He said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi had repeatedly written to PM Modi on the issue, but the government had not responded to the earlier communications.
Census officials lack legal authority to merge separate entries after recording. Without a structured list to map variations during enumeration, responses could become irreconcilable, said J K Bajaj.
In a letter to PM Modi, Kharge and Gandhi urged Centre to scrap the existing caste census questionnaire, saying accurate data is essential for effectively implementing social justice policies.
Experience shows counting caste is not a simple matter in India. The why, when, how and who of the data’s collection and use should be strengthened by law
The ongoing Census 2027 was to be an apolitical statistical exercise to collect data
on population and economic indices, but it has stirred up a hornet’s nest with the introduction of an open-ended q ...
The opposition party alleged that the prime minister made a “complete U-turn” on April 30, 2025, when he announced a caste census, and accused him of now making a “U-turn on his earlier U-turn.”
