NEW DELHI: Amid reports that the Central government may soon start the process of conducting the much- delayed decadal census, the Congress on Thursday reiterated the party’s demand for a nation- wide caste census.Coming down heavily on the Modi government for the inordinate delay in the exercise, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh suggested that the government can collect caste-wise data of the OBC population in the next census by just adding an extra column. The Opposition party said such a move will give a more solid foundation to affirmative action programmes.“Every census since 1951 has been collecting data caste-wise on the population of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Without any difficulty, just by adding an extra column, the census questionnaire can also collect caste-wise data of the OBC population as well,” Ramesh wrote on X.This will fulfill the widespread demand for a caste census and will give more solid foundations to affirmative action programmes, he said.The last census was due in 2021, during the pandemic.
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