The Crossbill News Desk
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has questioned the Union government’s decision not to include a standardised drop-down menu of caste names in the upcoming Census 2027, alleging that the move could undermine the caste enumeration exercise.
In a post on X on Tuesday (August 18), Ramesh accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making repeated reversals on the issue and described him as a “U-Turn ustaad”.
He specifically pointed to an affidavit filed by the Modi government in the Supreme Court in September 2021, which, while opposing a caste census, had highlighted the possible usefulness of a standardised caste-selection mechanism.
“On September 21, 2021, the Modi government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court explicitly rejecting the demand for a caste census,” Ramesh wrote.
Ramesh quoted paragraph 12(d) of the affidavit, which stated: “However, paragraph 12 (d) of that affidavit stated: “No registry of castes was prepared before the 2011 census. It would have been better if a drop-down menu had been provided for selecting castes, through which some consistent data could have been made available, which could be relied upon.”
He then questioned why a similar mechanism had not been incorporated into the Census 2027 form, arguing that the government had previously acknowledged the importance of standardising caste responses.
According to Ramesh, standardised caste lists had been prepared for caste surveys in Telangana and Bihar. He also pointed out that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had proposed the use of such a menu in a letter to Modi dated May 5, 2025.
“The conclusion is clear: The Modi government wants to directly sabotage the caste census,” he wrote.
Ramesh also linked the latest decision to Modi’s April 30, 2025 announcement that a caste census would be conducted.
“The prime minister had announced the conduct of a caste census on April 30, 2025, taking a complete U-turn – the very same caste census whose idea he had previously attacked by calling it ‘urban Naxal.’ Now, he has taken another U-turn on his earlier U-turn and buried the very idea of a caste census without saying a word,” Ramesh added.
The controversy follows a decision by the Registrar General of India (RGI) earlier this month to conduct caste enumeration through an open-ended format rather than provide enumerators with a fixed list or drop-down menu.
According to The Indian Express, citing sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs, respondents will state their caste themselves, with enumerators recording the answer as given rather than attempting to classify surnames, sub-castes or other responses.
“It has been finally decided that no dropdown menu or any other means will be used for caste enumeration. People have to just state their caste and the same will be recorded as it is,” a senior MHA official told the paper.
The official said enumerators would not be expected to categorise a surname or sub-caste into a particular caste category.
The RGI had previously considered developing a drop-down menu using caste classifications maintained by the Centre and states, particularly for Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The decision to abandon the proposal has raised concerns over the comparability and consistency of the data that will emerge from the exercise.
A similar issue arose during the 2011 Socio-Economic and Caste Census, when respondents were allowed to provide caste names without being restricted to a standardised list.
The exercise reportedly generated nearly 46.7 lakh distinct caste names, far exceeding the 4,147 castes recorded in the last comprehensive caste census conducted in 1931. The Union government subsequently withheld the raw caste data.
Caste enumeration is scheduled to take place alongside the population enumeration component of Census 2027, making the format adopted for recording caste responses a significant factor in determining how the data can ultimately be compiled and analysed.
In a post on X on Tuesday (August 18), Ramesh accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making repeated reversals on the issue and described him as a “U-Turn ustaad”.
He specifically pointed to an affidavit filed by the Modi government in the Supreme Court in September 2021, which, while opposing a caste census, had highlighted the possible usefulness of a standardised caste-selection mechanism.
“On September 21, 2021, the Modi government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court explicitly rejecting the demand for a caste census,” Ramesh wrote.
Ramesh quoted paragraph 12(d) of the affidavit, which stated: “However, paragraph 12 (d) of that affidavit stated: “No registry of castes was prepared before the 2011 census. It would have been better if a drop-down menu had been provided for selecting castes, through which some consistent data could have been made available, which could be relied upon.”
He then questioned why a similar mechanism had not been incorporated into the Census 2027 form, arguing that the government had previously acknowledged the importance of standardising caste responses.
According to Ramesh, standardised caste lists had been prepared for caste surveys in Telangana and Bihar. He also pointed out that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had proposed the use of such a menu in a letter to Modi dated May 5, 2025.
“The conclusion is clear: The Modi government wants to directly sabotage the caste census,” he wrote.
On September 21, 2021, the Modi Govt had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court categorically rejecting the plea for a caste census.
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) August 18, 2026
However, Para 12 (d) in the affidavit says the following: “There was no registry of caste prepared prior to the conduct of 2011 Census. It would… pic.twitter.com/gHdPZSMiQw
Ramesh also linked the latest decision to Modi’s April 30, 2025 announcement that a caste census would be conducted.
“The prime minister had announced the conduct of a caste census on April 30, 2025, taking a complete U-turn – the very same caste census whose idea he had previously attacked by calling it ‘urban Naxal.’ Now, he has taken another U-turn on his earlier U-turn and buried the very idea of a caste census without saying a word,” Ramesh added.
The controversy follows a decision by the Registrar General of India (RGI) earlier this month to conduct caste enumeration through an open-ended format rather than provide enumerators with a fixed list or drop-down menu.
According to The Indian Express, citing sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs, respondents will state their caste themselves, with enumerators recording the answer as given rather than attempting to classify surnames, sub-castes or other responses.
“It has been finally decided that no dropdown menu or any other means will be used for caste enumeration. People have to just state their caste and the same will be recorded as it is,” a senior MHA official told the paper.
The official said enumerators would not be expected to categorise a surname or sub-caste into a particular caste category.
The RGI had previously considered developing a drop-down menu using caste classifications maintained by the Centre and states, particularly for Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The decision to abandon the proposal has raised concerns over the comparability and consistency of the data that will emerge from the exercise.
A similar issue arose during the 2011 Socio-Economic and Caste Census, when respondents were allowed to provide caste names without being restricted to a standardised list.
The exercise reportedly generated nearly 46.7 lakh distinct caste names, far exceeding the 4,147 castes recorded in the last comprehensive caste census conducted in 1931. The Union government subsequently withheld the raw caste data.
Caste enumeration is scheduled to take place alongside the population enumeration component of Census 2027, making the format adopted for recording caste responses a significant factor in determining how the data can ultimately be compiled and analysed.
Comments (0)
Leave a Comment