Caste Census To Be Part Of National Population Census, Government Announces

The Narendra Modi government will conduct a caste enumeration as part of the forthcoming census, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.

"The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs has decided today that Caste enumeration should be included in the forthcoming census," Vaishnaw said, after a meeting of the Modi Cabinet.

The decennial census, last conducted in 2011, was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. The government has not issued any timeline for holding the census.

Notably, state-centric caste surveys have been conducted by the the Congress-run Karnataka and Telangana governments, and the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government.

"As per Article 246 of the Constitution, census is listed in the Union list in the Seventh Schedule. Some states have conducted surveys to enumerate caste, some have done it well and some from a purely political angle in a non-transparent way. Such surveys have created doubts in the society," Vaishnaw said.

He further said the Centre's census will be transparent and ensure the social fabric of the country is not harmed and "strengthens the social and economic structure of the society".