For months leading up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government’s surprise announcement of including caste enumeration in the upcoming census, Rahul Gandhi had been talking about the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) exercise that the Congress-led UPA-2 government conducted during its tenure.
Gandhi, the most vocal voice in opposition demanding a Caste census, would often be heard saying that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had been afraid of releasing SECC findings.
On Wednesday, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh referred to a letter written by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2023 demanding an “up-to-date Caste Census,” noting that there was no more need to say anything on the matter.
Taking to X on Wednesday, Ramesh posted the letter by the Congress President dated April 16, 2023, demanding the caste census.
“On 16 April 2023 — that is, over two years back — Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge had written this letter to the PM. Need anything more be said?” Ramesh said. In the letter, Kharge stated that the then UPA Government following the 2011-2012 Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC), wasn’t able to release the data for various reasons; however, it called for the updated caste census, which was “very essential” for social justice and empowerment programmes, particularly for OBCs, after the NDA government came to power.
What is SECC?
At the beginning of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s second UPA term, Congress allies—the RJD, the Samajwadi Party (SP), and the Janata Dal(United)—demanded a caste in the 2011 Census.
The then Home Ministry under P Chidambaram opposed the suggestion and said including caste in the list of questions during the Census exercise would yield inaccurate results owing to logistical problems.
While the demand persisted, the Home Ministry toned down in its stand and suggested that a caste-based headcount can be done,
Finally, in September 2010, the decision to hold a caste headcount was taken.
What happened after UPA was out of power?
The Ministry of Rural Development began the SECC exercise in June 2011.The Rural Development Ministry conducted the Census in rural areas, while the study in urban areas was carried out by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation. Overall, the caste census was under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs’s Registrar General of India (RGI) and Census Commissioner of India.
The enumeration was completed in 2012 and the date was ready by 2013. With elections scheduled in 2014, the government decided not to release the data.
The UPA lost power in the May 2014 polls. Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister in the BJP-led NDA government in 2014.
In July 2015,the Modi government released provisional data from the SECC for rural India. It, however, held back the caste data,sayingit had not been finalised. N
In 2018, the Home Ministry said the caste data had been handed over to the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner for processing.
In 2021, the Home Ministry said that the raw caste data was provided to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for classification and categorisatiom and that as informed by (the ministry), “there is no proposal to release the caste data at this stage.”
In September 2021, the government, in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, effectively ruled out holding a caste census that year.
The UPA government presented SECC, 2011, before the Parliamentary Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Rural Development on 13 February 2013.
The SECC had the following elements:
1- Methodology
Rural Households classified in three steps
First, a set of Households are EXCLUDED
Second, a set of households are compulsorily INCLUDED
Third, remaining households are RANKED as per the number of deprivation indicators
2 Stake Holders
Ministry of Rural Development
Ministry of House and Urban Poverty Alleviation
Office of Registrar General of India
Central Public Sector Units (BEL, ITI, ECIL)
National Informatics Center
3- SECC Process Stages
Enumeration
The caste data had been handed over to the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner for processing.
