Centre’s caste census decision brings focus back on SECC 2011: Why was the data never published?

Since independence, every Census from 1951 to 2011 has collected and published data on SCs and STs, but not on other caste groups.

With the Centre announcing that caste enumeration will be part of the upcoming census, the focus has turned back on the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC), 2011, an exercise that followed the Census of 2011 but the Congress-led UPA government.

A caste census takes place when the government carries out a population-based survey that collects data on the caste composition of a region or country. It includes details such as the distribution of caste groups, their socio-economic conditions, educational status, and related factors.

Since independence, every Census from 1951 to 2011 has collected and published data on Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), but not on other caste groups.

The SECC was carried out alongside the 2011 Census, but its caste data was never released.

Why was SECC 2011 conceptualised?

At the beginning of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's second UPA term, Congress allies—the RJD, the Samajwadi Party (SP), and the Janata Dal(United)—demanded a caste census.

In May 2010, the Congress regime backed the idea of including caste-wise data as a part of the ongoing Census.

How was SECC 2011 conducted?

An NC Saxena-led expert group proposed various indicators such as ownership of land, motorised vehicles, mechanised farm equipment, regular employment, and income taxpayer status for the automatic exclusion of rural households from the Below Poverty List (BPL).

It collected data on various parameters related to individuals and households, including occupation, education, disability, religion, and caste/tribe status. Additionally, the SECC ranked households based on seven deprivation indicators, such as housing type and the presence of adult members.

Why was SECC 2011 data never released?

The enumeration was completed in 2012, and the data was ready by 2013. However, with elections scheduled for 2014, the government decided not to release the data. But the UPA lost power in the May 2014 Lok Sabha polls, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office.

In 2021, then Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai told the Lok Sabha that SECC 2011, excluding the caste data, has been finalised and published by the Ministry of Rural Development and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

In 2021, the Centre also told the Supreme Court that SECC-2011 was not an OBC survey but was a comprehensive exercise to enumerate the caste status of all the households in the country. The Centre said while economic data was used in the implementation of anti-poverty government programmes, the caste data was not disclosed as it cannot be “mentioned as a source of information for population data in any official document”.

Impact of SECC 2011 on Narendra Modi government

Adopting a targeted approach for poverty eradication, the Centre in 2017, however, decided to use the SECC 2011 census instead of BPL data for selecting beneficiaries of state-run social welfare schemes.

The SECC-2011 data has been used for the implementation of various programmes, including Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin, Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission, and Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, as well as to design and administer various welfare programmes/schemes in urban areas.