The Telugu Desam Party has urged the Centre to take up caste census of Backward Classes.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu said inclusion of Backward Classes castes in census was essential for their welfare and progress.
Pointing to the fact that the Backward Classes constituted the majority of the population in the country but were a “neglected lot”, the TDP leader recalled that Kaka Kalelkar Commission, the first Backward Classes Commission constituted in 1953, and other subsequent Commissions, including the ones formed by the State governments, had recommended enumeration of the Backward Classes in the census.
Referring to speculation that a caste census would further deepen the existing social divisions and promote discrimination, Mr. Naidu maintained that exclusion of caste data would be as unjust as the caste-based discrimination itself. “Lack of data will only result in inefficient policies and weak implementation of schemes meant for the welfare and development of the BCs,” he said.
He said previous data was almost 90 years old and therefore, outdated and that welfare schemes could not be implemented based on it and urged for the “right steps towards creating an egalitarian society.”
Mr. Naidu said effective implementation of Articles 15 (4) and 16 (4) of the Constitution dealing with reservations for Backward Classes in educational institutions and State services was not possible without estimating the population of BCs to understand the proportion of their representation in various walks of life.
He said the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, under the TDP rule, had unanimously passed a resolution on Backward Classes caste census and had sent it for Centre’s consideration. “The many policies and schemes for BC welfare have not yielded the desired result in the absence of adequate data on their population. Inclusion of caste data in census enumeration is the only answer to this,” he reiterated.
