenda of the committee for further deliberation.

Trinamool Congress’s MP Kalyan Banerjee has also reportedly supported the demand of conducting caste census. It was very disconcerting for the BJP that its ally JD(U)’s MP Giridhari Yadav also backed the demand.

TMC MP Banerjee had also demanded a restructuring National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) which should have the mandate of taking care of the welfare of the economically weaker sections.

Members also insisted on deliberations on reservations in outsourcing and a review of the share of OBCs in various fields with a special focus on judiciary and education.

It is a very significant political development because of the recent judgement of the Supreme Court that has asked the states to make sub-categories of more-weaker sections among the STs, SCs, and OBCs to provide them a sub-quota under the overall quota of reservations in government jobs and education.

There is already the ‘creamy layer’ provision within OBCs that are being excluded from the reservation quota. The Supreme Court judgement has asked for extension of creamy layer concept to STs and SCs also. The decision is being opposed by the STs and SCs. As for the OBCs are concerned, BJP’s ally JD(U) has demanded to increase the creamy layer limit among OBCs to Rs 20,000.

BJP ally JD(U) leader and Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar has already supported the caste census at the national level. Under his leadership, Bihar has already conducted caste census. Another BJP allies such as TDP of Chandrababu Naidu and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) (LJP-RV) leader Chirag Paswan have also supported caste census.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been demanding caste census for a long time, and his party has made it an election issue during Lok Sabha election 2024. Congress has reaped the benefit and he is now leader of the Opposition. He has promised on behalf of INDIA bloc that they would get caste census conducted when they would come to power.

For PM Narendra Modi, it has become a very problematic issue, since the majority within the BJP and RSS are opposed to caste census, while even BJP’s allies in NDA, on whose support his government is surviving, are batting for caste census. He is caught between the two opposing forces whose support is crucial for survival of Modi 3.0 government. (IPA Service)