Why govt is not in favour of caste-based census

Even as the Union cabinet spent a considerable amount of time discussing caste-based census and whether the demand for it is justified or feasible, sources say that the government is not in favour of such a move as it is fraught with a number of dangers and -- as some members said -- 'will institutionalise the caste-based polarisation in society'.

With the cabinet having decided to discuss the issue further because of its 'import', sources say that the government and the Home Ministry, the nodal agency for this, had clearly spelt out its thinking when it began the huge census exercise from April 1 this year without incorporating caste based census within its purview.

The Home Ministry is learnt to have prepared a discussion paper on this issue, which was the basis of discussions within the cabinet. A home ministry official said that enumerators who are conducting the nation wide census have neither been trained for a caste-based census nor is it possible to ensure that the exercise can be handled at this stage.

The thinking is that it is a highly complex and complicated issue with one caste being forward in one state and being declared backward in another state. Whether the people being interviewed would give the correct information, provide proof of their caste or their economic standing, their income and other such material required are issues, which are learnt to have come up in the cabinet meeting.
 
The Yadav parties have been holding up Parliament asking for a caste-based census and now a discussion is slated for Wednesday in the Lok Sabha on this issue, but whether the House is allowed to run and whether the discussion takes place, remains to be seen.

Sources say that Home Minister P Chidambaram had spoken to the registrar general asking for the possibility of a caste-based census, but he had been told that it was not possible on a nationwide scale.

A senior minister said that while caste is a highly visible reality of India and that the country provides for caste based reservations in jobs, education and other spheres, the Congress as a party has never openly practiced or preached caste as the basis of their decision-making

on key issues.

He said that in such a scenario, having a caste-based census would be tantamount to institutionalising caste and the subsequent polarisation, which can be expected.

Senior leaders are of the view that while the Yadav parties would be making such a demand because of the very nature of their politics, the Congress-led UPA government would have to take a broader and more holistic view of the issue and whether it would further polarise an already badly divided society.

The Union cabinet did, however, clear the setting of the legislative council in Tamil Nadu with the Government moving fast to bring it before Parliament for its approval before the two houses shut down on May 7.

DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who was in Delhi, is pressurising the government to pass it quickly, as he would like to set up the council before the state goes to the polls.

There is serious thinking within the DMK on the advisability of going in for early elections in the state, which are due in May next year.

A DMK leader said that polls could be advanced to November this year and in that situation, the DMK would like the council to be in place before they go to the polls. The decision to clear the Tamil Nadu council would fuel the demand from other states to set up their own councils. Rajasthan is already asking for it.

It was in 1986 that the then chief minister M G Ramachandran had dissolved the Tamil Nadu legislative council to stop Karunanidhi from coming back into the assembly through the council after he had lost the elections. And now Karunanidhi, who is expected to lead his party in the polls, would like the council to be back.