Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw declared on Wednesday that the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, which is chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had decided to include the caste census in the upcoming national census in a “transparent manner.”
“Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs has decided to include caste enumeration in forthcoming census exercise,” the Union Minister said in a media briefing on Wednesday, adding that it will ensure that the society is economically and socially empowered, and the nation progress as well. The Covid epidemic caused a delay in the census, which was originally scheduled to start in April 2020. The report would have been released in 2021 if the exercise had been completed in accordance with the 10-year plan.
Vaishnaw pointed a gun at the Congress when he announced the major Cabinet decision, claiming that the party has always opposed the caste census. Additionally, he said that other Indian bloc groups were just using the caste-based population figure to further their political agendas.
“Congress governments have always opposed the caste census. In 2010, the late Dr Manmohan Singh said in the Parliament that the matter of caste census should be considered in the Cabinet. A group of ministers was formed to consider this subject. Most of the political parties have recommended a caste census. Despite this, the Congress government thought it appropriate to conduct a survey known as SECC. It is well understood that the Congress and its INDI alliance partners have used the caste census only as a political tool. The subject of census is mentioned at serial number 69 of the Union List of Article 246 of the Constitution and it is a subject of the Center. Some states have conducted surveys to enumerate castes. While some states have done this well, some others conducted such surveys only from a political angle in a non-transparent way,” Vaishnaw said.
The Railways Minister continued by saying that these surveys “created doubts” in society and that caste enumeration should be a part of the census rather than surveys in order to prevent politics from upsetting the social fabric. The Congress, INDIA alliance, and a few regional parties have long demanded that the Center declare a caste census. Karnataka, which is ruled by the Congress, recently conducted its own caste survey.
The Karnataka Vokkaliga and Lingayat minorities, however, objected to it. These groups contend that a comprehensive review is necessary since the ‘Social and Educational Survey Report,’ which was commissioned 10 years ago, does not fairly represent their interests.
Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar and a BJP ally in the state, applauded the Center’s decision to conduct a caste census. “The decision of the Central Government to conduct a caste census is welcome. Our demand for conducting a caste census is old. It is a matter of great happiness that the Central Government has decided to conduct a caste census. Conducting a caste census will reveal the number of people of different classes, which will help in making plans for their upliftment and development. This will accelerate the development of the country. Congratulations and thanks to the Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji for the decision to conduct caste census,” Kumar said in post on X.
Notably, in October 2023, Bihar became the first state to present a caste census report, revealing that 36% of the state’s total population was classified as Extremely Backward. Of the 13 crore people living in Bihar, over 27.13 percent were classified as belonging to the Backward Class. The operation was conducted in two stages, the first of which concentrated on counting households and the second of which collected information on people’s socioeconomic status and caste. When the Center announced a caste census, the BJP’s Bihar unit began to celebrate.
Meanwhile, in a further push to his caste census demand earlier this month, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, pledged that the party would lift the 50 per cent cap on reservations for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) in education and government jobs.
The government authorized the construction of a 166.80 km (NH-6) greenfield high-speed corridor on Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) from Mawlyngkhung (near Shillong) in Meghalaya to Panchgram (near Silchar) in Assam, at a total cost of Rs. 22,864 crore, among other decisions made at the CCPA meeting on Wednesday.
The Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane for the 2025–2026 sugar season was also approved by the Cabinet Committee. It is Rs 355/quintal for a basic recovery rate of 10.25 percent, with a premium of Rs 3.46/quintal for every 0.1% increase in recovery over 10.25 percent and a decrease in FRP of Rs 3.46/quintal for every 0.1% decrease in recovery.
