Caste count method in Census ‘misleading’: Congress letter to PM

In a letter addressed to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, opposition leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have denounced the Census 2027's caste count methodology as "misleading," arguing it will not provide an accurate headcount of Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The Congress leaders claim that the Census questionnaire, recently notified, does not even use the term "OBC" in the caste question.

According to Kharge and Rahul, the government has opted for an "open-ended question" requiring enumerators to record whatever respondents say regarding their caste. This approach, they argue, would lead to a multitude of names for the same caste across different regions, rendering the census data meaningless.

The opposition leaders have urged the government to abandon the current questionnaire and draft a new one in consultation with political parties, experts, and the general public. They propose using a "drop-down menu" of caste options, similar to the method employed in surveys of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), which has been successful in the states of Bihar and Telangana.

They have also provided caste lists from these surveys to illustrate their point. The letter further suggests that such a caste list can be compiled using existing backward class lists and data from the Anthropological Survey of India. AICC spokesperson Jairam Ramesh and OBC department chairperson Anil Jaihind released the letter, accusing the government of "sabotaging" the caste census and promising a precise, relevant, and beneficial caste count if the methodology is revised.