Caste Census must not be weakened through methodology: Karnataka Dy CM to Union govt

Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister, G. Parameshwara, on Friday accused the BJP-led Union Government of attempting to weaken the caste census through its proposed methodology and said the exercise must produce accurate and usable data rather than merely adding a caste-related question to the Census questionnaire. It can be noted that Parameshwara is one of the frontline leaders hailing from the Dalit community in the state.

In a statement, Parameshwara claimed the NDA government at the Centre had been forced to accept caste enumeration after years of opposing it, and warned that the exercise should not now be made meaningless through an inadequate methodology.

“For years, the BJP-led Union Government opposed caste enumeration. In 2021, the Union Government told Parliament that it had taken a policy decision not to enumerate caste-wise population,” he said.

Parameshwara said the Congress had consistently demanded an updated caste census, with AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi making social justice, representation and equitable distribution of opportunities central issues.

He said the Union government eventually announced caste enumeration as part of the 2027 Census and welcomed the decision. However, he questioned whether the government would conduct a genuine census capable of generating reliable data on the social composition of the country.

Expressing concern over the proposed methodology, Parameshwara said an open-ended system for OBCs and other communities without a standardised and verified caste framework could lead to the same community being recorded under different spellings, sub-caste names, regional identities and local names.

“This could result in thousands of separate entries representing the same community,” he said, adding that fragmentation would make it difficult to determine the actual population of individual communities.

Parameshwara questioned why India could maintain standardised lists for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes but could not develop a scientific framework for enumerating OBCs. He said the Centre and states already maintain lists of Backward Classes and socially and educationally backward communities and have decades of administrative experience in implementing reservation and welfare programmes.

He suggested that the Union government bring together Central and State lists, develop standard caste codes and create a system to map alternative names, sub-castes and regional identities to appropriate standard categories.

The Deputy Chief Minister said Karnataka had already undertaken an extensive Social and Educational Survey, while Bihar had conducted a caste-based survey and Telangana had also undertaken caste enumeration. He urged the Centre to learn from the experience of states and consult state governments, experts, political parties and community representatives before finalising the methodology.

Calling the caste census an “instrument of social justice”, Parameshwara said contemporary and comprehensive caste data was necessary to frame policies relating to reservation, education, employment, welfare, political representation and economic opportunities.

He said reliable data was particularly important for AHINDA communities, comprising minorities, Backward Classes and Dalits, to assess social and educational backwardness and ensure equitable access to development opportunities.

Parameshwara urged the Union government to reconsider the open-ended methodology, establish a scientifically standardised national caste list and coding framework, harmonise Central and State OBC/SEBC lists while protecting State-specific identities, and establish a transparent mechanism to map alternative names and sub-castes.

He also called for a system to record genuinely unlisted communities for subsequent verification and urged consultations with states, political parties, social justice experts and community representatives.

“The people of India did not demand a caste census merely so that a caste question could be added to a questionnaire. They demanded it because India needs to know the truth about its social composition,” he said.

Parameshwara said the Union government must either conduct a genuine caste census or explain why it was “afraid of counting the truth”, stressing that caste data should be used to build the next generation of social justice.

IANS