The Jharkhand Cabinet has approved inclusion of the work of caste-based census in the state in the work of Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Rajbhasha Department.
Cabinet Department Principal Secretary Vandana Dadell, after the Cabinet meeting, announced in a press briefing that a caste-based survey will be conducted under the supervision of the Personnel Department.
"The personnel department will prepare a standard operating procedure (SOP) to conduct the survey in Jharkhand. It will be placed before the cabinet for approval," sources said.
The caste survey in Jharkhand will follow the model of the neighboring state of Bihar, where data collection took place between January 7 and October 2 of the previous year.
The caste-based survey aims to not only study the prevalence of various communities in the state but also analyse the social and economic issues faced by the different components of the population. For instance, the caste-based survey would examine social factors like literacy rates, healthcare access, and employment opportunities among different castes.
According to government sources, the problems related to the caste census have been resolved.
As per the rule book, the census is allotted to the Land and Revenue and Land Reforms Department, but the work of caste-based census was not allotted to any department in the executive rules. Thus, the Champai Soren government, finalised the Personnel Department for carrying out the survey.
The time frame for conducting the survey, however, is not yet clear. If sources are to be believed, the Personnel Department will not delay much for this. The figures of caste-based census will be revealed before the assembly elections scheduled to be held in November this year, they said.
Notably, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had also advocated caste census during his ‘Nyay Yatra’ in Jharkhand. Gandhi had promised a nationwide caste census and the removal of the 50 per cent cap on reservation if the opposition INDIA bloc formed the government at the Centre after the Lok Sabha polls.
Congress MLA Pradeep Yadav and AJSU MLA Lambodar Mahato had also raised this issue through a calling attention motion in the Assembly following which the then Parliamentary Affairs Minister Alamgir Alam had assured them on behalf of the government that they are in favour of caste census.
After the announcement, the Action Taken Report (ATR) was also presented on the assurance of the House.
A total of 33 proposals including caste survey and increase in allowance of MLAs have been approved in the Jharkhand Cabinet meeting today. Along with this, the salary allowance of the state's whips and officers has been increased. In today's cabinet, the proposal of penalty waiver for one time settlement of tax defaulter vehicles was also approved. Let us tell you that about 4.83 lakh vehicles in the state are in the category of tax defaulters. The total dues on them are more than Rs 2204 crore. In this, road tax is Rs 763 crore and penalty amount is Rs 1436 crore.
