Centre may add caste column to census, no decision yet: Sources

The Centre is deliberating over adding a caste column to the census, but no decision has been taken yet, government sources told India Today TV. The Opposition and some parties within the NDA such as Chirag Paswan's LJP, and Ajit Pawar's NCP are in favour of caste census. 

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has made caste census a major issue. Speaking in the Lower House, Gandhi earlier this year said that no power can stop caste census. "India's order has come — soon 90 percent of Indians will support and demand a caste census. Implement the order now, or you will see the next Prime Minister doing it," he said while citing data from India Today's Mood of the Nation (MOTN) Survey.

Calls for a national caste census intensified after Nitish Kumar's JDU conducted a statewide caste survey in Bihar. The survey, released in October last year, revealed that over 80 per cent of the state's population belongs to extremely backward classes. 

The caste census in India was last conducted comprehensively in 1931 under British colonial rule. After India's independence, the government stopped collecting caste data (except for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) for various reasons such as concerns over social division, and complexity & sensitivity as castes have thousands of sub-castes and regional variations. 

In 2011, a 'Socio-Economic and Caste Census' (SECC) was conducted, but its caste data was not officially released, reportedly due to concerns over its accuracy and implications.

India conducts a decennial census (every ten years). The last census was due in 2021, but it could not be conducted due to Covid-19.