Tamil Nadu Assembly Unanimously Passes Caste Census Resolution

 Chennai: A special resolution moved by Chief Minister M K Stalin, urging the Union Government to conduct the Caste Census along with the 2021 Census that was long overdue to enable the framing of policies that will usher in equal rights and equal opportunities in education, economy and jobs, was unanimously passed by the State Assembly on Wednesday.

Since the State government was committed to the principles of equal rights and equal opportunities for achieving an overall economic growth, it had implemented reservation to facilitate the progress of all sections of people like Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes, Minorities and Differently Abled, Stalin said in his speech.

The caste census was highly essential for the government to take appropriate decisions and frame policies based on the census data to ensure social justice, he said. Decisions not based on such data could be challenged and even get stuck down by courts, he said.

Legislators of all parties, including the BJP, supported the resolution in the absence of the members of the AIADMK, who were suspended from the Assembly for disrupting the proceedings, and the PMK that staged a walkout saying that the caste census could be carried out by the State government itself.

Stalin clarified in his speech that only the Union Government was empowered to conduct the population census as per section 3 of the Census Act, 1948.While the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008, allowed state governments to collect data on the socio-economic status of people, under part A of Section 3 of the Act, state governments cannot collect data on communities listed under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, the Chief Minister said.

Since the State could not collect census data under the Collection of Statistics Act, the only option left was for the Union Government to conduct the Population Census, he said, adding that such a caste census alone would be legally valid.

Referring to the recent interest shown by political parties, including PMK’s G K Mani who had spoken a couple of days earlier in favour of the caste census, Stalin said the DMK, in principle wanted the caste census to be taken but only the Union Government would be able to collect the data relevant to that as per the Census Act, 1948.

The Union Government that had already delayed the work on the Census, first citing the Coronavirus pandemic and then just not bothering about it, should immediately start the process and also conduct the caste census along with it this time, he said.

Speaking on the resolution, PMK MLA R Arul termed the move as 'unnecessary' as the state government had powers to conduct caste census, which his party wanted to be done. BJP’s Nainar Nagendran, too, said that the State could conduct caste survey

Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Edappadi K Palaniswami, told the media outside the Assembly that his government had initiated the process in 2020 but could not complete the task due to change of regime after that.

The AIADMK government had issued a government order on December 20, 2020, for caste-based census and commenced the work by even constituting a commission under a retired judge, he said, He accused the DMK government of showing interest in caste census now with an eye on the by-election to the Vikravandi Assembly by-election.

Leaders of all the other parties who took part in the discussion welcomed the decision of the State government to seek the caste census immediately