Recently, Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs has approved the inclusion of Caste enumeration in the upcoming Census.
Census in India
- Census is a Union subject (entry 69 of the union list under Schedule VII) under Article 246 of the constitution.
- Census Act, 1948 provides a plan for conducting population census along with the duties and responsibilities of census officers.
Significance of Caste enumeration in Census
- Judicial requirement: States must conclude the “backwardness” of a particular class of people only after proper assessment and objective evaluation. (Indra Sawhney & Others v. UoI, 1992)
- Supreme Court also held that such a conclusion must be subject to periodic review by permanent body of experts.
- Social justice: Caste census along with other data might be helpful for drawing up fresh list of socially and educationally backward classes.
- Census caste data may also enable more equitable distribution of reservation benefits by making it possible to devise a ‘quota-within-quota’ (sub-categorization) system.
- Policy making: Caste census data will help in formulation of more informed and evidence-based policy making to cater to the needs and demands of the underprivileged and downtrodden.
