The State has decided that no decision on the caste census need be taken till a final decision is received on the contempt case that the State is facing in the Supreme Court and after which the government will try to arrive at a consensus on the issue, the Minister for SC/ST Development and Dewaswom, K. Radhakrishnan, told the Assembly on Thursday.
He said this in reply to a calling attention motion by the Indian Union Muslim League MLA, M.K. Muneer, that a caste census was needed in Kerala to ensure the welfare of all castes and all sections of society. He said that the State was at liberty to take a decision on the same, and that the Centre’s consent was not required, according to the 105th amendment of the Constitution.
The State is facing a contempt petition filed by an NGO, Minority Indians Planning and Vigilance Commission Trust, which accused the Union and the State governments of not taking a decision to complete a socio-economic study in Kerala, as directed by the Kerala High Court. It said that the survey was needed for a periodic revision of the list of backward classes in the State so that the under-representation of the weaker sections of the society in public employment can be ended.
It was on January 29 that Kerala, in response to the said contempt petition, told the SC that it had been banking on the caste census held by the Centre in 2011 to identify socio-economic backward classes in the State, but that the data proved to be unhelpful.
Mr. Radhakrishnan said that it was better that the data on socio-economic status was collected during a general census and that the State had no intention of denying the rights of any section of the society.
The State will take necessary follow-up measures on the caste census based on the SC decision. A comprehensive data collection alone can give the right picture of the socio-economic profile of the State. An accurate picture is necessary to revise the data of backward classes and to ensure that reservation benefits are equitably distributed to the deserving sections of society, Mr. Radhakrishnan said.
