GoM favours caste census (Second Lead)

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NEW DELHI - The Group of Ministers (GoM) on caste-based census headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday decided in favour of caste enumeration, official sources said.

The sources said that the GoM will convey its decision to the Cabinet for a final decision on the issue.

At its meeting July 1, the GoM had decided to seek the views of political parties in four weeks on the need for a caste-based headcount.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had told the GoM that the party was not against caste being enumerated in the ongoing census, the Congress said that it will go by the consensus view on the demand for caste-based census.

The GoM on caste census includes union ministers Sharad Pawar, A.K. Antony, P. Chidambaram, Mamata Banerjee, M. Veerapa Moily, Farooq Abdullah, Dayanidhi Maran, Kapil Sibal, Mukul Wasnik and Salman Khurshid.

Sources said that the caste census is expected to be done at the biometric phase of the census.

They said that there were suggestions within the government that the caste data of a person should be done along with the economic profiling.

The meeting comes in the backdrop of political parties such as the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) exerting pressure on the government to take an early decision on a caste-based census.

JD-U chief Sharad Yadav had last month written a letter to Mukherjee, urging him to expedite a decision on the issue.

BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, in her letter to Mukherjee, also said the caste-based census should be conducted in a manner that the integrity of the headcount is not affected.

Swaraj, who is Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said the party had already clarified in parliament that it was not opposed to the proposal.

Congress spokesman Manish Tewari had Tuesday said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was endeavouring for a consensus on the issue and the Congress will be with the consensus that emerges.