Will caste count be part of next Census? Centre weighs options amid pressure from Opposition, allies

The Narendra Modi government has delayed the Census exercise ten times since 2021. (File Photo: PTI)

The Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre is considering the inclusion of a caste count as part of the Census exercise which has been pending since 2021. According to a report by The Hindu citing government sources, the government is in active discussions on expanding the data collection exercise to include caste enumeration.

"Discussions are on to include a column to record the caste of people during the next Census exercise. No decision has been taken yet,” the report quoted a source as saying. The Census was last held in 2011 and has been delayed inordinately by the government citing the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify if the government was actively considering the inclusion of caste data or when the Census exercise is likely to begin.

The demand for the inclusion of caste data has been a consistent demand of Opposition parties like the Congress as well as NDA partners like Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party and Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United). As per the government source cited above, the demands by the Opposition to include caste data in the Census is one of the reasons behind the delay.

On Wednesday, news agency Reuters reported that India is likely to kickstart the long-delayed population Census in September. Two government officials directly involved in the process confirmed that the comprehensive survey will take around 18 months to complete, with the results expected to be released by March 2026, according to Reuters.

The report further said that the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation have been working on a detailed timeline for the Census. However, the final approval from the Prime Minister's Office is awaited, the report said.

No caste count has ever been carried out as part of the Census in India till now. In 2011, the Congress-led UPA conducted a separate caste count but did not make the data public. In 2021, the Centre informed the Supreme Court that the caste data collected in the Socio-Economic and Caste Census in 2011 was fraught with "mistakes and inaccuracies".

In 2015, the Congress government in Karnataka commissioned a caste census but is yet to make the data public. In 2023, Bihar became the first state in India to carry out its own caste survey. The exercise was the brainchild of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar who was in power at the time with the Congress, RJD and the Left. He has since rejoined the BJP-led NDA.