Process for census initiated, 'open' on caste count: Govt

NEW DELHI: Centre on Sunday said it has initiated the exercise to conduct the census and an announcement in this regard is expected soon while indicating it had an "open mind" on adding a caste column in the decennial enumeration, which has been delayed since Covid outbreak.

"Work on holding the census is already on and a decision in this regard is likely soon," a senior govt functionary said on the condition of anonymity.

Several opposition parties and BJP allies have been demanding a caste count and RSS has said it had no problem with the exercise so long as the findings were used for welfare schemes, and not for "politics".

The functionary asserted that one nation-one election, a key govt priority, will be implemented during the current Modi govt's tenure.

Rollout of women's quota, enacted last year, tied to census
Modalities of holding elections to state assemblies and Lok Sabha simultaneously were being worked out, a senior govt functionary said, adding, "Definitely, one nation-one election will be implemented in this tenure itself. It will be a reality."

In his Independence Day address last month, PM Modi had made a strong pitch for one nation-one election, contending that frequent polls were creating hurdles in the country's progress.

The functionary, who didn't wish to be named, also said groundwork for holding the census has begun - it is the first time that govt has confirmed the likelihood of census being conducted shortly, as well as the possibility of including caste in the exercise. "This (caste count) is yet to be decided," the functionary said.

The last census with a caste column in it was conducted in 1931, with govt doing away with the exercise after independence. The first phase of this decade's census was expected to begin on April 1, 2020 but had to be postponed due to Covid-19. Implementation of the Women's Reservation Act, enacted by Parliament last year, too is linked to the census.

The law reserving one-third of seats for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies will come into effect after an exercise of delimitation is undertaken based on the first census recorded after the Act came into force. The functionary said govt is confident that its legislative agenda will be successfully passed and it was naive to say govt was soft and that there was pressure from allies, citing tough decisions like waqf board reforms, which have been initiated to bring transparency, which was a "blow to the politics of appeasement".

Meanwhile, this census exercise will be the first digital one giving citizens the opportunity to self-enumerate. NPR has been made compulsory for citizens who want to exercise the right to fill the census form on their own rather than through govt enumerators.


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