NEW DELHI: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court, challenging the Patna High Court’s verdict of upholding the Bihar government’s move to conduct a caste-based survey for determination of backward communities.
The first phase of the survey, which was a household counting exercise, had begun on January 7 and was completed by January 21. The second phase, wherein the aim was to collect information on people’s caste and socio-economic conditions, started on April 15. It was to be completed by May 2023.
An HC bench ruled on August 1, 2023 that caste has been found to be an important indicator in order to understand backwardness as historically the deprivations visited on communities were based on their caste names. Challenging the HC’s decision, the plea said that only the Union government is empowered to conduct the census.
The move had led to a high-profile fight between the ruling grand alliance - led by Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal (United) - and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.
RJD has been at the forefront of parties pushing for a proper enumeration of people belonging to different sections and castes, arguing that gathering such information will help in advancing the cause of social development by proper planning. It will also help in better aligning the various positive discrimination programs run by the central and state governments.
BJP has been mostly against such a move. At a recent meeting of the party's OBC (Other Backward Classes) wing, party leaders explained that they opposed 'caste census' due to "administrative, legal and technical issues" involved in conducting it.
"There are several castes which are not in the central OBC list but under state OBC lists. Besides, there are several non-OBC castes that want to be included in the OBC category. All these make it difficult for the Centre to conduct a caste-based census," one of the party's OBC leaders was quoted as saying.