Caste census without deadline makes no sense: Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi: A timeline must be fixed for carrying out the caste census announced by the union government on Wednesday, demanded the Congress party.

“Headline without deadline makes no sense”, remarked Congress general secretary-communication, Jairam Ramesh while addressing a press conference on the issue here today.

Quoting the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who asked for a specific timeline, Ramesh raised several questions about the real intentions behind the U-turn by the Modi government on caste census.

He pointed out, till the recent past the BJP and the Prime Minister Modi had been opposing the caste census. He quoted Modi having said last year that those demanding the caste census in the country were “urban-Naxals”.

“Have the Prime Minister and Home Minister also become urban Naxals’ now since they have announced plans to carry out the caste census in the country?” the senior Congress leader asked.

Jairam Ramesh also reiterated the party’s demand for amending the constitution to remove the fifty percent ceiling on the reservations for the SCs, STs and the OBCs. He said, the findings of the caste census will not serve any purpose if the constitution is not amended on the 50 percent ceiling. He pointed out, any measure the government may need to take will be unconstitutional as long as the constitution is not amended.

He asked the government to call the parliament session to pass a law, if its intentions about the caste census are genuine and not merely for managing the headlines alone.

The Congress general secretary demanded the implementation of the Article 15(5) of the Constitution of India under which reservations will have to be provided in the private educational institutions also. He said, it is very much a law and needs to be implemented only.

Expressing apprehensions about the real intentions of the government behind the sudden and unexpected announcement on caste census, he pointed out, there was insufficient budgetary allocation for carrying out the caste census.

He disclosed that in December 2019, when the cabinet had announced to conduct the census in 2021, it had allocated Rs 8,254 crores for this purpose. He said, compared to that, in the current budget, the Census Commissioner, responsible for holding the census, has been allocated a meagre Rs 575 crores. He asked, how can the census be carried out with such less amount of money, when the government had itself allocated Rs 8,254 crores four years ago. Now, he pointed out, it should cost more.

Jairam Ramesh, who served as a minister during the UPA regime, said he was happy that the government of India was using the data collected during the Socio-Economic and Caste Census conducted by the UPA government in 2011. He disclosed that about 25 crores families were reached out during that census. He said, although the government had not published the data, it was using it for various schemes.

Jairam Ramesh called upon the union government to start moving in this direction and take the state governments into confidence. He also wanted the Prime Minister to assure the nation that not only will the caste census be carried out, but follow-up action will also be taken.

For that, he observed, preparations are needed to be made from now only, like amending the constitution to remove the 50 percent ceiling on reservations.

Jairam Ramesh also announced that the Congress Working Committee will be meeting here tomorrow in wake of the announcement of caste census.