The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution, proposed by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, urging the Union government to conduct a caste-based census along with the general population census.
“This House considers a caste-based population census essential for formulating policies to ensure equal rights and equal opportunities in education, economy, and employment to every citizen of India. This House, therefore, unanimously urges the Union government to immediately commence the census work, which has been due since 2021, along with a caste-based population census this time,” the resolution said.
PMK member R. Arul, who spoke at the debate, said he would not agree with the resolution because the State government itself could conduct a caste-based census. Law Minister S. Regupathy, however, replied that though the State could conduct a caste-based census under the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008, the Census Act could override it.
Earlier, Mr. Stalin recalled the letter he had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2023, demanding a caste-based census along with the general census. “The decisions and acts of a State government can get legal protection only if they are done on the basis of the data collected by the Centre. If the State governments collect data through surveys, they may be stayed by courts...,” he reasoned.
Mr. Stalin said that under Section 3 of the Census Act, only the Union government could conduct a census. He explained that though there was a perception that a State government could do a caste-based census under the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008, the law allows only collection of socio-economic data. “Under Section 3(a) of the Act, the State government cannot collect data pertaining to entries specified in the Union List in the Seventh Schedule and the census is Entry 69 in the Union List. Also, Section 32 of the Collection of Statistics Act contains a bar on collection of population data, as it can be done only under the Census Act,” he said, pointing to a case in this connection pending in the Supreme Court.
He said the Union government postponed the census because of the COVID-19 pandemic and it could not wait any further to undertake the exercise.
Pointing to the resolution, Mr. Stalin wrote to Mr. Modi on Wednesday, seeking his intervention for undertaking a caste-based census. “In a country like India, the social milieu influences the mobility of various communities across the economic levels. As caste has historically been a key determinant of the prospects of social progress in our society, it is essential that caste-based socio-economic census data be made available in public domain,” he said.
Pointing out that laws and Acts would get legal validity only when they were enacted on the basis of verifiable socio-economic indicators drawn from the decadal census report, Mr. Stalin said no contemporary data were available since the last caste census conducted in India in 1931. “The need for quantifiable data relating to the socio-economic and educational status of various castes, communities, and tribes of the entire population of the State has been emphasised in several judgments of the Supreme Court for classification of Backward Classes and Most Backward Classes,” he said.
Published - June 26, 2024 12:35 pm IST
