Caste Census: Headline high-quality however the place are the deadline and funds?

How severe are the Union authorities and the prime minister about conducting the caste census? Expectations that the missed deadline of the 2021 census can be carried out in 2026 — particularly after the introduction of the Ladies’s Reservation Invoice and hints of a post-census delimitation train — are usually not borne out by budgetary provisions, with the 2025-26 Finances offering solely Rs 575 crore for the census workplace.

As a result of the Union cupboard had cleared an quantity of Rs 8,200 crore for the 2021 census in December 2019, it’s anticipated that the requirement in 2025-26 can be within the vary of Rs 10-12,000 crore. However the present budgetary provision displays no intention on the a part of the federal government to carry a census.

Additionally, the train would take round 10 months from begin to end. Nonetheless, as issues stand, it’s uncertain if the federal government has the inclination or the desire to conduct the train in time to launch the info subsequent yr.

That is without doubt one of the the explanation why the Congress get together is asking the federal government to set a deadline. Simply as the federal government received away by passing the Ladies’s Reservation Invoice — which is to come back into impact solely after the census and the delimitation train — with no particular deadline, it’s feared that it’s going to try to exploit the census announcement for the Bihar election with out making any try to truly conduct the census.

The Congress seems to be in no temper to ease the strain on the prime minister, although, declaring that PM Narendra Modi has maintained a Sphinx-like silence on the caste census over the past 11 years, sometimes condemning it as ‘divisive’ and a ‘sin’.

In a press assertion, the get together identified that even when the census begins in November this yr, it could be August 2026 by the point responses had been cleaned and compiled. The get together would really like the federal government to name a particular session of Parliament and search approval for a supplementary budgetary demand to make sure that the census begins as early as doable.

For the 2021 census, the timeline accredited by the Union cupboard in December 2019 was the next: phase-1, home itemizing and housing census from April-September 2020 and inhabitants enumeration between 9 February and 28 February 2021. An analogous timeline ought to be fastened for the 2026 census as properly, in case the federal government is severe, the Congress feels.

The get together additionally believes that the Union authorities should show its intent by piloting a constitutional modification to extend reservation past 50 per cent as mandated by the Supreme Courtroom. The one state of the Union which permits 69 per cent reservation and enjoys the safety of the Structure is Tamil Nadu. 

The 69 per cent reservation can’t be challenged in courtroom as a result of The Tamil Nadu Backward Lessons, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Instructional Establishments and of appointment or posts within the Providers underneath the State) Act, 1993 was integrated within the ninth Schedule of the Structure in 1994 when P.V. Narasimha Rao was prime minister.

Until the federal government extends related safety to the remainder of the nation via a constitutional modification, the Congress believes, it could not be doable to make sure honest illustration to OBCs, SCs and STs.

Caste surveys carried out in Bihar, Telangana and Karnataka have by and huge indicated the inhabitants of Savarna or upper-caste Hindus to be round 15 per cent. Not solely do they now get pleasure from a ten per cent reservation underneath the EWS (Economically Weaker Sections) which excludes everybody else already having fun with the advantage of reservations, in addition they have a disproportionately excessive share of presidency jobs. 

Breaching the 50 per cent ceiling would be the actual take a look at in states like Bihar, Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab, Telangana, Karnataka and Gujarat, amongst others. Briefly, the Congress needs the Authorities and the PM to stroll the discuss on the caste census.