M A I N   N E W S

Cabinet stamp on caste, BPL census
Anita Katyal/TNS

New Delhi, May 19
The Union Cabinet today put its seal of approval on the dovetailing of caste enumeration with the headcount of people living below the poverty line in rural and urban areas to enable the government to determine the social, economic and educational status of different castes for targeted implementation of its welfare schemes.

The meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, agreed that the census of the urban and rural poor would commence next month and the task would be finished by this year-end so that the results of this exercise can be utilised for the 12th Five-Year Plan currently under discussion.

The Cabinet witnessed an extended discussion on this subject as the ministers present raised queries about the parameters which are to be used to identify the rural and urban poor and pointed to the need for having state-specific criteria to take into account the cultural and economic differences in various states.

The PM asked Rural Development Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to ensure that the points raised today are incorporated when the set parameters are finalised. While a survey of BPL families in rural areas is conducted every five years, this is the first time that a headcount of urban poor is being undertaken which will also identify the caste and religion of persons. The last caste enumeration was conducted in 1931.

This mammoth task, which is slated to cover the entire population, is to be undertaken by the Rural Development Ministry and the Housing and Poverty Alleviation

Ministry in association with the Registrar General of India. Handheld devices, manufactured by Bharat Electronics Limited, will be used for the first time by the state governments which will carry out this paper-less exercise.

Briefing mediapersons after the Cabinet meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said the decision to have a simultaneous caste and religion enumeration follows the assurance given by the Prime Minister in Parliament to members from across the political spectrum who made a strong case for a caste-based census.

Officials explained that the mapping of the entire population through door-to-door surveys would be conducted on the basis of separate set parameters for the urban and rural poor. The rural poor, it was said, will be divided into three categories which will include the exclusion of those above the poverty line, those who will be automatically qualify for inclusion in the BPL category and others who will be ranked on the basis of seven parameters. A GoM, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, had recommended that it would be conducted at the biometric stage which was to include photographing, fingerprinting and mapping of citizens who were being counted for the census.