The Centre’s decision not to release caste-wise data collected as part of its Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 has come as a disappointment to political parties in Tamil Nadu.
Parties that draw their support from Other Backward Classes are eager to know the strength of castes enjoying quotas so that the quantum of 69 per cent total reservation prevailing in the State survives judicial scrutiny. The Supreme Court has indicated that States with reservation in excess of 50 per cent should come out with quantifiable data to support their high levels of reservation.
The release of caste data could have offered an advantage to parties with a support base in specific communities. The PMK, for instance, has been saying Vanniyars are the single largest community in the State after Dalits. Enthused by PMK's success, more and more caste outfits masquerade as parties and caste enumeration would have shed some light on their claims of about the strength of the communities they seek to represent.
It is not just Dr Ramadoss who is pressing for caste enumeration. Even DMK leader M. Karunanidhi had in the past demanded that the Centre undertake a caste-based census.
