Gehlot calls caste census questionnaire fundamentally flawed

Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot said here on Saturday that the current format of the caste census is "fundamentally flawed", and alleged it indicated the Narendra Modi government lacks honest intent regarding the exercise.

He said the "flawed" caste census will hurt the OBCs (Other Backward Classes), EBCs (Extremely Backward Classes), and marginalized sections the most.

The existing questionnaire of the caste census must be scrapped and a new questionnaire should be prepared based on a verified list of castes (a dropdown list), following the methodology adopted in Telangana and Bihar, the former Rajasthan chief minister demanded.

"Such a questionnaire should be drafted only after extensive consultations with political parties, experts, and the public, to ensure the true population figures for every caste and community are revealed, making the caste census accurate, meaningful, and effective for achieving social justice," he said.

A caste census should be conducted nationwide in a transparent manner, Gehlot said at a press conference here.

When the Congress demanded a caste census during the 2023 and 2024 elections, the prime minister had dismissed the idea in an interview, labelling it as 'urban Naxal' thinking, but ultimately made a U-turn following Rahul Gandhi's persistent demands for a caste census, Gehlot said.

"However, despite the announcement, the Modi government does not appear to have a genuine intention to implement the entire process transparently. The Modi government still has time to make necessary improvements to the framework, as the caste census has currently commenced only in select areas and is scheduled to be rolled out across the entire country starting in February 2027," he said.

Among the 40 questions notified for the upcoming census, question No. 10 alone makes it evident that the Modi government is shying away from a proper caste census, he said.

For this question, the government opted for an open-ended format, whereas utilising a dropdown list was essential, the senior Congress leader said.

A dropdown list typically contains a pre-defined set of government-recognized castes. The enumerator simply asks the citizen for their caste and selects the corresponding entry from the list.

In contrast, an open-ended question lacks such a pre-determined list and the enumerator records the caste or sub-caste name exactly as stated by the citizen, including the specific spelling.

Consequently, using open-ended questions within the current format would make an accurate caste count impossible, rendering the resulting data entirely impractical, Gehlot said.

"In India, the same caste is often known by different names, sub-caste designations, and linguistic variations across regions. Without a dropdown list, enumerators conducting the caste census would lack a reference list of verified castes," he pointed out.

He said the list of approximately 4,200 castes in the country is already available with the Union and state governments.

Yet, the government is not employing a dropdown list because it has been opposed to the caste census from the very beginning, he claimed.

The current format will not yield accurate figures regarding the OBC population in the country, as the questionnaire does not even include the term 'Backward Class', Gehlot asserted.

If a single caste gets fragmented into multiple segments due to variations in names, surnames, and spellings, the true numerical strength of OBCs/EBCs and the extent of their deprivation could remain obscured, he said.

Without accurate population data, the basis for the principle of "representation in proportion to population" and a fair review of reservation policies would be undermined, the former Rajasthan CM added.