Govt should immediately conduct a caste census

Subject : Polity

Section: Constitution

Concept :

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding that census be conducted “immediately“.
The decennial census was to be carried out in 2021 but was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kharge also said that a “comprehensive” caste census should be made a part of the census.

First Caste Census as SECC (Socio-Economic and Caste Census):

SECC was conducted for the first time in 1931.
SECC is meant to canvass every Indian family, both in rural and urban India, and ask about their:
Economic status, so as to allow Central and State authorities to come up with a range of indicators of deprivation, permutations, and combinations of which could be used by each authority to define a poor or deprived person.
It is also meant to ask every person their specific caste name to allow the government to re-evaluate which caste groups were economically worst off and which were better off.
SECC has the potential to allow for a mapping of inequalities at a broader level.

SECC 2011

The Socio-Economic Caste Census of 2011 was a major exercise to obtain data about the socio-economic status of various communities.
It had two components: a survey of the rural and urban households and ranking of these households based on pre-set parameters, and a caste census.
However, only the details of the economic conditions of the people in rural and urban households were released. The caste data has not been released till now.

Difference Between Census & SECC:

The Census provides a portrait of the Indian population, while the SECC is a tool to identify beneficiaries of state support.
Since the Census falls under the Census Act of 1948, all data are considered confidential, whereas according to the SECC website, “all the personal information given in the SECC is open for use by Government departments to grant and/or restrict benefits to households.”