The government on Thursday assured the Lok Sabha that the exercise of caste census would be carried out as per the suggestions made by the members.
Responding to the concerns raised by the members over the format of the caste census, Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee said there were problems at the implementation level which would be sorted out. ``We will look into it so that it is implemented in the same format as suggested by National Democratic Alliance convenor Sharad Yadav,’’ he said.
Admitting problems in the implementation of the caste census, Mukherjee assured members that government would address the shortcomings. He said the format suggested by Mr Yadav had been forwarded to the Home Ministry and the government would look into it to ensure that it is implemented in the same format.
Mr Yadav raised the issue of caste census as soon as the House met for the day, accusing the government of going back on its word on carrying out the exercise. ``We had decided unanimously to conduct the caste census, but the government has divided it into three parts -- one to be carried out by the State government, by the Rural Development Ministry and by the Urban Development Ministry," the JD(U) chief said.
He said it was the mandate of the Census Commissioner to carry out the caste census and trifurcation of the entire exercise would lead nowhere.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said he failed to understand how a decision taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee was not implemented in the desired manner.
Gopinath Munde of the Bharatiya Janata Party said it was not the mandate of the State governments to carry out a caste census. ``One thing was promised to the Lok Sabha and a completely different thing was being implemented,’’ he said, adding the exercise being undertaken could not be called as a caste census.
Bahujan Samaj Party leader Dara Singh Chauhan said the caste system was a reality and a census would only help in better allocation of resources in the endeavour to bring in social change. Mr T.R. Baalu of the DMK also joined the issue and said a caste census was also needed for social justice.
