4.7 mn caste names to be classified

The govt asks states and Union territories to rectify 14.5 mn errors

Amid the controversy over not releasing the caste component of the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) data for rural India, the government on Monday said experts will classify some 4.7 million distinct caste names that have come up in the census. These include caste, sub-caste names, synonyms, surnames, clan, gotra names, phonetic variations, sections, sub-groups etc., an official statement said. Besides, the government asked states and Union territories (UTs) to rectify 14.5 million errors.

Earlier, 81.9 million errors relating to castes were found by the Union government and this was communicated to the states and UTs. The states made corrections in 67.4 million of these. Now, 14.5 million corrections are yet to be made, the government said in a statement. Of these, Maharashtra is to rectify 6.9 million errors, Madhya Pradesh 1.4 million, West Bengal 1.2 million, Rajasthan 0.7 million, Uttar Pradesh 0.5 million, Karnataka 0.3 million, and Bihar 0.2 million.

The government has been criticised by parties, including Samajwadi Party, JD(U), RJD and DMK, for refraining from releasing the caste-based data in its first SECC.