Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder S Ramadoss.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Chennai: PMK, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Tuesday nudged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to conduct a caste census along with the enumeration of population, which is due since 2021, to “strengthen social justice” in India.
S Ramadoss, founder of the PMK - which wields considerable influence among Vanniyars who are spread across north Tamil Nadu - said a majority of the political parties in India support the conduct of a caste census, which was last conducted in 1931.
“There is no problem in conducting the census 2021 as a caste-wise census; it is sufficient to add only one category - caste - to the statistics collected for the regular census. There is no additional cost for this. On the contrary, the social justice benefits to the country and the people of the country due to the collection of caste-wise demographic data are limitless,” Ramadoss said.
PMK has been pushing the DMK dispensation in Tamil Nadu to conduct a caste census. However, the state government has pushed the ball into the Union Government’s court, saying it had no “authority” to conduct a caste based census.
PMK has been pushing for an increase in the quota for Vanniyars and the then AIADMK government brought in a legislation to provide 10.5 horizontal reservation for Vanniyars within the 20 per cent MBC reservation. However, the Supreme Court struck the bill.
Ramadoss told Modi that while India is progressing in all fields under his leadership, and he contended that India is one of the countries with the highest levels of social inequality in the world.
“Changing this situation is one of the primary objectives of the government. Social justice is the best tool for making this goal possible. It is only by taking affirmative action that it is possible to uplift communities that have been denied education and employment for centuries and pushed to the bottom of the social hierarchy,” Ramadoss added.
He also added that there are constant threats to reservation at the national and state levels as cases have been filed in the Supreme Court and in various high courts.
“Caste-wise population statistics are needed to justify reservation. But we don't have that. All reservations in India are based on the 1931 census and it is nearly a century old. Caste-wise census is paramount to counter the cases filed against reservation. This has been emphasized by the Supreme Court and the High Courts of various states time and again,” he added.