OBC count in Census 2021

Why in news?
=>More than 25 years after the implementation of reservation for Other Backward Classes, based on the Mandal Commission’s recommendations, the Home Ministry announced the first Census to count OBCs in 2021.
=>It is likely to put an end to the longstanding demand from political parties to update the previous caste-based census conducted 87 years ago, in 1931, by the British
=>The Home Ministry discussed the roadmap for undertaking the Census in 2021. The use of maps and geo-referencing at the time of house listing is also under consideration.
=>It also put special emphasis on improvements in design and technological interventions to ensure that data is finalised within three years of the conduct of the 2021 Census. This means that the OBC census data is likely to be available by 2024, which is when the general elections after 2019 are expected to be held.

Why now?
=>The OBC population, however, has mobilised over the years to emerge as an influential political force. Recently, the NDA, which stormed to power in 2014 on election plank of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’, ensured in Parliament that Constitutional status was granted to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC).
=>The latest announcement also comes in the backdrop of the Government setting up a commission for the sub-categorisation of OBCs, headed by the former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court G Rohini, in October 2017. The committee has sought a third extension till November 2018 for submission of its report on creating quotas within quotas. The 2021 data on OBCs will play an important role in such a sub-categorisation.

2011 Census:
=>The 2011 caste data collected as part of Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) is yet to be released by the Centre. As per the National Commission for Backward Classes, there are 2,479 entries in the Central list of the OBCs.
=>The 2011 Census collected information in 29 categories that included a separate column for Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes.

What are the other additions in Census 2021?
=>It was emphasised that improvements in design and technological interventions be made so as to ensure that the Census data is finalised within three years after conducting of Census. At present it takes 7 to 8 years to release the complete data.
=>The enumerators will start “house listing” in 2020 and the headcount will begin from February 2021. Nearly 25 lakh enumerators are trained and engaged for the gigantic exercise and accurate collection of data will be ensured in Census 2021.
=>The government also emphasised the need for improvement in Civil Registration System, especially on registration of birth and death in remote areas, and strengthening sample registration system for estimating the data namely, infant mortality rate, maternal mortality ratio and fertility rates.
=>The data collected during 2021 Census would be stored electronically, also a first. Presently, the “schedules” (a tabular form containing details of individuals), carried by enumerators to households was being stored in a physical form at government’s storehouse in Delhi. It is based on these schedules that the relevant statistical information on population, language, occupation, etc, are sorted from and published.

Commission on backward classes:
=>It was in 1953 that the first-of-its-kind Kalelkar Commission was set up to identify backward classes other than the SCs and STs at the national level. But the panel’s conclusion that caste is an important measure of backwardness was rejected on the ground that it had failed to apply more objective criteria such as income and literacy.
=>The Mandal Commission report of 1980 estimated the OBC population at 52 per cent and classified 1,257 communities as backward. It recommended increasing existing quotas, which were only for SC/ST, from 22.5 per cent to 49.5 per cent to include OBCs. A decade later, its recommendations were implemented in government jobs, a move that triggered widespread protests.
=>To assuage the protesters, the government introduced a 10 per cent quota for “economically backward sections” among forward castes. But the Supreme Court struck this down in the Indra Sawhney vs Union of India case judgment in 1992, where it held that the Constitution recognised only social and educational not economic backwardness.
=>The apex court, however, held reservation for OBCs as valid and directed that the creamy layer of OBCs, or those earning over a specified income, should not avail reservation facilities. The overall reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs was capped at 50 per cent. Based on the order, the central government reserved 27% of seats in union civil posts and services, to be filled through direct recruitment, for OBCs.

Note:
=>The responsibility of conducting the decennial Census, a statutory exercise conducted under the provisions of the Census Act 1945, rests with the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Home Ministry.

Pic courtesy:SlidePlayer