Cabinet approves caste census: 10 things you need to know about it

📌 Vaishnaw reiterated that only the Union Government can officially conduct a census, dismissing the credibility of state-level surveys done with political motives.

📌 Vaishnaw slammed the Congress and INDIA alliance, saying they used caste surveys for political gains without transparency or legal mandate.

📌 Post-Independence censuses (1951–2011) included data on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes but excluded broader caste enumeration.

📌 The last full caste-based Census was done in 1931. Although caste data was collected in 1941, it was never published due to the global crisis of World War II.

📌 Without a proper caste census, there are only estimates—like the Mandal Commission’s 52 per cent figure for OBCs—used for policymaking and electoral strategy.

📌 The UPA government initiated the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC), but only socioeconomic data was released—caste data was withheld.

📌 While BJP leaders like Pankaja Munde and parties like Congress have supported the census, the implementation has often stalled due to political complexities.

📌 Past efforts have faced significant bureaucratic and classification challenges. Issues like multiple caste names, overlapping categories, and unclear status of inter-caste and migrant individuals make accurate data collection complex.

📌 Different states maintain varying lists of OBCs, with some including sub-categories like Most Backward Classes. These inconsistencies have complicated past attempts at creating a unified caste data set.

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