Caste census between June and Sep next year

The caste census would be carried out by the government between June and September next year, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Friday.

"It was decided that caste will be canvassed through a separate house-to-house survey between June and September, 2011," Chidambaram told mediapersons at his monthly press meet in New Delhi.

Bowing to demands by several political parties, government had last month decided to carry out a separate caste census next year.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had told the Lok Sabha recently that all political parties had supported the idea of including caste in census and there was no need for any 'apprehensions' over the issue.

His statement had come after leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party, Janata Dal-United, Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party wanted to know as to what happened to the government's promise to carry out a caste census.

The group of ministers, which examined the issue, had decided that caste census should be carried out during house enumeration exercise.