NEW DELHI: Amid the growing chorus for a nationwide caste census by Congress and other Opposition parties, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Tuesday said his party has long been demanding a caste-based census, and the government has to decide on it.
Speaking exclusively to this newspaper, Athawale, leader of the Republican Party of India (RPI) which is an NDA ally, said he has raised the demand several times in Parliament and NDA meetings without any result.
“My party’s stand has always been that a caste-based survey should be done to estimate the exact population of each category of the backward community. Once the survey is done, policy decisions and government programmes can be formulated in proportion to the population. This will help to ascertain caste–based marginalisation and deprivation,” he said.
The Union Minister’s assertion comes against the backdrop of several political parties including Congress, DMK, JDU, RJD, and AAP has intensified their demand for a caste census as they say that the current reservation policies are based on the 1931 census, which estimated OBC population at 52 per cent in the country.
In 2018, the then Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh promised a caste-based survey to identify OBCs and SEBCs. However, the Union Government has now taken a U-turn from its earlier position and has categorically stated in Parliament and Supreme Court that it won’t undertake a caste-based survey as a policy matter. “If the government has given the promise to undertake a caste census, then it should take a decision,” said Athawale. When asked if he would exert pressure on the government to fulfill the promise, he said, “I will take it up with the government, and will talk to PM Modi.”
He also said there is a feeling in the government that a caste census will breed casteism. “There is a fear that the census will lead to casteism. We can’t wish away caste though, in 1948 negative discrimination based on caste was banned by law. It was further enshrined in the Constitution in 1950. But still lots of atrocities are happening in the name of caste,” he said.
