Caste-based census: Oppn chokes LS proceedings

The Opposition's demand to count castes in the just started census forced two adjournments in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Opposition members stormed to the Well of the House on Monday and ultimately secured the government's nod for a discussion on the issue in the on Tuesday.

Speaker Meira Kumar got the papers and bills listed on the agenda moved, including a controversial one for allowing foreign universities to set up institutions in India, amid pandemonium and adjourned the House for the post-lunch session.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj raised the census issue again when Deputy Speaker Kariya Munda was in the chair, and stressed various 'anomalies' be removed before allowing census to be carried on. She also expressed fear that even the illegal migrants (from Bangladesh) will also get counted as Indians under the present methodology.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal conceded a short-duration debate on the issue on Tuesday, and a possible government reply on Wednesday if the debate goes on for whole of the day. But still the Opposition members kept attacking the government on its 'hesitation' to count the backward classes in particular.

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav accused the government of 'suppressing the reality of the backward class percentage going up by not allowing a caste-based census that has not been carried out since 1931, to know the real number of the Other Backward Classes.' He said the OBCs are not getting their due share in terms of reservation, since their latest count is not available.

Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav said the castes are a reality, and more so with the government giving caste-based reservation, and hence a census will ensure that people will know what the real number of the OBC are. He was supported by Bahujan Samaj Party leader Dara Singh Chauhan, Janata Da-United chief Sharad Yadav and others.

Sharad Yadav regretted that the 'government had no problems in counting even non-Indian outsiders in the census, but not those who enjoy various government facilities like reservation.'

Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta wanted an all-party meeting to decide the ticklish issue of having a column for castes in the census form.

However, CPI-Marxist leader Basudeb Acharia said castes divide the society and hence his party is opposed to the caste-based census. But since the OBCs are already determined and given recognition, he said he did not understood why they should not be counted when Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are duly counted.