TeaThe Narendra Modi government will not count castes in India, and now, will not allow state governments to do the same.
Without counting castes, there can be no empirical data for affirmative action and implementation of reservation policies. The courts will ask for the data. Thus, reservation policies will always face legal hurdles. No data is meant to be arbitrary on the part of policy making, and as we have seen in the case of Jat, Patidar, Gurjar and Kapu quota agitations, it will always cause disruption in public life. No data also means that the government will never be able to target quota policies to benefit the most backward.
Central government on 3 August Told It said in Parliament that “there is no plan to bring census in the concurrent list and allow state governments to conduct census”. The reply was given by Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai when DMK MP D. Ravikumar asked whether the government had any proposal to bring the census from the central list to the concurrent list and allow state governments to conduct it. Both the Parliament and the State Legislatures can make laws on the subjects included in the Concurrent List.
This is a perfect catch-22 situation. State governments need caste data to implement affirmative action policies and protect reservations in jobs, education and local bodies. They are asking the central government to release the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data. Courts have repeatedly asked for such empirical data.
Recently, the Supreme Court passed an order that made it mandatory to have empirical evidence of backwardness and under-representation (triple test) To implement OBC reservation in local bodies. Some High Courts have set aside the reservation decisions of the state governments. That’s why The latter failed to establish whether there was any “inadequacy” in OBC representation in jobs.
This prompted some state governments to conduct ‘caste census’ at the state level. Karnataka has already conducted such a census, while Chattisgarh The caste census is still going on. The Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission (MSCBC) has organized a socio-economic and caste censuss. Nitish Kumar has declared that A state in Eastern India To determine the socio-economic status of all communities, a caste based survey will be conducted.
But the recent announcement made by the Central Government in Parliament has made all such exercises futile.
The central government is not ready to amend the constitution to allow states to conduct census. Earlier, he said that he no plan For release of caste data of SECC-2011. there is also Told That caste will not be counted in the next census.
With the government saying that the census will remain in the Union List, the validity and constitutionality of the state enumerations will remain uncertain and questionable. It can be challenged by opponents of the quota policy on the ground that the state government has violated its power and done something that only the central government can do.
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Constitution, Law and Census
According to the constitutional division of powers, as in the seventh s. is mentioned inScheduleThe census is kept in the Union List. Other notable entries in the lists are defence, foreign affairs and war and peace. Unless this list is amended, no state can conduct census. Whatever enumeration exercise the states are doing at that time can be called a survey or a data-collection campaign.
This is the reason why DMK MP and senior advocate P. Wilson has written recently Letter Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanded that the census should be shifted from the Union List to the Concurrent List. He argued, “If the census is moved to the Concurrent List, it will enable the states to conduct their own census and assist the state to maintain an accurate list of backward classes under Article 342-A(3) and There will be empirical data of OBCs. Local body-wise community.”
I have written a letter to Hon’ble PM @Narendra Modi Demand to move census from Union List to Concurrent List by bringing constitutional amendment and break the impasse in implementation #OBC reservation Resolving the injustice meted out to and against the local bodies for the last 30 years #OBC ‘s. pic.twitter.com/t5gGPNRs3T
— P. Wilson (@PWilsonDMK) 3 July 2022
He further wrote that such empirical data would prepare states to make reservations based on facts, and there would be no legal challenge to such decisions.
Since the Census is in the Union List, the relevant Act is, at present, also a Central Act. section 3 Census of India Act, 1948 It is clearly mentioned that the central government will conduct the census. It said, “The Central Government may … declare its intention to conduct census in the whole of the area or any part of the State.” This is a natural consequence of the constitutional-legal framework where the Census Commissioner is also appointed by the central government.
The Act gives the Census Commissioner various powers to conduct – he can order government officials and teachers to work for him. Such orders are mandatory in nature. It also provides legal protection to the enumerators. The enumerators deputed by the Central Government may enter any premises and inspect them and any vehicle or ship.
According to this Act, knowingly asking any objectionable or unreasonable question or making a false return is an offense, and such acts are punishable by law. If a person knowingly gives a wrong answer to, or refuses to answer, any question asked by a census officer, they may be prosecuted in a court of law.
Without these legal protections and frameworks provided by the Census Act, it would not be easy to conduct a census. SECC-2011 faced similar problems as it was not done under the Census Act and the Census Commissioner was not assigned to do so. Thus, SECC-2011 lacked authority and associated legal protection. This was one of the reasons for the failure.
Read also: No Census 2021 even in 2022 – Government ‘stopped exercise, deadline not yet set’
further problem
With the Modi government stopping any attempt by the states to collect caste data and, at the same time, not going ahead with the caste census at the central level, we are heading towards a scenario where the governments and the courts have to deal with There will be problem. Dispute and enforce policies.
I look forward to seeing these problems in the near future.
The constitutionality of the 103rd Amendment Act 2019 for EWS (Economically Weaker Section) quota has been challenged in the Supreme Court. Without caste data, it would not be easy for the government to prove the backwardness or under-representation of poor people from ‘upper caste’ groups. This matter will not be resolved in the near future.
The Justice Rohini Commission has been tasked to find out how various castes included in the OBC list are getting the benefits of reservation. It is empowered to suggest the division of OBC quota at the union level. facing this commission data constraint, She has failed to submit her report even after getting more than a dozen extensions.
Some states like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have increased the OBC quota from 14 per cent to 27 per cent. These decisions are facing legal scrutiny, and the government needs caste data to argue its stand.
Several states faced violent agitations related to quota, especially regarding the inclusion of any other caste in the OBC list. Governments require caste data to accept or reject such demands.
And finally, caste data can have many uses, especially in development projects. Without census data, the government would not be able to strengthen its social justice policies.
In such a situation, the central government should reconsider its decisions of keeping the census operations in its hands and not allowing the states to conduct them.
Dilip Mandal is the former Managing Editor of India Today Hindi magazine and has written books on Media and Sociology. Thoughts are personal.
(Edited by Likes)