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Modi govt confirms: No caste data to be released in Census 2021

The forthcoming Census will be the first digital Census and there is a provision for self-enumeration, the minister said, adding that the mobile app for collection of data and a Census portal for management and monitoring of various Census-related activities have been developed.

Centre confirms No caste data to be released in Census 2021-VPN
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New Delhi, First Published Aug 10, 2021, 1:55 PM IST

The Centre on Tuesday clarified that there is no proposal to release the caste data in Census 2021.

In a written reply in Lok Sabha, MoS Home Nityanand Rai said that at this stage there is no proposal to release the caste data.

The forthcoming Census will be the first digital Census and there is a provision for self-enumeration, the minister said, adding that the mobile app for collection of data and a Census portal for management and monitoring of various Census-related activities have been developed.

BJP's ally and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been seeking the counting of castes.

Dismissing speculation that his demand was political in nature, Nitish said that he was seeking the data to understand the actual status of various castes, which can be used to re-model development projects.

Another ally of the BJP, the Apna Dal, too, has been seeking a caste-based census. The demand assumes significance as it comes just months ahead of the election in Uttar Pradesh. 

To note, Uttar Pradesh has the single largest segment of OBC category voters, and the Apna Dal's contention is that the population of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have been counted in every Census post-Independence, but the same has not been done for the OBCs.

Besides political parties, even the National Commission for Backward Classes has urged the Narendra Modi government to gather data on the OBC population in Census 2021.

The 2021 census, which was to start from April last year, had to be rescheduled in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Census operations are expected to resume soon, reports said, adding that the government wants to wind up the operation by February next year.

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