Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Monday demanded an independent caste-based census in Maharashtra on the lines of Bihar, saying such an exercise in other states has benefited citizens.
Bhujbal made the demand in a letter sent to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and cited the example of Bihar, where a caste-based head count has started.
The Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) government in Bihar on Saturday launched an ambitious survey of castes in the eastern state with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar saying the exercise would prove helpful for the upliftment of all sections of society.
The demand for a caste-based census in Maharashtra has been pending for a long time, Bhujbal said in the letter.
Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh, too, have conducted similar exercises which are benefiting residents of these states, he noted, in an apparent reference to welfare schemes rolled out based on the surveys.
The former minister, a prominent Other Backward Classes (OBC) leader, said Members of Parliament Sameer Bhujbal, Gopinath Munde and 100 other MPs had in 2010 moved a resolution in the Lok Sabha seeking a caste-based census at the national level.
Accordingly, a census was conducted on economic and social status of rural and urban households between 2011 and 2014, but the Centre has not yet disclosed its findings, the NCP leader added.
“So, like the Bihar government, the state (Maharashtra) should conduct an independent (caste-based) census,” he said.
The census of scheduled tribes and scheduled castes has been happening for the last 150 years and these sections have separate budgetary allocations for welfare schemes, said Bhujbal, stressing the need for having accurate data on castes.
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