‘With authentic figures, we can have proper allocations’

Union minister and Apna Dal leader, Anupriya Patel says the union government’s decision to conduct caste-based enumeration along with the upcoming census will lay the ground for better policy making by providing “authentic” data on caste groups.

Patel‘s partry is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party and has been pushing for a caste census.

In an interview to HT she said, she is now hopeful that the government will consider her demand for carving out a separate ministry for other backward classes (OBCs) .

Edited excepts

Your party has always demanded a caste census. What will change on the ground once the enumeration is done ?

First of all, the caste census will give us authentic numbers. We have had authentic numbers for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes but not for the OBCs. Their number has always been estimated, so, for the first time since Independence the government will have the accurate numbers.

Second, whatever welfare programs, policies have been drafted in all these years, these are based on outdated data, which we had from the 1931 (caste) census.

We need a fresh count and updated information.

Third, caste-based discrimination is a reality. You can’t shy away from it and if you really want to build a self-reliant and developed India, you have to first understand the extent of social inequities. That is when you can make targetted interventions. And you cannot deny that caste is a critical determinant of social as well as economic disparities and inequities.

The fourth thing is there have been thousands of castes and sub castes in India for thousands of years...Everybody knows it...But there are several such castes and subcastes who still face an identity crisis. They still have a strong feeling that we don’t have an identity in society. So, this caste-census will be an instrument, a medium that will help them overcome this identity crisis and give them their due place in society, in the social hierarchy.

When you have authentic figures, you can have proper budgetary allocations because you understand the extent of deprivation, and where exactly interventions are required.

You said the caste census will put an end to misconception .... What did you imply?

By misconception, I meant the Congress and the other UPA allies are now saying that they raised this issue.In 2010, a group of ministers was formed and the sentiment of Parliament was that the caste census should be conducted. Did the Congress government do so? Instead of conducting a full-fledged census they carried out the SECC (socia economic caste census).

There were methodical errors and flaws. They did not take care of the technical barriers. They could not publish that data, so they tried to give an impression that caste census is not possible.

There has been no transparency. There has been no clarity of intent. They tried to create the misconception that caste census is not possible.

Some states have conducted a caste survey, but then how are they using it? They are using it for political agendas. Are they really going to address the real concerns of society like we plan to do by collecting this data?

The opposition also says that the announcement has been made with an eye on elections, Bihar later this year and Uttar Pradesh in 2027.

What would they have said if we had announced it next year, or a year later. See, this is a huge country . We have elections in some part of the country or the other every year. So irrespective of when you announce it, they will always say that it is for elections.

There is clarity of intent, we are committed to social justice and caste census has been a long pending demand. We are meeting this demand with the promise that we will focus our policies after getting the authentic numbers towards those sections of the society who have been left behind in this journey of growth and development of the country.

And we will not take six decades to do it and our census will not have methodic flaws that the SECC data had.

There’s also a perception that parties like yours that are part of the NDA put pressure on the government to announce the caste-count.

Within the NDA there are parties that have been raising this issue, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always granted an audience to all the allies. He understood that this is an issue which is very relevant. What the opposition says is not important because they were not clear in their intent when they were in power, but our government is committed to social justice. The PM is very sensitive towards issues pertaining to the interests of the SC/ST and the other marginalised communities.

You have also been raising the demand for a separate OBC ministry. Do you think that will be the next step?

I’m very hopeful that just as the way the demand for the OBC Commission being given a constitutional status has been fulfilled, just as the way OBC quota has been introduced in NEET PG, and just as the way caste census has been agreed upon by this government...this too will be done.