Socio economic, caste census website out of order, Ministry cites ‘technical reasons’

Although its caste-wise data was never made public, the SECC 2011 offers insights about the economic deprivation of social groups such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs.

The caste census was conducted under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs. (File photo_

The data of the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011, the first nationwide caste-based headcount since 1931, is no longer available in public domain as the portal that hosts it has been down for months now.

Although its caste-wise data was never made public, the SECC 2011 offers insights about the economic deprivation of social groups such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs. This information is used by the Government to identify beneficiaries of several schemes including Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri, Jan Arogya Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin.

Several political parties such as the Congress and the Samajwadi Party have made a strong pitch for conduct of the caste census ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Bihar has already released its own caste survey data.

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The last captured snapshots of the SECC portal — http://www.secc.gov.in) — on the Internet Archive’s wayback machine are dated January 6, 2024.

When contacted, the Ministry of Rural Development, which is responsible for maintaining the portal, said “there is an outage of the SECC website due to technical reasons”. “[The] Ministry is making all out efforts to make the web-site live again,” it said.

According to sources, the issue was flagged during MoRD’s internal meetings at least twice since January. During one such meeting on January 24, it was noted that the AMC (annual maintenance contract) for SECC hardware was to be “renewed.”

Again, on February 6, it was emphasized that the SECC servers were to be “restored by the end of this week.”

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The SECC was conducted in 2011 by three separate authorities— the census in rural areas was conducted by the MoRD; in urban areas, it was conducted under the administrative jurisdiction of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA). And the caste census was conducted under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Harikishan Sharma

Harikishan Sharma, Senior Assistant Editor at The Indian Express' National Bureau, specializes in reporting on governance, policy, and data. He covers the Prime Minister’s Office and pivotal central ministries, such as the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Cooperation, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Rural Development, and Ministry of Jal Shakti. His work primarily revolves around reporting and policy analysis. In addition to this, he authors a weekly column titled "STATE-ISTICALLY SPEAKING," which is prominently featured on The Indian Express website. In this column, he immerses readers in narratives deeply rooted in socio-economic, political, and electoral data, providing insightful perspectives on these critical aspects of governance and society. ... Read More

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