Caste-wise List will be Added to Indian Census-2011

Thursday, September 9, 2010

In India the process of ‘Census-2011’ is in progress from 1st April 2010.

Census, the process of assessing the total population is usually undertaken once in 10 years. Last census in India was taken in 1990.

In census the following details of the country will be available:-

Total Population,
Number of Males,
Number of Females,
Number of Males above the age of 18(Voting Right Age),
Number of Females above the age of 18(Voting Right Age),
Number of Illiterates.

In India 'Caste-wise Census' was taken in the year 1931 during the British Rule. After 1931 the caste-wise census was not taken in India.

In taking a caste-wise census, there have been practical difficulties such as:-

Some people belonging to certain castes hesitate to disclose their caste to the census-taking officials,
The data collected by the census taking officials may be false, when no proof of caste is demanded from the people at the time of taking census.

Some people think that the bifurcation among the people of India based on caste is removed or must be removed. Such people are against ‘caste-wise census’.

However, the Government of India and the State Governments are following ‘Reservation System’ based on Castes in:-

Admission to Educational Courses, especially in Techinical Courses such as Medical and Engineering etc.,
Employment in Government and in some Private Companies/Firms and even in
Promotions in Jobs.

This Caste-wise reservations are for promoting the standard of living/status of downtrodden people belonging to some castes as scheduled by the Government of India.

Caste-wise reservations are offered in the following Categories:-

Scheduled Castes (SC),
Schedule Tribes (ST),
Most Backward Class (MBC) and
Other Backward Class (OBC).

According to people against the caste-wise reservations:-

Everybody belonging to the above categories given the reservations are not/ will not be below poverty-line, or downtrodden economically.
There are/will be rich people belonging to the above categories,
There are/will be poor/economically downtrodden people belonging to castes not listed in the reservation categories (Forward Class).

Some people suggested to offer reservations based on ‘Income’ and ‘Wealth’. Even the former Chief-Minister of Tamilnadu Dr.M.G.Ramachandran was in favour of such suggestions. However, the Government of India and the State Governments have not perused the possibility of such ‘income based reservations’.

Some Opposition Political parties in India have demanded to have a “Caste-wise Census” because:-There is no data related to caste-wise population in India after 1931 Census,The caste-wise census will enable to fix the reservations in the right proportions to people of various castes and It will help to streamline the reservations for ‘OBCNow, the Union Cabinet, after having consultations with all the political parties, has approved adding a list of Caste-wise Census to the “Census-2011”. The process of caste-wise census’ will be undertaken after completion the census-2011, from June to September 2012.

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