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The Hindu
03-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Modi urged to amend Census Act for effective caste enumeration
HYDERABAD Telangana BC Commission former chairman Vakulabharanam Krishna Mohan Rao has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to initiate necessary legislative and procedural reforms to ensure the success of the caste census. In an open letter to the Prime Minister on Saturday, Mr. Rao hailed the Centre's decision to include caste enumeration in the next census but pointed out legal shortcomings in the current Census Act of 1948 regarding caste surveys. 'The Census Act, 1948, empowers the central government to conduct the census, but it lacks clarity on the enumeration of specific castes,' he said. Since 1951, only Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) have been enumerated, with no clear legal authority to count other castes, he added. Mr. Rao cited the Socio-Economic and Caste Census in 2011, conducted by the Ministries of Rural Development and Urban Development, which lacked statutory backing, proper classification, and faced data inaccuracies. 'Consequently, the data failed legal scrutiny and was rendered ineffective for policy decisions, resulting in the wastage of significant public funds and effort,' he noted. To avoid similar issues, Mr. Rao underscored the need for explicit legal authority in the Census Act for collecting data on non-SC/ST castes. He suggested several amendments, including, data protection measures to comply with the Right to Privacy judgment (Puttaswamy, 2017), legal stability in line with IR Coelho (2007), statistical data aligning with the principles laid down in Indra Sawhney (1992) to substantiate backwardness, compliance with the Triple Test outlined in Vikas Gawali (2021), and data collection adhering to the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023. Mr. Rao stressed that caste census must be followed by statutory reforms.
Time of India
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Caste census raises concerns among BC leaders over classification challenges
Hyderabad: With the Centre announcing plans to conduct a nationwide population and caste census , several Backward Classes (BC) leaders in Telangana have expressed concern over how the complex issue of varying caste classifications across states will be addressed. Their curiosity and caution stem from the fact that many BC castes are categorised differently in different states, raising fears of confusion and conflict. Some leaders also recalled the flawed implementation of the previous socio-economic caste census (SECC) conducted by the former UPA govt, pointing out that it was marred by inaccuracies and never released for public use. The report was ultimately shelved, despite the significant resources spent. The core concern lies in the lack of uniformity in BC and OBC classifications. Different states maintain separate OBC lists, with several castes being recognised under entirely different categories. For instance, the Boya Valmiki community is listed as OBC in Telangana, but as ST in Karnataka, while Lambadas are recognised as ST in Telangana, but classified as OBC (denotified tribe) in Maharashtra. In Andhra Pradesh, Boya Valmikis, Yellapi, and Yellapu are considered STs, while in Telangana they are included under BCs. Munnuru Kapus are BCs in Telangana, but OCs (open category) in AP. Similarly, Kalingas and Toorupu Kapus, who are BCs in AP, fall under different categories in Telangana. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 2025 Top Trending local enterprise accounting software [Click Here] Esseps Learn More Undo At a press conference on Thursday, chief minister A Revanth Reddy questioned whether the Centre would opt for a single national OBC list or continue with state-specific OBC lists as is currently practised. A senior Telangana BC leader echoed this sentiment. "It's not just Telangana or AP. States like Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and regions like Vidarbha face similar challenges. The BC population is extremely diverse, with countless sub-castes, gotras, surnames, clans, and synonyms involved," he observed. According to sources, the Telangana govt has received requests from 26 castes originally from AP, whose names were removed from Telangana's OBC list on the grounds that they were non-native. These groups argue that they have been living in Telangana for several decades and should therefore be recognised as BCs in the state. The Telangana BC Commission is expected to deliberate on this soon. Experts call for framework Former BC commission chairman Vakulabharanam Krishna Mohan Rao emphasised the importance of conducting a credible and scientifically sound caste census, especially as it would form the basis for future reservation policies. "The SECC-2011 was riddled with errors—ranging from inconsistent methodology and inaccurate caste names to occupational misclassifications. In 2021, the Centre admitted in an affidavit to the Supreme Court that the data was unusable for governance, despite spending ₹5,000 crore," he said. He also recalled that in 2015, an expert committee led by NITI Aayog's Arvind Panagariya was tasked with correcting 46 lakh erroneous caste entries, but the panel never met, and corrective action was stalled. BC commission chairman G Niranjan pointed out that since the national caste census is expected to take two to three years, the Centre should in the interim recognise Telangana's comprehensive caste survey and permit the state to implement 42% reservations for BCs based on its own findings.
