Kharge urges Centre to allocate funds, set deadline for caste census

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday urged for the allocation of sufficient funds and the fixing of a time limit for the caste enumeration in the next census, which has been announced by the Central government.

The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said the Congress and other opposition parties had demanded a caste census and staged agitations for it throughout the country, and now they are happy that they have achieved what they intended.

"I had written a letter two years back on the caste census along with the general census. They did not agree then, but now the government has taken a decision to conduct a caste census along with the general census. It is a good thing, and we will fully cooperate with this. But they (BJP) should not comment unnecessarily on Jawaharlal Nehru, saying he was opposed to it, this and that," Kharge said.

 

Speaking to reporters here, he said the Jan Sangh and RSS, by birth, are against reservation, and such people are now talking about the Congress not being in favour of the caste census.

"If we were against the caste census, would I have written the letter two years ago? Would we have conducted so many agitations for it? They (BJP) try to create confusion in the minds of the people and try to project that they are the only ones interested in the country's welfare. It is bogus. I don't agree. For political purposes, they always do such things," he added.

In a major decision, the Union Government on Wednesday decided to include caste enumeration in the forthcoming census exercise in a "transparent" manner.

Urging the government to fulfill its announcement, Kharge said that as of today, the government has not allocated sufficient funds for the exercise, and asked how the survey can be conducted without money.

He said, "They should also give a time limit. If there is no time limit, it will take a long time. Therefore, my suggestion is that they should give special attention to this, and within two or three monthsor whatever time limit is fixedthey should conduct the survey and fulfill the promise and the people's demand."  The AICC chief, in response to a question, said he doesn't think the caste census was announced with the upcoming Bihar polls in mind.

"I don't want to go into politics. Whatever is good, I welcome it. Whatever is bad, I oppose. Because ultimately, the country is important, the people are important. As people wanted the caste census, we agitated, demanding it. All opposition parties pressured and agitated for it throughout the country, and Rahul Gandhi took the lead in demanding the caste census. We have achieved it, and we are happy," he said.

Reiterating that he welcomes the decision to include caste enumeration in the forthcoming census, he further said, "It should be done soon, it should not be a show-off, and the economic and educational survey should be conducted in a perfect manner, satisfying everyone."  On caste surveys done by some states, including Karnataka, being criticised as unscientific, Kharge said, "Let's see, now that they (Centre) are doing it."  Later, speaking at a May Day event organised by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) here, Kharge once again stressed that adequate funds need to be provided for the survey.

"In Karnataka, Rs 165 crore was provided by the government for the social and educational survey (caste census) , while the Centre has allocated Rs 515 crore for the country-wide census. How is it possible? They (Centre) will not be able to survey a state like UP with this amount. This seems to just be a show-off, and it looks like they are not serious about the survey," he said.

Noting that a socio-economic caste survey was done in September 2010 itself, when Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister and he was the Social Welfare Minister, Kharge said this survey was concluded in 2016, but the BJP government, which had come to power by then, did not release the report.

He said he is happy that the caste census has been announced now, but there are two more things: one is providing reservation for SC/ST and OBCs in private institutions, and the other is removing the 50 per cent cap on reservation. "The government has to think about these two things, too. If not, people will come to the streets and fight for their rights.