Data on caste was last collected in 1931 Census

Census to seek bank a/c, insurance info

NEW DELHI: The Modi government has decided to collect data on other backward classes (OBCs) as part of the 2021 Census in a decision which marks a concession to the demand of the assertive “backwards”.Friday’s decision could also potentially clear the way for sub-categorisation of casteslumped under the OBC rubric.“It is envisaged to collect data on OBCs for the first time,” a home ministry release said soon after home minister Rajnath Singhchaired a meeting to take stock of preparations for Census 2021.This marks the end of policymakers’ squeamishness over restoring caste as an index in population enumeration.Singh asked that improvements in design and technological interventions be made to ensure finalisation of Census data within three years of conducting the headcount. At present, this process can take as long as seven-eight years.The last time data on caste was collected as part of the decennial Census was in 1931.Although a socio-economic caste census (SECC) was conducted between 2011 and 2013 in deference to the demand of the powerful OBC lobby, it was part of the rural development ministry’s survey of socio-economic status ofhouseholds.The decision marks a victory for OBCs, who stridently campaigned for bringing caste back in the Census exercise.They maintain that they constitute more than 50% of the population and it was time this “reality” was acknowledged through the Census.There has, in fact, been much heartburn among the backward classes that the government has given a virtual go-by to the OBC enumeration done through the SECC. The OBC outfits have been complaining that the government did not form the committee to process the data that has been in its possession for the last three years.Sources, however, said the SECC, which was purely a response-based exercise with respondents being asked to mention their castes, threw up a mountain of data which was full of anomalies.While a reliable and accurate headcount of OBCs marks a victory for the “backwards” who have cornered the lion’s share of reservation in government jobs and educational institutions, what might take away their happiness is that this will happen in tandem with a simultaneous exercise to sub-categorise OBCs so as to identify the most backward classes among them that lag far behind the “creamy” layer in terms of ability and achievement.Sources in the home ministry said the proposal to collect data on OBCs as part of Census 2021 was to complement a commission, headed by former Delhi High Court Chief Justice G Rohini, constituted in 2017 to examine sub-categorisation of OBCs . The commission has been tasked with examining the extent of inequitable distribution of reservation benefits among castes or communities with reference to the central OBC list and also work out the mechanism, criteria, norms and parameters in a scientific approach for sub-categorisation.The collection of data on OBCs as part of Census 2021 and the exercise to divide the OBC list is part of the Modi government’s outreach to the non-dominant OBC castes to politically counter dominant and assertive OBC-centric regional parties like RJD and SP.