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- Recently, the Union government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court claiming that a caste census of the Backward Classes is administratively difficult and cumbersome.
- The government’s assertion came in response to a writ petition filed by the State of Maharashtra to gather Backward Classes’ caste data in the State while conducting Census 2021
Important points:
- The Centre reasoned that even when the census of castes were taken in the pre-Independence period, the data suffered in respect of “completeness and accuracy”.
- It said the caste data enumerated in the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) of 2011 is “unusable” for official purposes as they are “replete with technical flaws”.
- The government said caste-wise enumeration in the Census was given up as a matter of policy from 1951.
- Further, the Centre explained that a population census was not the “ideal instrument as many people may not register themselves in the census in the event of hiding their caste.
- This may compromise the “basic integrity” of the census.
- Besides, the government held that, it is too late now to enumerate caste into the Census 2021.
- Planning and preparations for the census exercise started almost four years earlier and the preparations of Census 2021 are almost done.
- It will be useful to establish statistical justification for preserving caste-based affirmative action programmes or welfare schemes.
- It may also be a legal imperative, considering that courts want ‘quantifiable data’ to support the existing levels of reservation.
- Comprehensive exercise to enumerate the caste status of all households in the country will help in identifying poor households and implement anti-poverty programmes.
Difference Between Census & SECC:
- The Census provides a portrait of the Indian population, while the SECC is a tool to identify beneficiaries of state support.
- Since the Census falls under the Census Act of 1948, all data are considered confidential, whereas according to the SECC website, “all the personal information given in the SECC is open for use by Government departments to grant and/or restrict benefits to households.”
Way Forward
Although SECC has its own concerns, linking and syncing aggregated Census data to other large datasets such as the National Sample Surveys may help the governments realize the many socio-economic goals.
SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT
