In April 2025, the Modi government made a dramatic U-turn and announced that it would count caste in India’s next census. At the time, it made sure to take potshots at its predecessor, the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance government, for not including caste in the 2011 census.
“Most political parties recommended conducting a caste census,” the Cabinet had snidely noted in a press release then. “Despite this, the previous government opted for a survey instead of a caste census, known as the Socio-Economic and Caste Census.”
A year later, however, the Modi government has disclosed that it will follow the same method for counting caste that was used by Manmohan Singh’s administration. This has triggered allegations of sabotage, given that the data collected in 2011 was seen to be so faulty that it was never released.
Scroll spoke to analysts, activists and politicians who advocate for a caste census to understand why these charges have surfaced. Most of them described the chosen methodology for counting caste as a flawed one. They questioned the Modi government’s call to stick to the 2011 model when states such as Bihar and Telangana have, in recent years, carried out caste surveys which they consider to be more robust.
Some critics have even argued that the caste data collected in this...
from Scroll.in https://scroll.in/article/1095187/planned-failure-is-the-modi-government-sabotaging-its-own-caste-census?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=public https://sc0.blr1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/article/215154-stwrmpoosl-1787344345.jpeg
via
0 Comments