Why Tamil Nadu is pressing Centre for a caste census

The call for a caste-based census has been a contentious issue in national politics, with various states and political parties advocating for it to address socio-economic disparities. In Tamil Nadu, the demand has been particularly strong due to the state’s history of caste-based reservations and social justice movements.

There was 16 percent reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and 25 percent for other backward classes (OBC) in 1951. The Karunanidhi regime, in 1971, had increased the OBC reservation to 30%, and for SCs and STs to 18%. His third regime conferred a 20% exclusive reservation, a radical move, for most backward classes (MBCs) by taking them away from the OBC category. The impact of this reform was that, for instance, 187 seats were reserved for MBC students in 1989-90 as compared to 65 in 1988-89.

During the debate in the assembly, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) MLA R Arul voiced his disagreement with the resolution, suggesting that the state government itself could conduct a caste-based census. However, Law Minister S Regupathy countered this by explaining the legal constraints. “Though the state government could undertake the exercise of a caste-based census under the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008, the Census Act could override this,” he said.

Chief Minister Stalin also addressed the House, recalling his previous communication with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2023, where he demanded a caste census alongside the general census. “The decisions and acts of a state government can get legal protection only if they are done on the basis of data collected by the Centre. If state governments collect data through surveys, these may be stayed by the courts in the future,” he said.

Stalin explained that under Section 3 of the Census Act, only the Union government is authorised to conduct a census. While there is an argument that a state government could conduct a caste-based census as per the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008, this act only permits the collection of data on socio-economic conditions, not a comprehensive caste census.

The resolution came after PMK floor leader G K Mani raised the issue of a 10.5% reservation for the Vanniyar community.

Mani demanded the implementation of separate reservation for Vanniyars, and Stalin replied that this would be possible only after a caste-based census was conducted. “Even in Bihar, the caste-wise census has been stayed by the High Court,” Stalin said, and reminded Mani that his own party, the PMK, is part of the NDA alliance.

On Monday, Law Minister Regupathy, who engaged in the debate, reiterated that the 10.5% reservation for Vanniyars was struck down by the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court due to the lack of proper socio-economic data. He emphasised that the current government had provided additional terms of reference to the Backward Classes Commission and supplied data on educational and employment opportunities. However, comprehensive socio-economic data could only be collected through a nationwide caste census.