Congress flags data concerns as experts defend free-entry caste enumeration
Hyderabad: The inclusion of caste as Question 10 in the Population Enumeration of Census 2027 has triggered sharp controversy, with opposition parties, experts and defenders of the exercise debating whether an open‑ended format will yield reliable data or replicate the failures of the 2011 Socio‑Economic and Caste Census (SECC).
Dr Vakulabharanam Krishna Mohan Rao, former chairman of the Telangana Backward Classes Commission, defended the approach of recording “SC/ST/Caste” through an open‑entry question. He argued that allowing respondents other than SCs and STs to report caste freely would capture data on OBC/BC communities, sub‑castes and regional caste names, including those not found in government lists. A predetermined list, he warned, could exclude unlisted communities or those known by different names across regions.
Dr Rao said the practical solution was to first record caste identities nationwide and then systematically match, standardise and classify them with reference to official lists and records. He distinguished Census 2027 from SECC 2011, noting that the latter was a separate exercise undertaken through Union ministries with Census officials providing only technical support, whereas the 2027 exercise was embedded within the main Population Census and backed by trained personnel and decades of institutional experience. Raising doubts merely because caste is being recorded through an open‑entry question, even before enumeration begins, was premature, he said.
The Congress termed the methodology “misleading,” cautioning in a letter by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and others to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that an open‑ended format for non‑SC/ST categories invites spelling variations, sub‑caste names and synonyms, potentially fragmenting single communities into thousands of distinct entries. The party demanded that the questionnaire be scrapped and redrafted through consultations, advocating a drop‑down menu of caste names similar to recent Telangana and Bihar surveys.
The notification included 40 questions but omitted an explicit “OBC” checkbox, relying instead on post‑enumeration processing to map self‑declared names to official lists. Dr Rao pointed to the professional oversight of the Registrar General, suggesting that the 2027 exercise would be more productive than the 2011 UPA‑era survey, which yielded 46 lakh distinct entries.
Officials said enumerators would record responses exactly as declared, with the Centre indicating that Census 2027 would have a Code Directory and validation checks to address concerns over spelling, sub‑castes and regional names. The government insisted that bringing caste enumeration within the main Population Census would ensure a clearer, more productive exercise than the UPA‑II era survey.
