New Delhi, September 09: The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the proposal for separate caste-based census approval.
The proposal was prepared by the Home Ministry on the recommendation of a GoM headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.
The decision to conduct caste-based census after a long gap of 80 years was taken by the Cabinet meet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
According to the proposal caste-based census will collect the data of Schedule Caste (SC), Schedule Tribe (ST) and other castes in the country. The caste-based census will start between June 2011 to September 2011.
“After considering various options based on the response of political parties, the cabinet decided that a separate house-to-house enumeration of caste will be done from June to September 2011,” Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters here.
The cabinet meeting was presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Chidambaram said it had been decided to go for a separate enumeration of caste based on the response of political parties that caste should be canvassed but the integrity of the headcount in census 2011 should be protected.
The minister said a suitable legal system for collection of data on caste would be formulated in consultation with the law ministry.
The office government is to constitute an expert group to classify the caste/tribe census after the present enumeration is completed.
He said the Registrar General and Census Commissioner’s office will hand over the details of the castes/tribes to the proposed expert group.
India has not done any caste-wise enumeration after independence. The last caste-wise collection of data took place in the 1931 census.
Various political parties, notably the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal-United, have sought a caste-based census. The government assured parliament that a decision will be taken on the issue soon.
There were different views within the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party on the need for a caste headcount.
A Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee deliberated on the matter in three meetings and gave its recommendations last month favouring caste enumeration.
The last caste-based census was held in 1931 and demand for caste-based census was also raised in parliament several times.
The Prime Minister had formed a Group of Ministers (GoM) under the leadership of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
—Agencies