Caste consolidation

India needs politics of economic development

In the run-up to several crucial state Assembly elections this year, leading to the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, Opposition parties seem to have found some common ground to counter the might of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding the release of Socio-Economic and Caste Census data, which was conducted in 2011 and covered about 250 million households. The data, however, was not released. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has also demanded that the data be released and argued that the 50 per cent limit on caste-based reservations be