Editor's Pick | Centre debates taking a caste count during Census

The Union government is yet to take a call on conducting the next Census, but active discussion is on to expand the data collection to include caste enumeration, a top government source told The Hindu. “Discussions are on to include a column to record the caste of people during the next Census exercise. No decision has been taken yet,” the source said. The move comes amid persistent demands by the Congress and other political parties, including National Democratic Alliance partners of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, to record caste. “One of the reasons that has indefinitely delayed the Census is also the demand by political parties to conduct a caste census. Any wrong narrative can upset the whole exercise,” the source said. Other than enumerating the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), a caste-wise count of population as part of the Census has not been done in Independent India. In 2011, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) conducted the first-ever caste count, separate from the Census exercise, but the findings were never made public. In 2015, the Congress government in Karnataka commissioned a caste Census, but the report was not made public. Bihar was one of the first States to conduct and publish a caste Census in 2023. Collected in offline and digital modes, the enumerators were given a list of 215 categories, from which people had to choose their caste. In 2021, the Union government submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court that the caste data enumerated in the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) of 2011 was fraught with “mistakes and inaccuracies”. The total number of castes, according to the 1931 Census, was 4,147 and the SECC compiled more than 46 lakh castes, sub-castes and names. “Assuming that some castes may bifurcate into sub-castes, the total number cannot be exponentially high to this extent,” the affidavit read, adding that the data cannot be relied on for reservation in education, employment or elections to local authorities. The Census, last held in 2011, was to be undertaken in two phases: houselisting and housing schedule in 2020 and population enumeration in 2021, but it was indefinitely delayed, initially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Population Register (NPR) is also to be updated simultaneously with the first phase of the Census. The next Census will also be the first digital Census where respondents will have the option to fill the questionnaire on their own. The deadline to freeze administrative boundaries of districts, tehsils, towns and municipal bodies, among others, lapsed on June 30 this year. The order to freeze the boundaries, usually issued three months before the first phase of Census, has been extended 10 times since 2019. The 31 questions for the first phase — houselisting and housing schedule — were notified on January 9, 2020. As many as 28 questions have been finalised for the second phase — population enumeration — but are yet to be notified. The final set of questions for both the phases were asked during a pre-test exercise in 2019 in 76 districts in 36 States and Union Territories, covering a population of more than 26 lakh. In an editorial, The Hindu had pointed out that for smooth planning and implementation of administrative, welfare and statistical management for governance, the Union government must show alacrity in commencing the Census. 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[View in browser]( [More newsletters]( Centre debates taking a caste count during Census The Union government is yet to take a call on conducting the next Census, but active discussion is on to [expand the data collection to include caste enumeration]( a top government source told The Hindu.  “Discussions are on to include a column to record the caste of people during the next Census exercise. No decision has been taken yet,” the source said. The move comes amid persistent demands by the Congress and other political parties, including National Democratic Alliance partners of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, to record caste. “One of the reasons that has indefinitely delayed the Census is also the demand by political parties to conduct a caste census. Any wrong narrative can upset the whole exercise,” the source said. Other than enumerating the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), a caste-wise count of population as part of the Census has not been done in Independent India. In 2011, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) conducted the first-ever caste count, separate from the Census exercise, but the findings were never made public. In 2015, the Congress government in Karnataka commissioned a caste Census, but the report was not made public. [Bihar was one of the first States to conduct and publish a caste Census in 2023](. Collected in offline and digital modes, the enumerators were given a list of 215 categories, from which people had to choose their caste. [In 2021, the Union government submitted an affidavit]( in the Supreme Court that the caste data enumerated in the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) of 2011 was fraught with “mistakes and inaccuracies”. The total number of castes, according to the 1931 Census, was 4,147 and the SECC compiled more than 46 lakh castes, sub-castes and names. “Assuming that some castes may bifurcate into sub-castes, the total number cannot be exponentially high to this extent,” the affidavit read, adding that the data cannot be relied on for reservation in education, employment or elections to local authorities. The Census, last held in 2011, was to be undertaken in two phases: houselisting and housing schedule in 2020 and population enumeration in 2021, but it was indefinitely delayed, initially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [The National Population Register (NPR) is also to be updated simultaneously with the first phase of the Census]( The next Census will also be the first digital Census where respondents will have the option to fill the questionnaire on their own. The deadline to freeze administrative boundaries of districts, tehsils, towns and municipal bodies, among others, lapsed on June 30 this year. The order to freeze the boundaries, usually issued three months before the first phase of Census, has been extended 10 times since 2019. The 31 questions for the first phase — houselisting and housing schedule — were notified on January 9, 2020. As many as 28 questions have been finalised for the second phase — population enumeration — but are yet to be notified. The final set of questions for both the phases were asked during a pre-test exercise in 2019 in 76 districts in 36 States and Union Territories, covering a population of more than 26 lakh. In an editorial, The Hindu had pointed out that for smooth planning and implementation of administrative, welfare and statistical management for governance,[the Union government must show alacrity in commencing the Census.]( The Hindu’s Editorials [Arrow][​Double brake: On the contest in the Haryana Assembly elections]( [Arrow][​Power play: On hydropower projects and the environmentÂ]( The Hindu’s Daily Quiz Name the Hollywood film that Victor Banerjee is acted in 1984. - Million Dollar Arm - Gandhi - A Passage to India - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom To know the answer and to play the full qiuiz, [click here](. 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