New Delhi: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday emphasised the importance of conducting a caste census and demanded to be carried out alongside the general census, to accurately assess the true condition of different sections of the society.
In a video message, while paying his tribute to Dr BR Ambedkar on his 134th birth anniversary, Kharge said, “The central government is currently formulating plans based on data from the 2011 census, while there’s still no clarity on when the 2021 census will take place”.
While advocating for a caste census along with general census, the Congress President claimed that such a census would reveal the actual condition of various social groups and also highlight the extent of their progress in terms of social justice – including areas like education, employment, housing, land ownership and others.
He said that in 1976, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi implemented the SC-ST Sub plan to ensure justice for these communities, but “unfortunately, the Modi government discontinued it in 2015”.
Claiming that there are no states except Tamil Nadu where reservation is secured, Kharge demanded, “reservations of states be included in Schedule 9 so that they can be secured by removing the ceiling of 50 percent”.
The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said, “Amendments made in 2006 to provide reservations to SC, ST, OBC in private colleges by amending the Constitution in Article 15 (5), this law was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2014. Today 55 percent of higher education institutions are in private hands. How will our children study?”
He accused the Modi government of “sleeping” on the issues and also demanded that this be made legal right and implemented immediately stating that “this will be the true tribute to Babasaheb”.
In his message, the Congress President, while mentioning about women’s reservation bill said, “Two years ago, this bill was passed. The Congress party had demanded that the Act be implemented immediately and at the same time one third reservation under it should be ensured for SC, ST and OBC women”.
Kharge said that the party will fight for the demands it made both inside and outside the Parliament.
UNI
