For months for the surprising announcement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government’s forthcoming census, Rahul Gandhi was talking about the socio-economic and caste census (SECC) exercise that the Congress-led UPA-2 government had organized during his tenure.
Gandhi, the most vocal voice against the protest demanding a caste census, is often heard saying that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was afraid to release the SECC findings.
On Wednesday, Congress MP Jeram Ramesh mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi a letter written by Congress President Mallikrajun Kharge in April 2023, seeking “Up-to-Det Census”, given that there was no need to say anything on the matter.
Taking it into X on Wednesday, Ramesh posted a letter by the Congress President on April 16, 2023, demanding a caste census.
“On 16 April 2023 – that is, two years ago – Congress President Mr. Mallikrajun Kharge wrote this letter to the PM. Some more is needed?” Ramesh said. In the letter, Kharge said that the then UPA government, after the 2011-2012 Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC), was not able to release data for various reasons; However, it called for the census of the updated caste, which was “very essential” for social justice and empowerment programs, especially after the NDA government came to power.
What is SECC?
At the beginning of the second UPA word of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress collapse- RJD, Samajwadi Party (SP), and Janata Dal (United) with a caste in the 2011 census.
Under P Chidambaram, the then Home Ministry opposed the suggestion and said that during the census exercise, the list of questions, including caste, would result in wrong results due to logical problems.
While the demand continued, the Ministry of Home Affairs Toned into its stand and suggested that a caste-based headcon can be done,
Finally, in September 2010, it was decided to hold a caste headcon.
What happened after UPA was out of power?
The Ministry of Rural Development started SECC practice in June 2011. The Ministry of Rural Development conducted census in rural areas, while studying in urban areas was done by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty. Overall, the caste census was under the administrative control of the Registrar of India (RGI) and the Census Commissioner of the Ministry of Home Affairs of India.
The calculation was completed in 2012 and the date was ready by 2013. With the scheduled elections in 2014, the government decided not to release the data.
The UPA lost electricity in the May 2014 elections. Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in the 2014 BJP -led NDA government.
In July 2015, the Modi government released provisional data from SECC for rural India. However, it withdrew the caste figures, saying that it was not finalized. N
In 2018, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that caste data was handed over to the office of Registrar General and Census Commissioner for processing.
In 2021, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that raw caste data was provided to the Social Justice and the Ministry of Empowerment for classification and category and as informed by (Ministry), “There is no proposal to release caste data at this level.”
In September 2021, the government was refusing to do a caste census that year in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court.
The UPA government on 13 February 2013 presented the SECC, 2011 before the Parliamentary Counseling Committee for the Ministry of Rural Development.
SECC had the following elements:
1- Working
Rural families were classified in three stages
First, a set of houses is excluded
Second, a set of homes is essentially included
Third, the remaining houses are ranked according to the number of deprived indicators
2 stake holder
Ministry of rural development
House and Urban Poverty Ministry
Registrar General Office of India
Central Public Sector University (Bell, this ECIL)
National information science center
3- SECC process phase
Calculation
Caste data was handed over to the office of Registrar General and Census Commissioner for processing.
