The Union Cabinet on May 26 decided to set up a group of ministers (GoM) on the issue of caste enumeration in Census 2011.

The decision to set up a GoM came on the suggestion of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who felt it was not possible to take a hurried decision on such a complex issue, as it required an in-depth study.

At the Cabinet meeting held on May 4, 2010, there had been firm opposition from several ministers to the proposal for a caste-based census, but in the recently concluded Parliamentary session, an overwhelming majority were in favour of the caste-based head count.

Several political parties, including the Samajwadi Party, RJD and JD-U, are in favour of the inclusion of caste in the census exercise.

The GoM will not only work out the modalities of doing a caste headcount along with Census 2011 but also consider whether it would be practical to do so.

The GoM will see if caste enumeration is to be done in the second stage of the headcount from February, or at the last stage when biometric signs of citizens are to be collected.

A number of other issues were also raised at the Cabinet meeting. For instance, it was pointed out that persons conducting the census were not adequately equipped for this exercise, as they have not been trained to collect caste-based data.

It was also argued that separate questionnaires would have to be drawn up as the lists of OBCs are not uniform across all states. Who will verify the authenticity of the collected data and which government department would be the repository of this information is also uncertain.

Pointing out that caste was a social reality in India, Union Minister for Law Veerappa Moily stressed that an authoritative set of numbers would help the government better target its numerous welfare schemes.

Union Minister for Social Justice Mukul Wasnik, who had earlier opposed the idea, seemed to have changed his mind since the last Cabinet, and Minister for Urban Development S Jaipal Reddy, is also supporting the caste-based head count.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram pointed out the difficulties in integrating a caste headcount in Census 2011. He has suggested however, that the best time to go for a caste-based headcount would be after the census figures were tabulated, during the biometric capture phase when photographing, fingerprinting and iris mapping of citizens for the National Population Register (NPR) is to be done.